Biorgraphy: Most of the furniture I build is out of a need for a specific piece of furniture in the house. Now that my skills are good enough to build the furniture well enough to please my wife we find it hard to pay the prices of store bought furniture on top of paying so much for what I think is an inferior product. An added bonus is that woodworking is my escape from my day job of managing a group of IT folks. I don't have a particular style that I prefer as many pieces I have built were either seen prior or a culmination of things we have seen but not specific to a style. As you will see if you read any of the descriptions below I tend to use poly as a finish since I have 2 small children and protection is key.
Son's Bed: Constructed using mortise and tennon joinery and assembles with knockdown hardware for the rails. Has a antique maple dye for color and 3 coats of poly.
Wine Cabinet: This wine cabinet is built primariy from 4 slabs of cherry that were basically bookmatched like an accordian. The floating panels are bookmatched pieces of spalted maple. The knobs, wine glass rack, and door stops are made from ebony. The door catches are brass ball catches. It is finished with a few coats of boiled linseed oil.
Sofa Table: This has been one of the most enjoyable projects I have built to date. The top is one solid piece of walnut and from rough has only seen sandpaper for milling and smoothing. The legs are figured walnut. The apron is quarter sawn walnut. The legs, apron, and top all have a coat of garnet shellac as a sealer coat, which added just enough color to give the piece a bit of aged look as well as really bringing the figured legs and tops grain pattern out. The legs and apron have 3 coats of satin poly. The top has 5 coats of satin and 3 of satin/gloss mix. The top was then finished with 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 grit sandpaper and finally rubbing compound.
Leaning Shelves: These were inspired by my wife looking through a popular home furnishings catalog. I am going to have to intercept the mail a little better and get these catalog directed to the recycling bin sooner. Construction is out of red oak plywood for the shelves and solid red oak for the legs and shelf sides and backs. This piece is in our living room and was meant to blend with an armoire we already have. In order to match the color the best I could I used a dark mahogany die to first get the oak dark enough and then I used Red Sedona stain in order to give a red hue. All in all it is fairly close though still a bit darker than the armoire. To finish if has a few coats of poly.
Daughter's Dresser: My daughter was beginning to outgrow the cheap Rubbermaid cart that we kept in her closet for her clothes so I decided to build her a dresser and hutch. The drawers are of dovetail construction and glide on metal slides in the hopes of sustaining the abuse of a young child. The hutch has one adjustable shelf and one fixed.
Jewelry Chest: Where else are you going to put all that jewelry you buy your wife? This is one of the only project I have built with purchased plans and it was probably the most frustrating project to build because of that in my opinion. I don’t mean offense to anyone that prefers store bought plans but it was difficult for me as I would have preferred to use different methods for certain aspects but due to wanting to wrap this project up I didn't feel I had the time to sit down and modify the plans the way I wanted them. This is constructed of red oak plywood and solid red oak. The stain is red mahogany and has a few coats of poly. The hinges are just plain piano hinges and the lid has a lid support to hold it up and prevent slamming on fingers. The doors and drawers are lined in felt.
Kitchen Hutch: My wife had been looking for a hutch for our kitchen for over a year but every one that we found that met her specifications was well more than we were willing to spend. So I finally got the nod to design one and build it. This was my first attempt using mortise and tennon joinery, of which the face frame is constructed. The construction is solid pine to match some existing furniture. The top has a honey stain and 4 or 5 coats of poly and the remainder is a sort of milk paint style. This was one of the first pieces of furniture I built and spent a rediculous amount of time planning and sketching this and thankfully it all paid off as my wife was very pleased.
Art Table, Chairs, and Art Easel: My daughter is really into art so for Christmas 'Santa' decided to build her a table, chairs, and easel/chalkboard. The tabletop is plywood edged in red oak to sustain children's abuse. The chairs are solid poplar and joined with mortise and tennons pinned from the backsides. The art easel is foldable to store out of the way and the panels are painted with chalkboard paint. My daughter couldn't believe that Santa was a woodworker too.
Parent's Cabinets: My parents had an 'L' shaped kitchen counter on one side and the portion on the left was open with just 3 posts. They asked me to build a 3 door cabinet to go under the existing counter top in a style to match the existing cabinets in a satin black waxed country looking finish. The 3 door cabinet on the left is the one I built and the 2 doors and drawer on the right were existing. All was built at my shop and taken to their house upon completion and thankfully all fit perfectly.
Basement Cubbies: After finishing our basement we needed a place to store the kids toys and a built in was in order. This was my first project after buying a biscuit jointer so I got a little biscuit happy. But it was a simple project but really performs its function well.
TV Stand: I participate in the Big Brothers program and my Little Brother said that he had always wanted a TV stand. So for Christmas I told him I wanted to buy him the raw materials for a TV stand. He and I then worked together to build this stand. It was eventually finished with a cherry stain and a couple coats of poly. Built using clear white pine and birch plywood for the back and door panel.
Luke's Blocks: To top off my son’s nursery room my wife and I wanted to have his name on the wall and picked to make it out of the typical ABC/123 block style. I measured an actual kid's block to get the proportions and then designed the blocks given those proportions for the showing face of the piece. They are alternated one behind the next slightly to give a more 3D look.
Doll Cradle: I made this cradle for my daughter and her baby dolls.
Adirondack Chairs: These chairs and love seat were made from plans from a Family Handyman magazine. They are constructed using treated pine followed by a honey golden Thompson's water sealer. I have built 2 chairs and a love seat for myself and 2 chairs and 2 ottomans for my parents. They are much less difficult to get out of than usual Adirondack chairs yet still as comfortable. After a few years they seem to be weather ok but will need another coat of sealer eventually.