Author: jlh3

If I had my way, I would have made the table from maple or walnut — I really prefer the look of those two, especially together.  I mean, who doesn’t love the grain and figure in walnut in maple?  But at the time I was launched into the project I had no maple, or hardly any at all, and what walnut I had was earmarked for something else. Continue reading “Ash Coffee Table/Side Table” →

In my last post about the non-jewelry boxes, which are basically jewelry boxes, I mentioned that while that I’d built a table for my coffee-maker in my office at work.  (Yes, I have a day job).  There really wasn’t a need for a table at work – after all, there was a filing cabinet that did a perfectly fine job as a stand for my coffeemaker.  And, in full disclosure, that’s all the filing cabinet did – it was otherwise empty.  Of course, when you like to build things you’re always on the hunt for something else to build that has use to you, so I decided that a table to replace that filing cabinet was in order.

So I built one.

If I had my way, I would have made the table from maple or walnut — I really prefer the look of those two, especially together.  I mean, who doesn’t love the grain and figure in walnut in maple?  But at the time I was launched into the project I had no maple, or hardly any at all, and what walnut I had was earmarked for something else. Continue reading “Ash Coffee Table/Side Table” →

Last year we swapped out some rotting fence sections in our yard and I rescued as many good pieces as I could before we did away with the rest. I used those to make wine boxes, a pencil holder, and a few other boxes with hinged lids. I put a handle on top of one and when the wife and I went away for a weekend around Labor Day, we put all our cords and cables in it and that’s how we carried them around.  It was better to have one place dedicated for them every day than trying to remember if they went in this suitcase, or that backpack, or whatever.

Unfortunately, that box was not sufficient to corral them all, so I built a bigger one from reclaimed pallet wood. It looks like a small valise. Unfortunately, the pallet wood proved finicky and while the box — and many others I made from it at the time — looked good out of the gate, the lids were all very responsive in all the worst ways to the weather.  In particular, the tops all shrunk pretty dramatically and because I’d only face-glued them, this eventually warped the box lids to the extent that they would not close. It’s lovely to be taught the lesson about wood shrinkage even at my age, and even as I should need to be taught it. Continue reading “Art Boxes/Valise/Charger Case” →

If you happen to watch Woodwoorking for Mere Mortals on Youtube, you know that last year Steve Ramsey (he hosts the series) did an irregular series of videos in which he led a neophyte woodworker through creating a shoeshine box.  They made it out of pine boards, edge joined, using simple joinery.  In the end, the project is mostly basic, which is why it’s being done on a program called Woodworking for Mere Mortals.

Now, I don’t watch the show because I need help with woodworking, or anything like that.  As I said, the box was basic.  Continue reading “Shoeshine Boxes (that are not shoeshine boxes)” →

Back at the start of the pandemic I set about making some keepsake boxes, intent on trying to reproduce several at a time, but also to play with angles. There was some amount of success in it, but given they were experiments, they were more learning endeavors than attempts at perfection. This is why they are imperfect, but even in perfection there is beauty.

Since these were meant as some sort of lesson to myself, what exactly did I learn? Angles are hard, and reproduction is never as fast as you’d think.

At the end of the day there are four left — a couple were given away to family. (1) Maple sides with a walnut top, (2) Walnut sides with maple top, (3) Cherry, and (4) Paduak sides with maple top.

You can buy one, or all, of them here if you life.