jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks

New Mailbox Post, part 2

2011-03-21T15:37:00.007-05:00

So the half-lap joinery is cut. Now it's time to put these two parts together using a weather proof glue and three inch decking screws.

When I cut the joint I made certain to stay just slightly inside the layout lines so the fit would be too tight. Then I nibbled away a tiny amount of material using my crosscut sled at the table saw until the fit was perfect.

I applied a waterproof glue to all the mating surfaces, put the two pieces together, predrilled and countersunk the holes for screws, and sunk two three inch coated deck screws into each side of the joint, for a total of four screws.

Here is the blank I glued up to form the base to secure the mailbox to the post. It's made from some reclaimed pressure treated 2 x 6 material, edge glued with the same waterproof glue I used on the joint for the crosspiece.

After clamping it in place on my assembly table, I drove three screws through the narrow piece into the wide piece. After that the clamps weren't needed and I could continue without waiting for the glue to dry.

I then cut the blank to length (staying well away from the screws), and cut it to width to fit inside the bottom of the mailbox my neighbor purchased for this project.

And here's the angled brace I used for this mailbox post. When I built my own mailbox post I used a pair of pressure treated 2 x 4 braces, one on each side of the post, and I used templates to rout my street number into each of them. My neighbor, however, wants to put some brass numbers she purchased on her mailbox post. These numbers are 3.5 inches tall, so 2 x 4 material would be too narrow. In order to leave room for these brass numbers I chose to use one piece of 2 x 6 material, mitered on each end and screwed into place, centered on the post. This leaves plenty of room for the numbers and gives the whole unit a different look than mine has. And since these two posts will be across the street from each other for several years, it seems like a good idea to have a slightly different style for each.

Next time, I'll finish this project and install it in my neighbor's front yard.

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop to purchase your own mailbox post, or for unique items to enhance your home décor.

New Mailbox Post

2011-03-07T21:27:00.015-06:00

Recently I decided I was fed up with the mailbox post I bought from the Home Depot when we moved into this house in 2004. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but I wanted something just as rugged but with a bit more style.

The post we had was made out of 4x4 material, and I suppose it was pressure treated, but it weathered fast and it was always subject to twisting in the heavy winds we get here in North Texas. Violent twisting at times. My version was likewise constructed of 4x4 pressure treated lumber, with the addition of some 2x pressure treated stock for bracing.

Of course, as soon as I was done with my new mailbox post my neighbor saw it and asked me to build one for her as well. Since her house is almost directly across the street from mine I elected to change the design slightly just so they didn't look exactly alike. And in this post (and a couple to follow) I'll explain how I built them both.

Starting with an 8 foot section of pressure treated 4x4 inch lumber, I then cut off a 31" section for the crosspiece. This is a bit oversized from the final dimensions, and it also leaves the upright portion oversized.

I'm not too terribly concerned with minor defects in the wood I'm using because our neighborhood lends itself to a rustic look. Also, the interior of our home has a slightly rustic look to it, and will become more rustic as we begin redoing all the rooms, one-at-a-time.

Step two is to simply run both pieces through the table saw with the blade tilted at 45º to bevel the edges. I set the fence at 3 1/8" so the blade takes off a thin strip from each corner of the 4x4 material, which actually measures 3 1/2" on each side. I do this now instead of before step one because it's easier to handle the shorter pieces of wood in my small shop, but you could do this first if you have room. It really makes no difference.

The next step is to create the joinery for the crosspiece to mount on the upright. In this case I'm creating a half-lap joint by removing half of the material on each piece where they will meet the other piece. If I were building fine furniture I would use a different technique for this joint, but this will be sitting outside and, as I said earlier, rustic is fine.

So, my procedure is to simply define the shoulders of the joint, then make spaced cuts between the shoulders leaving about 1/8" to 3/16" between each cut. Afterward I can simply break the waste pieces out of the joint by hand and then clean it up with a sharp chisel.

This method saves a lot of time and results in a perfectly fine joint.

The original post I'm replacing with this new one had a similar joint, but the dados were more than an inch wider than the post, so the only strength in the joint came from two 1/4" lag screws. That's not the best configuration. I'm making sure the joint I'm cutting is just tight enough to stay put after sliding it together.

Following are the photos depicting this procedure. In my next entry I'll bevel the ends of each piece and join the pieces together.

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop, where I have lots of items available to accent your décor. And I have just listed (you guessed it) a Mailbox Post you can buy and put together yourself in a matter of minutes.

jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks, Spring, 2010: The Video

2010-05-22T15:13:00.012-05:00

Check out all of my handmade wooden art at Design Style Guide and Etsy.

Participating in the I Made It Blog Party today, Thursday, June 10, 2010.

You, Too, Can Be Self-Employed, version 2010

2010-05-16T14:53:00.017-05:00

Another year has passed by, so it's time for my annual pilgrimage to the local 7th grade Reading classroom for another "You, Too, Can Be Self-Employed" talk.

Each year I go to the Alvarado Junior High School in Alvarado, Texas, to the Reading classroom of my beautiful wife, Debra. I first gave this little talk in 2004, when I told the kids all about being a graphic artist and how important reading is in that job. Since I began doing this I have stopped being a graphic artist and started being a woodworker. So, a couple of years ago, I changed the talk, splitting the time between one job and the other. And this year I spent far more time talking about woodworking than graphic design. Obviously it's important to be able to read as a woodworker, right? If I can't read the operating instructions for my power tools I could do something wrong and lose a finger. Or a hand. As a drummer for the past 41 years I have to say I'm not in love with that idea. And I'm not a Def Leppard fan, either.

There were lots of intelligent, thoughtful questions during the day, and the usual goofy 7th grade questions as well. It was fun, and I may have inspired one or two kids to think about woodworking, at least as a hobby and possibly as a career. Only time will tell.

I brought props, some candle holders I've built, along with some unfinished wood so they could see the difference. Finished wood looks and feels so different than unfinished wood, so I felt it was important to see both so the finished product could be appreciated.

It was interesting to see how many kids had no idea what my tools were called or what they were used for. Several kids told my the router was a sander. That would make for some interesting sanding jobs.

Some kids knew the tools and understood their uses. Some had relatives who worked with similar tools. My goal with this presentation is to get all the kids talking about what I show them and then the cross-pollenization begins; Questions are asked of me, or of each other or of their teachers; Curiosity breeds learning. This is a great way to teach. It's a great way to learn.

Just like last year, I finished off the talk with a look at a Design Style Guide slide show. I'm an administrator of this group of artisans and I put this little tour together to promote what other members are creating. I wanted to show them that there are lots of other things they can do at home besides woodworking, lots of other Arts and Crafts self-employment opportunities out there. I think this little video makes the point in a hurry.

If more professionals in our communities took the time to go into our schools and pass on a little knowledge, or at least a little inspiration and wander, our children would be in better shape to make career choices and be encouraged to get better grades. If this opportunity is available in your community I urge you to take it. These kids will be taking care of us some day. I think it's pretty good idea to help them along the path, don't you?

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If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below. Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

Blog Party Thursday, May 6, 2010

2010-05-05T22:00:00.024-05:00

Alrighty! I've missed a few blog parties lately because of a bout of the flu which ran through my whole family. But I'm back now with some new items for you to look through.

Also, a big "Thank you!!!" to Kim over at Everything Etsy for hosting this event every Thursday. You're a doll!

• • • • •

This is a pair of Curly Maple with Purple Heart candle holders, the first pair in a new style. All of the candle holders you'll see here today are in this style, with rounded edges, made of two or three contrasting woods and sold in pairs.

This pair is Black Walnut with Purple Heart.

This is Curly Maple with Purple Heart and Black Walnut.

This pair is Black Walnut with Yellow Heart.

And this is Yellow Heart with Black Walnut.

Here is a beautiful pair, made of Spalted Pecan and Black Walnut.

This style was in my head for a couple of months whilst I was planning and building my router table. As soon as it was up and running there was no reason to wait any longer, so I started putting different types of wood together to see what cool combinations I could come up, and here are the early results. Very soon I'll be driving out to see my sawyer so I can add more variety to the mix.

Keep in mind that all of these candle holders and lots more are for sale, folks. And if you mention the I Made It Blog Party I'll refund the shipping cost.

April, 2010: jn3 Current Projects, part 4

2010-04-25T20:23:00.003-05:00

Here is my mother's small television stand for her small television. I installed it Saturday afternoon. The space on the left side of the stand is reserved for her cat, Lucy, so she can look out the window.

This is a very simple design. The wood is red oak. The joinery was easy to cut on my router table -- just a rabbet on each side piece, and then I reinforced the joint with two dowels on each side.

The finish is three coats of tung oil, followed by three coats of satin polyurethane.

The back is two pieces of 1/4" plywood. the short piece is at the bottom, recessed into the box 3/4" and is overlapped 1/4" by the larger piece, which is mounted on the back. This provides a way to snake the wires out the back without seeing anything behind the unit. And I don't care for big round holes in the back if they can be seen easily.

And that's pretty much all there was to it. So far, however, Lucy has remained uninterested. When she shows some interest I'll see about getting a photo.

April, 2010: jn3 Current Projects, part 3

2010-04-23T23:13:00.014-05:00

So, the television stand will be installed this weekend. In the meantime I've been working on those candle holders. I'd be done with them by now (and the television stand would already be installed) but my wife's doctor found a blood clot in her left leg and she spent the last three days at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington, Texas. Never fear... all is well now, or as close as can be expected. She is taking blood thinners and is expecting to go back to work Tuesday, April 26.

Here's the progress I have made on the candle holders, including two which are nearing completion:

Every woodworker you ever meet will agree that you can never have too many clamps. If I had more small and medium sized clamps like these I could glue up more candle holders at the same time. That would be spiffy!!!

These will be finished in a couple of days. This summer I will be building several bookcases for my wife's classroom. That project, among others, will occupy much of my time in the shop over the next few months. I just can't wait to get started.

April, 2010: jn3 Current Projects, part 2

2010-04-19T13:29:00.011-05:00

The newly designed candle holders are being prepped for some "mass" production. I need some variety to test whether the design is viable so I'm building 13 more of them with different woods. I'll be using red oak, black walnut, yellow heart, curly maple and spalted pecan in various combinations, and then the buying public will determine which ones are best. Here are the blanks for this project. Once all of them are glued up and trimmed to size I can run them all across the router table one after another.

Also, I finished the stand for the small television et al that will be placed in my mother's kitchen. It is made of red oak, finished with three coats of tung oil and three coats of satin polyurethane. It has only one shelf. The television will sit on top on one end. There will be a phone and a DirecTV box either on it or under it, and there's room for her cat, Lucy to sit on top and look out the window. The back was built in two overlapping parts with a space between so all the cords can snake out the back and not be seen.

April, 2010: jn3 Current Projects

2010-04-13T16:03:00.007-05:00

I'm working on two very different projects at this time. The first one is a shelf, built to order to go in my mother's kitchen. It will hold a small television, among other things, and she had very specific size requirements. For one thing, it had to be large enough so her cat, Lucy, could sit on it if she so desires.

The second project is a new series of candle holders I'm building out several different types of wood. I'm using black walnut, purple heart, curly maple, yellow heart and red oak in various combinations. The ones you see here are curly maple with purple heart, and black walnut with purple heart. I think the effect is a good one and I expect to move several of these through my shops and at the craft fares this summer.

The unifying feature of both projects is the new router table. I used it to cut the joints and to round over the edges for the shelf unit, and to round over the edges on the four candle holders you see here. I plan to rout a cove profile on some other candle holders in this series, and I may use an ogee bit on some more.

Router Table: Part 7

2010-04-05T23:07:00.010-05:00

A quick note up front: The bronchitis is completely gone. The slight rib pain lingers. I'll live.

The table, as reported earlier, is finished to the point where I can use it. Storage to come later, and I'll be able to use the router table to help mill up the parts for it.

I finished the fence as well. Here you can see it from the front. It is mounted to the table saw fence, and I'll be able to use it from either side of the bit by simply turning it around and mounting it to the opposite side of the table saw fence.

I built in the dust collection. There is a channel inside the fence, connecting the opening at the bit to a flexible hose which leads to the "Y" near the floor and then to the vacuum hose itself. I blocked off the other half of the channel inside the fence.

I shouldn't have any major static electricity issues with such a short run of PVC/flexible plastic tubing. If that assumption turns out to be wrong I can always add some grounded copper wire to the system to carry the charge away. For those who don't know, static charges in a dust collection system can be extremely dangerous; a spark generated inside the hose can ignite the wood dust and cause an explosion.

Here is the sacrificial face mounted to the fence. It splits in front to allow access to the bit (I may be over-explaining this for some of you, but others are unfamiliar with the tools of the trade and how they operate). I'll mill up another face with no split and just run a bit up into it to make the opening. I'll have use for both. Also, I think I want to build a much longer version of the split fence to use for jointing the edges of my stock. I don't have a jointer in my shop. If I get one it will need to be a bench-top model because I just don't have room for anything bigger.

Here you can see how the face is attached to the fence. T-bolts run through the fence into the slotted holes in the face. I can slide the face left and right, positioning it where I need it, then tighten down the knobs to secure it in place. If I need one side to be proud of the other (that means one face will protrude farther forward than the other, useful if I'm taking material off of the entire edge of my stock), all I have to do is add some shims behind it and tighten the knobs down, capturing the shims between the face and the fence.

Router Table: Part 6 (Really)

2010-03-31T22:20:00.006-05:00

I had bronchitis. I know I have written about it already, but it needs to be repeated: I had bronchitis so bad I nearly passed out in the shower! And that was AFTER I had gone to the doctor and was already taking antibiotics. My wife was also sick at that time, and she had taken some medicine which made her a little loopy. My son was home, however, and he and his friend, Dylan, from Kansas, drove me to the doctor's office.

The second round of antibiotics was much stronger than the first, and it made an immediate difference. I felt much better by the next morning. But I started coughing a lot. A whole lot. So much so, and so violently, that I tore some muscle tissue in my rib cage. And then I dislocated a rib. It still hurts.

The upshot of all of this is that my router table project was seriously delayed. In fact, just this afternoon I finally got it to the point where I could stand it up. It is now mostly leveled, and I only have to trim it out, add a fence with dust collection built in, and some shelves on the front side, and I have to secure the table to my table saw so it doesn't try to walk away during use.

I have already been asked why I didn't replace the right extension wing of my table saw with the router table. I felt I was better off having as much stability as possible for large projects. Anyway, if I had replaced the wing I would have built all the way to the ends of the rails, so what's the difference, other than having the router mounted a bit further to the left?

You can't see it, but that's a Porter Cable 890 Series router mounted under a Rockler router plate.

Dust collection is built into the table with PVC parts. There's a "Y" attached to allow collection from the fence using the same shop vac.

Tomorrow I have to finish painting a cardinal to be placed on my grandmother's grave in a couple of weeks. While the paint is drying I'll continue working on this router table.

Router Table Interlude

2010-03-09T15:03:00.006-06:00

Over the weekend I came down with something, maybe the flu. Whatever it is it knocked me on my ass for the better part of two days.

I was able to work for a while today, but I started getting tired after about 90 minutes. I have attached the legs to the underside of my table. I'll get more done tomorrow. The glue has to dry anyway.

I had another project going last week. I have written a piece of music for the Alvarado High School Percussion Ensemble to perform, and one of the instruments it calls for is a couple of pieces of PVC. In the end I opted for a couple of pieces of plastic electrical conduit, 90º elbows in fact. And I built a stand to hold them so they can be played. I'll cover that in more detail tonight or tomorrow.

Right now I'm going to sit down and take it easy until my son gets home. And in the meantime you can go to Facebook and start following my page there. That would be greatness!!!

Router Table: Part 6... sort of...

2010-03-04T21:24:00.004-06:00

All right! I had a concern before I started this project, but everything was working out so well I set that concern aside. I probably should have listened to my instincts.

Melamine is a wonderful material. It has very low friction, so objects can move around any way I want them to. Great. Glue won't stick to it very well, either, so anything that gets splattered on it will clean up with little fuss.

But, even though I reinforced the top with a glue line between two layers of hardboard, the material began to flex a little. I added a row of screws along the edge, something I had determined was a bad idea some time ago, and the top was still developing some very slight high spots. Tightening the screws meant flaring out the edges of the counter-sunk holes they were living in, but I tightened two particular screws and one of them started plowing through the bottom of the hardboard.

At that point I threw up my hands. And then I threw out the melamine.

I am building a new top over the same substrate. This top will be thicker, so I'll have to raise the level of the router plate, but that's not really an issue. I'm building it out of MDF, the same material that makes up most of the table already. It's very hard and very flat. And there's no real reason to attach it to the substrate. It will just sit there and there will be no forces applied to cause it to warp out of shape. Right now it is dead solid flat, sitting where it will live from now on.

This weekend I will rout out the hole in the middle, using the old top as my template. The jig I built would do the job just fine, but it will be simpler to align the new top with the old because they are exactly the same size.

I promise to have photos ready very soon!

Router Table: Part 5

2010-03-03T20:30:00.014-06:00

Part five already? Wow.

Well, here's the table with most of the screws in place. I left one unscrewed for some reason. After this there were a few more screws added for stability. I don't want the top to move up and down for any reason.

Here is the top after I chamfered the edges. For those of you who are not woodworkers, "chamfer means to put a 45º bevel on the edge. I do this with a router bit, but it could also be done on a table saw or with a hand plane. I chamfered three edges of the table, leaving the edge that will butt up against the table saw square.

Here's the collection of various pieces of cardboard that serve to raise the top level with the red oak edging, exactly where it should be.

Here you can see the chamfered edge better. Also, there is a coat of tung oil applied to the red oak.

And here is the top. Finished with two coats of tung oil and two coats of satin polyurethane. I sanded in between the second coat of tung oil and the first coat of poly with 220 grit sandpaper. Before applying the last coat of poly I sanded with 320 grit.

This isn't fine furniture, but it deserves to be protected. It will take some wear and tear in my shop.

Next Time: I will begin building the cabinet which will house the router to control both noise and dust collection. And I'll have a little storage in it, too.

A Short Look at My Other Business: Tie Dyed T-Shirts

2010-03-03T11:17:00.035-06:00

I've been know as many things in my day. I think, overall, drummer/rock musician has been the one thing I've been known for the longest. These days most people know me as a woodworker.

But I also tie dye T-Shirts, and I'm taking a little time to write about that here.

My business is called 2112 Tie Dyes, and you can find my work for sale at Etsy. The name may be a bit mysterious to some of you, and others will know exactly what it means. But I'll clear up any questions you may have right here: My favorite band is Rush. Rush's fourth album is called 2112. And all of my shirts are named after Rush songs. That's it in a nutshell.

So, here are a few of my shirts...

This is called Far Cry. It is an adult, long sleeved, extra large T-Shirt. It's a 100% cotton heavy weight shirt. This is perfect for spring and fall in the northern states, or winter in the south. Maybe not the winter we just had, but still...

Subdivisions is a 100% cotton child's T-Shirt. it's a small, with very short sleeves. Some little girl is going to be the hit of her school in this.

Here is Madrigal II... because I sold Madrigal in 2009. My son is modeling this shirt. He is 5'9" tall and weighs less than 150 lbs., and this is a lose fit without being baggy. This is a 50/50 cotton/poly blend, and the size is adult large.

UPDATE: THIS SHIRT SOLD LATE IN THE DAY ON THURSDAY.

Here is War Paint, another long sleeved shirt. This one is stretchy. The label says it's an extra large, but it fits like a large. It's pretty warm, too, and it would look great under a denim or leather jacket.

And finally we have Working Them Angels. This is an adult medium, 100% heavy weight cotton shirt. It sells for $26.00.

There are many other shirts from which to choose in my shop. Please stop in and see which ones you want to wear or give to a loved one.

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I am participating in the I Made It Blog Party at Everything Etsy. Go check it out!

Router Table: Part 4

2010-03-02T13:16:00.003-06:00

Alrighty! Here's the melamine top still attached to the jig, but the opening has been routed out. Perfectly, I might add. It was absolutely dead solid perfect, exactly on the lines where I laid out the job a few days earlier.

There is one mistake on this piece, but it was caused by my crappy jigsaw. near one corner of the opening in the top you can see a small nick in the white surface. The saw just had a mind of it's own, turned right and got about 1/32" outside the line. And yes, I yelled.

This is just the top removed from the jig. The mistake is just visible on the upper left of the opening.

The next task was to lay out the rest of the attachment points on the top and the substrate. The good news is that I already had the two points you can see here transferred to the substrate, so all I had to do was screw the top down, lay out the pattern, countersink the points, and sink the screws.

I prefer to use coated decking screws for almost all the work I do that requires screws. Those zinc coated screws you can buy at the big box stores are soft and very prone to cam-outs and/or breakage. I stopped using them a while ago and have had far fewer temper tantrums in my shop since.

Here's the top attached to the substrate. The sides have been squared up and the whole thing is now at it's finished dimensions.

The pattern for attaching the screws is designed to hold the top flat and to ensure that it can only be attached one way. And this isn't all the attachment points. There will be a photo of all of them in the next installment.

The top of the table and the router plate weren't exactly the same. The plate stood just a hair proud of the surface of the top. I had some packaging in the house, some of those boxes they over-package DVDs in, the ones that look exactly like the plastic DVD case. I was going to throw them away until I noticed they were just about the right thickness for this job. I cut them into pieces, distributed them evenly around the underside of the melamine top and screwed everything into place. Perfect fit. Seriously. On the first attempt, too.

Here's the whole thing turned upside down. Three of the four red oak edging pieces have been applied, and you can see the fourth one. I was going to attach these with glue and screws, but I decided not to use the glue in case I want to take it apart sometime in the future for some as yet unknown reason. You never know.

Next Time: The edging is chamfered, a finish is applied, and work begins on the underside of the router table.

Router Table: Part 3

2010-02-28T23:24:00.029-06:00

So, this is about where I left off last time, yes? The jig is built, the melamine top is screwed into place, in perfect alignment so the jig will guide my router bit to cut out the exact shape I want in the exact location I want it. The reason we build jigs is to make a job easy, controllable and, if needed, repeatable. And this jig meets the first two requirements.

Excellent!

The next thing to do is to place the router on the melamine top and start routing. As you can see here the router rides perfectly level because the center piece of the jig has a melamine top of it's own made of scrap pieces left over from the construction of the real top.

Here is the piece with part of the routing done. I started a little north of the lower right corner, moving clockwise, against the rotation of the bit so I can control the movement of the router. If you move with the rotation of the bit ("Climb Routing") the router can get away from you and accidents can result. There is a time and place for that technique, but this ain't it.

My wife, Debra, was kind enough to take this shot of me during the routing procedure. As you can see I am wearing all the proper safety gear, including safety glasses, respirator and ear plugs.

Here the work is nearly finished. One thing about hardboard, melamine coated or not; it may be a tiny bit brittle and very heavy to work with, but at least it produces mountains of nasty dust when you cut it! It is a remarkably versatile product when used properly, though.

So here it is with the dust vacuumed off. It looks a little better this way, yes?

Next time: I'll size the top and begin the process of mounting it to the substrate.

Router Table: Part 2

2010-02-28T15:22:00.010-06:00

Things are shaping up nicely! I have the top nearly finished as of this writing. I'll begin taking you through the steps up to this point. I'm going to do this in small, digestible chunks for those of you who are not woodworkers. For the sawdust lovers who are reading this, please be patient... I'll get to the details you want soon enough.

Here is the material I'm using for my top. It's 1/8" melamine coated hardboard laminated to regular 1/8" hardboard. The opening for the router plate has been rough cut (VERY rough cut... I hate my jigsaw), and two points have been located and drilled out so that it can be mounted to the jig I used to rout out the opening to it's finished dimensions. The same points will be used to mount it to the substrate of the router table itself when the time comes.

Here you can see the finished jig. The two points I have circled with pencil line up with the two drilled points on the melamine top. When screwed down the top lines up perfectly with the jig so that the opening I cut matches the opening I have already drawn onto the top. The melamine surface mounted in the center of the jig serves only to to keep the router base level so the sides of the opening will be at right angles to the top. It also makes the job a lot easier because there is no chance of the router suddenly tipping to the side during a lapse of concentration on my part.

Here is the top screwed onto the jig, ready for routing. You can see the size of the whole thing as compared to my small level, which is one foot long.

And here is the router with a bearing guided bit chucked in it. The bearing rides on the inside edge of the jig I built while the cutters slice off the melamine. The bearing and the jig keep the cutters from removing too much material and the result is an opening that is perfectly sized to fit my router plate.

Next time: I'll actually turn on the router and get to the fun part!

Router Table: Part 1

2010-02-26T15:55:00.004-06:00

This is the substrate for my new router table. It consists of a layer of 3/4 Birch Plywood on bottom and 3/4 Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) on top. It is stiff and flat, two things one really needs in a router table. The whole thing will be topped off with the big white sheet you see in the upper portion of this photo, and I'll explain that in a minute.

You can see the outline of my router plate traced onto the surface with a hole cut into the center to accept the router itself. I cut the hole with my jig saw. I own the worst jig saw in the long and storied history of power tools, by the way. I think I shall recycle it as a paper weight at the first available opportunity.

The actual surface of my router table will be made of 1/8" Melamine hardboard, which you can see in the first photo. I have laminated a sheet of 1/8" hardboard and a sheet of 1/8" melamine hardboard together because the glue line binding the two creates a stiffer product than 1/4" melamine hardboard alone. However, I still have to add a very thin layer of... something I have yet to identify, in order to raise the melamine to dead-level with the surface of the router plate. Or I can cut down the surface of the MDF under the plate so the plate will drop down to be level with the Melamine. I'll do with this what I do with most of my projects: I'll figure it out as I go along.

This is the jig I built to guide my router when I cut the hole in the melamine for the router plate. The glue is still drying in this photo, which accounts for all the clamps. The melamine will be mounted on top with the hole already rough-cut into it, then the router, fitted with a straight bit with a bearing on the bottom will be guided by the jig from underneath.

Distressed Pine Candle Holder, Honey Brown

2010-02-25T11:42:00.008-06:00

This Distressed Pine Candle Holder is a beautiful addition to any home. It's made of pine, scuffed, stained and gorgeous. It holds 4 candles and looks wonderful on a coffee table, dining table, or in your master suite.

I have a second unit for sale just like this one, so it will be easy to get a pair of them for your home.

Scented candles to fit these, and most of my other candle holders, are available from Candles by Laura, another fine Etsy seller.

•••••

I am participating in the I Made It Blog Party at Everything Etsy. Go check it out!

• • • • •

A Star is Born

2010-02-22T15:53:00.010-06:00

My son asked me to build a five pointed star for some school group he's in. It needed to be pretty big, but not so tall that he would have trouble moving it through classroom doors. We ended up with a 5' 8" star.

There was actually a mistake in the original design. Somehow I ended up with an angle of 124º on the sides of the five "kites" that join to create the star you see here. That really didn't work very well. After dry-fitting four points together the fifth one wouldn't fit. In a hurry, I sent an e-mail to my best friend, Patrick Underwood, asking him what the proper angle was. He got back to me in an equal hurry, telling me it should be 126º. I recut the pieces and, with a tiny bit of trimming, everything fit perfectly.

They will be painting this star once it gets to school, so I was done with it as soon as I finished filling and sanding it. It wouldn't do to send it to school only to hear that the kids got splinters when handling it.

Honey Mesquite Candle Holders

2010-02-20T15:50:00.007-06:00

Here are a pair of very cool candle holders made from one of my favorite woods, Honey Mesquite. The lines are simple, letting the natural beauty of this stunning hardwood shine through.

The color is red-brown, rustic, with darker markings and golden highlights. It changes with the changing lighting conditions.

This is a dense, heavy wood. It is durable, able to stand up to repeated, continuous use. The grain is course, but it has been refined, tamed for use in the most romantic of settings.

This pair will be equally at home in the dining room, den, or in your master suite. One pair of candles is included with your purchase from my Etsy shop.

And while you're looking at the Honey Mesquite Candle Holders, check out the rest of my candle holders, wine rests and bookends at my Etsy shop, and at my 1000Markets shop.

I Made It! – Blog Party at Everything Etsy (and Giveaway!)

2010-02-20T15:38:00.002-06:00

I'll be participating in the I Made It! Blog Party at Everything Etsy this Thursday, February 25, 2010. Drop by and see what I'm promoting this week, and what the other participants have in store for you.

Clamp Rack

2010-02-16T23:16:00.009-06:00

I installed this small project today. I had some time to kill, and I needed a place for my large clamps. I used to hang them from a rafter near the back of the building, but since I installed the assembly table my head will be occupying some of that space whenever I use my drill press. I was hanging them on my lumber rack for the past week or so, but that can't continue forever.

So I built this. It took about 20 minutes to put it together. I built it out of 2x4s and 3/4 plywood, with 2 inch deck screws holding it all together. It's not very big, but it doesn't have to be. I don't own that many large clamps because most of my projects are small. This holds all of my current collection and gives me plenty of room to grow.

My smaller clamps now hang from the afore mentioned rafter. I'm not tall enough to bump into those. Now I just need a lot more clamps.

Cleaned Up the Woodshop

2010-02-15T14:18:00.010-06:00

Alrighty!!! I have pretty much put everything in it's place in the woodshop. And for the first time in months my bench is clear of all clutter and ready for me to start a brand-spankin'-new project.

That new project will be a big five pointed star for my son's school. 6 feet tall. Plywood. And I should have already started it but I need a couple of bits of information first, so I'll begin building it later this week. I still don't really know what it will be used for, but they need it, he wants me to build it, and that's enough for me.

And then I'll build my router table! I've been waiting for this for about a year! I just can't wait to get moving on it.

You can see in these photos how the new assembly table is the same height as the bench. It's also the same height as the table saw. This allows me to use both the bench and the assembly table as out-feed support for long pieces or sheet goods. In many cases I'll still need a roller stand or two between the table saw and the tables, but the added support the tables can provide is a nearly priceless addition to my shop.

I've had a great time putting all these pieces in place, and I'm going to enjoy the building process on the router table as well. After that, it's time to put all this equipment to good use. My Design Style Guide teammates are probably thinking I have given up building new candle holders and wine rests. In reality I'm just gearing up to add some major twists to my designs.

Workshop Upgrades

2010-02-14T14:59:00.009-06:00

I have added a set of cubby-holes to store my screws, nuts, bolts, earplugs, etc. And I added some dowels to hold small clamps and a strip along the bottom to hold spring clamps.

This, along with the shelves under the new assembly table, clears up vast amounts of space for storage. I've been cramped into this building for close to two years, but I always knew I could make more room by building the new table. Ironic, really, since the assembly table is the largest single item in my shop.

As shown before, the arm that holds the vacuum hose for my drill press has been moved. And I upgraded it with two new handles to make adjusting it easier. I thought about putting on the side of the press opposite the work light, but when I had it that way before I had obstacles on both sides of my work piece. This way I can simply place the flexible tube around the light so I can see clearly, and the right side of my work piece is open. Problem solved! And the arm can lift out of the way if needed.

Assembly Table: Mostly Finished

2010-02-07T12:53:00.005-06:00

I still don't have the drawers built, and lots of tools still need to be reorganized, but here you can see the table with much of the clutter removed.

The chamfered edge has been sanded, and I'll apply a coat or two of polyurethane in the very near future. The poly will protect the surface and make everything just a bit slippery so it will be easy to move projects around as need. I could easily wax the surface if I wanted to make it slicker still, but I don't.

I have also moved the drill press arm from it's old, temporary location to this new spot, mounted high above the drill press itself. A higher mounting point means more stability as the arm will be used in a more vertical manner than before. This is how I designed it in the first place, knowing it would eventually live in this new location. the thing is mostly made of 1/2 inch plywood so it can flex a bit if needed. It works best when it doesn't have to support much of it's own weight at the same time.

Here you can see the arm from the side. It has a shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand to hold the vacuum hose in place. I used it about an hour after this photo was taken and it worked great with no adjustments during the operation. I always had to fiddle with it during use in the old location.

Now I must clean up a bit more, then start building the big star for Trevor's school group. After that I have a couple of things I need to do for my online marketing team, Design Style Guide. I'll be participating in the Easter Give-A-Way, and I think I'm going to build something specifically for that event.

When I'm done with those things I'll start building my router table. It will replace the right extension wing on my table saw. I've been itching to start this for the last few months.

Assembly Table: More Progress

2010-02-03T15:50:00.013-06:00

I've managed to clear out a lot more space in my shop and I haven't even rearranged the tools yet. I built this lumber storage rack yesterday and got a lot of sheet goods stored underneath it. The rack system I had before was mostly useless. This is all to help with the secondary function of the assembly table, which is to get all the clutter out of my shop. When the drawers are finished I'll be able to store all of my tools and keep my work surfaces clear of obstructions.

I have routed the chamfer onto the edge of my new table. I'll sand it and wipe on a coat or two of polyurethane to protect it and make it a bit more slippery.

Tomorrow I'll get a little more done on this project, then put it aside and start working on a five-pointed star for my son. He needs a star that six feet tall. I'm led to believe this has something to do with school. I'm building it out of plywood, trying to keep it light enough so it can be moved around the school, and short enough so it will fit through the doors there.

Assembly Table Continues

2010-02-02T15:26:00.009-06:00

I now have a top on the table. I used 3/4 birch plywood for the top.

The shelves are 11/64 inch plywood. The lower shelves are reenforced with 2x4 material spanning the space underneath, while the upper shelves are reenforced with 3/4 birch ply under the front and back, and from above on the sides, where the supports also serve as low sidewalls to keep things where they are intended to be kept.

I finally have a permanent home for my drill press. I'll move the support arm for the vacuum attachment in a day or two, and I'll be done with that. I'll also be routing a slight chamfer onto the edge of the table this week. The table sits at the same height as my table saw, so the chamfer will be of some benefit when I'm ripping long stock and need to use the table as outfeed support.

The first thing I'll be doing tomorrow is cleaning up and moving a few things out of my shop... like the display unit that looks like a ladder. Those weathered boards standing up on the table top are the shelves that bridge the rungs of the ladder. These pieces will have a very nice, comfortable home right next door in our cozy little storage building.

Next I'll build the drawers in the center section, but I'll have to wait a while to get started because I have a couple of other projects which must be completed first.

Assembly Table Progress, part one

2010-01-11T13:17:00.011-06:00

I'm building an assembly table against the back wall of my shop. The building is VERY overcrowded at the moment. I'm stepping around stuff and moving things every day so I can reach the walls and floor and build this table. It's not much fun doing things this way, and the photos are difficult as well, but this is what I have, and it will be fine in the end.

This unit will consist of the table top (natch), a bottom shelf on both ends and the two sections beside the ends, and a middle shelf in the two sections beside the ends. The center two sections will eventually hold some drawers. The bottom shelf will hold an air compressor on one end, with no middle shelf over it to allow easy access. And I'm building the other end of the table the same way in case I have need of easy access to some other tool I haven't considered yet. And I have no idea whatsoever if any of that description was clear. There will be more photos, though, so that should take care of it.

Right now I have most of the framework built. I would have been further along, but the weather has been so cold lately it's been very difficult to work. It was 8º F here in North Texas a few nights ago. It's hard to pick up a drill driver or use a hammer when you can't feel your fingers, and my heater just doesn't have enough power to overcome that sort of arctic blast.

There will be more photos later, and I will update you at that point.

BeachyRustica: Design Style Guide Artist Interview

2010-01-10T00:18:00.005-06:00

Okay, wood fans. I'm making a commitment to blog more in the coming months. Right now, however, you can read an interview I conducted over at our new Design Style Guide Community blog. Check it out. You'll get to read about the beautiful drawer pulls you see here. The artist is really an... well, an artist.

I'm a Featured Blogger!

2009-12-14T11:17:00.007-06:00

If you cruise over to Home Office Furniture and look in the upper left hand corner you'll see a little box that says "Featured Blog." And jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks is the featured blog at this time.

I'm very happy that someone besides the people I can recognize on sight is reading my blog. And now that I'll have a little more time to devote to it I plan to update it soon with brand new swashbuckling tales of furniture design and construction.

Thanks, Home Furniture Depot, for featuring my blog! I really do appreciate it.

Design Style Guide: My Grandmother's Eyes, part two

2009-07-25T19:05:00.002-05:00

I'd appreciate all the traffic I can stir up to go to the Design Style Guide Blog and read my latest post, My Grandmother's Eyes, part two. Thank you.

Getting Wood

2009-07-23T01:06:00.005-05:00

I have this friend in Alvarado, another woodworker named Tim Marko. When I met him he handed me a card for the sawyer from whom he buys all his hardwood. The sawyer's name is Fritz Hannaman, and he lives about 10 miles away from me, on a little road outside of Mansfield, Texas.

Tim showed me several projects he's built with wood purchased from Fritz, and the wood was, in every case, as beautiful as Tim's craftsmanship. That's no small feat, either, as Tim is very good at what he does.

I figured I should head on over and see what I could find of interest in Fritz's shop. It turns out I found pretty much everything there to be of interest.

I picked up all the wood you see in the back of my truck last week, paid Fritz $43.00 for the whole pile. He even threw in some black walnut off-cuts he was going to use for kindling, charged me nothing for them.

I got lots of black walnut and some spalted pecan. I can't wait to use the pecan!!! I've already milled up some black walnut legs for a few candle holder blanks I had sitting on my bench. The stock he gifted to me was superior to the black walnut I had used previously, so I made the legs a bit taller to show off the wood.

I'll buy more wood from Fritz, and in the near future. He actually sells a lot of the wood from his small mill to the Rockler store I have been buying from. Going to Fritz directly will save me tons of money. I'll still shop at Rockler for tools and hardware, but Fritz is now my go-to guy for all things hardwood.

This new-found source of wood presents me with a new problem: Soon, and for the first time since I joined Design Style Guide I will have more products for sale online than I have spaces available to display them at our team website. What to do, what to do...

First Monday Trade Days, Weatherford, Texas, May 30, 2009

2009-05-31T20:14:00.052-05:00

Saturday, May 30, 2009. The birthday of Tony Bartolowits and Jamie Ezell, two people you've probably never heard of. It was also the date for the June, 2009 edition of First Monday Trade Days in Weatherford, Texas.

Rachel Bates was there, in her usual location (K44) with her TileSmile wares, brightening up the scenery with her beautiful smile.

She had lots of foot traffic at her corner of the pavilion, though lots of that traffic was male. It seems that men stop and look at her tiles all the time, but they never buy them. When women stop there is a good chance they will make a purchase. I'm not sure why that is, but it could be because the men want a closer look at Rachel. That's only a guess, mind you.

I was also located in my usual spot, that being #K3, under the pavilion. I had company, this time in the form of Ellen Kreager instead of my wife, Debra. Debra was home, resting after a hectic week of school, and Ellen wanted to test the waters in Weatherford, selling her leather pillows, which are also available online under the name of Thunder Moon Designs. She has some absolutely beautiful pillows for sale, most of which I had not seen before.

Once again, I used my tie dyed t-shirt display as a flag pole, if you will, to call attention to our shop. It can be seen for a long distance, which is perfect in a crowded place like this. I have a hole already drilled into the top so I can add an actual flag to the display later. This will be a tie dyed flag, naturally.

I've decided I need a different display so my candle holders get more attention. I have a couple of tables set up at every event, and I built a small display to show off some of my products and separate them from the mass of wood and wax on the rest of the table. What I need, though, is to get the candle holders up in the air, in multiple layers, instead of all on the same plane, sitting on a flat table top. The way I have displayed my wares at every event I've ever attended, no one can really see them clearly at a medium distance, much less from across a crowded parking lot like we have in Weatherford.

I need to catch the attention of passers-by at a reasonable distance, and to do that I need to build a new display fixture. And I have drawn inspiration from the "step-ladder" fixture Ellen set up to show off her pillows. It spreads out wide, so it's fairly stable. Her version holds three shelves, so it can display lots of merchandise. And the ladder folds up for easy transport and storage. I figure I can have a slightly wider version ready to go for the next show in Weatherford, which will be on July 4. I'm looking forward to getting in the shop and building this thing.

Last time we were in Weatherford we had, for all intents and purposes, a yard sale next door. It was unpleasant. This time we were graced with Sheree Gailey and her cousin, Sarah Gailey, and later with her daughter, who's name I do not remember (sorry). They were selling purses, designer sunglasses, wallets and keychains. And they were fun to be around, easy on the eyes, and good company when we weren't talking to customers. I honestly hope they show up again, and I wish them much success. They had more sales than just about anyone in our area, and all of those sales were to female customers, obviously.

I had four sales Saturday, three of which occurred after I had packed almost everything away to drive back home at the end of the day. I sold two shirts and two candle holders, and I took a picture of the lady who bought the first shirt of the day. I don't know her name, but she was in her 60s, was really cool, and she had bright red hair with hot pink highlights! Unfortunately the pink barely shows in this photo.

So, next time in Weatherford I should have the new display built and ready to put to use. And I would love to have Ellen with me again, and to have the lovely ladies selling purses and accessories next door.

Rachel will be in Tennessee on the Fourth of July, so her space will be empty. But I will be in attendance, candle holders and t-shirts at the ready, to help bring a bit more beauty and joy to the world as we know it.

•••••

Martine Petra

2009-05-26T13:43:00.007-05:00

I'll be moving the interview I conducted with Martine Petra soon. I'm moving it to the Design Style Guide team blog so it can live with the rest of my interviews. As a matter of fact, all the interviews on this blog will be moved to the DSG blog within a couple of months.

In the meantime, you should check out this bit of beauty by Martine Petra. I love this photograph, and it's for sale, so maybe you're the one to buy it?

And while you're visiting Design Style Guide, read up on this cool contest.

Lauren Alexander: The Interview

2009-05-04T23:06:00.004-05:00

I have conducted an interview with Lauren Alexander, one of the coolest watercolor artists I've ever seen, and I posted this interview over on the Design Style Guide team blog. Go read the interview, take a look at Lauren's work, and let me know what you think of it.

DSG North Texas

2009-04-19T14:34:00.013-05:00

On Saturday, April 18, 2009, three of the charter members of the DSG North Texas group met for the first time at La Madeleine on South Cooper in Arlington, Texas. And there was much rejoicing.

Present at this meeting were Ellen Kreager of Thunder Moon Designs, Liz Ballard of Lizardo Art, me, Liz's boyfriend, Ben, and my wife, Debra. Soup and sandwiches were eaten, tea consumed, and we talked for 90 minutes or so about DSG, Texas, our North Texas group, how to go about promoting each other's work, craft shows, interior designers, etc.

La Madeleine was a surprisingly good place to meet, even if they didn't have a private room. When I was still a member of Etsy Texas Crafters we met at a different La Madeleine, in Fort Worth, and we had a room to ourselves. That works better, but this was fine. On a Saturday afternoon there are lots of people stopping in from the Parks Mall, but they don't stay very long, and nobody bothered us while we were talking.

What will come out of this meeting and a couple of discussions in our online networking group is a plan of attack, a flexible idea of how to sell our own work while promoting the work of the other members of DSG North Texas. And one of the most likely ideas to come out of this will be attending en masses the various craft shows in the area. This will require reserving booth space next to -- or at least near -- each other, talking to customers about how something from another member shop will go well with whatever they are looking at in our own shops, and having fun with the customers while taking the whole concept seriously. I know this works because I've seen it very successfully demonstrated at comic book conventions and science fiction conventions.

I have really good feelings about this group. A few more members will help us spread the marketing message out to enough customers for the idea to take hold, and I have some candidates in mind, but this can work even with the three members who attended this meeting. We're all intelligent, we all want to increase our sales, we all produce high quality consumables, we all have hair on the tops of our heads...

Okay, not really sure where I was going with that, but I do know we can succeed, that this will work for us. I left this meeting with a big smile on my face. I can't wait to tell Kristina Law, our Design Style Guide Big Cheese in Charge, all about it!

First Monday Trade Days, Weatherford, Texas, April 4, 2009

2009-04-15T07:00:00.004-05:00

This time out we had great weather in Weatherford! Now if we can only figure out how to keep Debra from frying in the sun...

This recounting of events will be short, due to my tight schedule this week and next. I'm building a set of shelves for a client in Irving, some drawer fronts and a cabinet door for a friend in Fort Worth, a pair of closet organizers for my son (haven't started that one yet), and I have to do some work for my mother today, Wednesday.

We made a few sales, had a lot of interest. Oddly we sold no woodworking at all, though lots of people were looking. The big display I built for the tie dyes caught everyone's attention, drew people in to our booth, but I have to tweak the setup a bit next time so the shirts don't obscure the candle holders. I think many people completely missed the rest of our wares, seeing only the T-shirts.

Rachele Bates of TileSmile fame (also a fellow member of Design Style Guide) was present, along with her friend, Beth. They had a better setup than we did, and they had more sales. From a distance you could see everything in their booth. Okay, maybe you couldn't see every tile they had for sale, but you could see that they were selling tiles, and you could see it clearly. That's very nice.

I'm considering placing the T-shirt display farther out in front of our booth. It will eventually have a tie dyed flag on top. By placing it way out in front it will still draw people toward our booth, but they will be able to see the woodworking as well.

Next month's space is already paid for, and we're expecting sales figures to climb again. And we'll be adding more shows in other cities as the year progresses. Maybe we'll be in your town sometime during the next few months. Look for us!

Meals on Wheels Benefit Show, Mineral Wells, Texas

2009-03-29T05:00:00.003-05:00

On the 14th of March, 2009, Debra and I attended the Meals on Wheels benefit show in Mineral Wells, Texas. We took all my candle holders and most of my T-shirts, and we attracted a lot of attention. Very little of that attention was from customers, but we made out just fine anyway.

This craft show was designed to benefit Meals on Wheels of Mineral Wells. Unfortunately it rained for four days leading up to the show, which was held at the local rodeo arena, which has a dirt parking lot, which turns into a lake of fine, silty mud 1 to 3 inches deep in the rain. Not the ideal situation to encourage folks to take time out of their busy weekends for the purpose of buying candle holders and tie dyed t-shirts.

When we arrived, our Honda Element was reasonably clean. Driving the 50 yards from the street to the building was all it took to change that. And it took a pressure hose and lots of elbow grease to get it clean a few days later.

They let us drive right into the arena, set up wherever we wanted, and then we parked the truck outside and got to work arranging our merchandise in the most eye-catching manner possible.

A couple of days before the show we bought a 5 foot long table that folds in the middle. It fits behind the back seat of our truck. It worked out great, so we'll be purchasing another one soon, probably before the next First Monday show in Weatherford, Texas. We need the second table so we don't have to use the two saw horses you can see in this photo. Beautiful, ain't they?

As the day wore on, some of the venders left so we moved our tables. Twice, actually. We ended up right beside a vender we'll probably be dealing with for years to come.

We didn't make one red cent at the show. We actually lost money because we bought three candles from a great vender called Brown Sugar Antiques, and we bought our lunch. But we did get to listen to some truly horrific Karaoke that made me want to run a rusty ice pick through both my eardrums, so it all evened out.

Among the items that were being auctioned that night was a guitar signed by Willy Nelson. Also on hand was a Willy Nelson look-a-like. It was interesting seeing this guy just walk in, unannounced, and begin inspecting everyone's shops. It was funny to see people's reactions.

As I said, we didn't make any money at this show, but we picked up two jobs, possibly a third. I'll be selling three dozen t-shirts to one guy, and Brown Sugar Antiques wants to do some business with me as well. I'll probably be designing a candle holder just for the candles they sell, wholesale that to them, and they will be making a small scented candle as a refill for the ones I sell with my candle holders and I'll send all my clients to them. Their candles smell great even after burning them for two weeks.

Next weekend is the April show in Weatherford. I'll update that event right here after we get back.

•••••

Interview with Kristin Love

2009-03-26T14:48:00.004-05:00

I have interviewed Kristin Love, a potter from Washington. The interview is posted on the official Design Style Guide blog right now and I would appreciate if you would not only read it, but leave a comment and maybe even link back to it from your blog or in a forum.

Thank you very much.

Featured

2009-03-10T15:53:00.004-05:00

I have written a piece for the Design Style Guide blog this week in which I talked about four Etsy shops and the beautiful art they produce and sell. And now I've been mentioned by one of those artists, in her blog. Thanks, Liz, of Lizardo Art fame, for the recognition. I appreciate it.

First Monday, part four

2009-03-08T16:10:00.007-05:00

Wow... it was really cold and windy in Weatherford, Texas, last weekend. Seriously cold! Apparently the good people of Weatherford thought so as well. I know they didn't turn out to buy anything.

Friday we got our tables set up in space # K25. Next to us in K24 was a guy known as "Cowboy" who makes furniture and picture frames out of reclaimed wood, mostly from demolished barns and fences. We were the only two people under the pavilion and were all the way on the other end of it from the nearest booth, a metal sculpture guy who was setting up all day against the fence out by the road. And we sat there all day staring at the ground, reading, talking... certainly not selling. A grand total of six people dropped by our booth, and one of those was under five years of age.

The good news is that we figured out the best way to set up and display our wares.

Saturday the wind was high and it was below freezing until almost noon. I'm fairly certain I lost a couple of important body parts to frost bite. We set up on the ground this time so potential customers would have more room to move about and take a look at everything. The only problem was that, other than Cowboy, we were still the only people on our side of the pavilion, and since we were facing away from the rest of the venders, and were partially shielded by the pavilion itself, no one could tell we were there.

I talked to the nice ladies at the office and changed our location to the other end and other side of the pavilion, next to Rachel, a friend of mine who makes handmade tiles. She has a great Etsy shop called TileSmile. With a little tweaking we have arranged to have similar spaces near each other for the next few months. And we want to get the pavilion filled with artists, so come on out if you fit that description. And if you don't fit that description, come on out anyway and buy something from one of us. You'll be glad you did, and you'll probably get a really good deal.

It was still really cold all day Saturday. Most people were just rushing around trying to stay warm, which makes you wonder why they were walking around in the 35 mph wind in the first place. We had 25 or 30 people stop by our booth and we made one sale. But we saw enough to realize it will be much better as the weather gets warmer.

I took a short walk through the rest of the booths around lunch-time. There was the usual mix of crap and art, and people were buying the crap because it was cheap. I think they were just buying something to justify walking around in the bitter north wind.

During the day we found out about another show in Mineral Wells on March 14, this one benefitting Meals on Wheels. It costs us nothing for booth space but they are asking for either a donation at the end of the day or a donation of an item for their auction that evening. I spent part of yesterday and today building two candle holders to donate. They are both one-of-a-kind.

And so our adventures in craft shows have begun. At the end of this week our local school will be on Spring Break and Debra and I will be in Mineral wells, indoors, selling candle holders, bookends, wine rests, and maybe a few T-shirts. And I'll let you know how that goes.

•••••

If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below.

Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

First Monday, part three

2009-02-25T21:06:00.005-06:00

Only one more day until we go to Weatherford for First Monday Trade Days. Events have conspired to prevent me from producing as many pieces as I would have liked, but I'll still be taking over 100 candle holders and bookends to the sale. Just over, but still...

I was able to take ten mesquite candle holders all the way through the finishing process in one day today. That is not generally thought of as a good idea, but it was just sunny and warm enough to pull it off, without being too warm. Tomorrow I will complete the finish on some curly maple candle holders and I'll be done with the manufacturing for this show.

I have one more sign to design, and I have to affix two signs to a small billboard I built a couple of days ago. After that I only have to pick up a table we're renting and load the truck and we'll be ready to go. I will post the concluding chapter of this little saga, along with photos from the show, after our return Saturday evening... and by "after" I probably mean Sunday or Monday. Right now I need to rehab my knee. I tripped over a box of candle holders here in my office earlier and landed on my right knee. It's swollen and it hurts, but I'll recover fast.

You, Too, Can Be Self-Employed, version 2009

2009-02-23T14:40:00.018-06:00

Every year my beautiful wife, Debra, takes me to school to present a talk to her reading classes at Alvarado Junior High. This talk began, in 2004, with me telling the kids all about being a graphic artist and how important reading is in that job. Since I began doing this I have stopped being a graphic artist and started being a woodworker. So, last year, I changed the talk, splitting the time between one job and the other.

Since last year my business started taking off, so this year I limited the graphic artist portion of the talk to about 10 or 12 minutes, spending the rest of the time talking about making sawdust. And I even included a video slideshow I made for Design Style Guide, the team I'm on which serves to promote over 900 artists and designers worldwide to interior designers looking for something unique with which to decorate a project. I think it went well.

I conducted this little talk by introducing the kids to the world of the graphic artist. I told them about designing logos, dealing with clients, typesetting documents, brochures and magazines. I showed them several slides detailing some of my actual jobs. And after about 15 minutes or so I was ready to move on to the next chapter in my life as a self-employed man-about-town.

The kids were interested in both jobs, but I think I grabbed them with the woodworking more than graphic arts. Of course, this probably happened because I like it better, too.

I showed them my shop, my power tools, the bench I designed and built myself. I showed them several examples of the candle holders and bookends, bookcases and wine rests that I have built in the past couple of years. I showed them the pair of cabinets I built for Clay Roberts, the art teacher at the Junior High School. And I saw their eyes light up as they became more and more interested, sometimes in spite of themselves.

After we went through all the slides I played the video slide show I produced for Design Style Guide a couple of months ago. That really caught their attention. They saw how different people doing completely different jobs could work together to reach a common goal. And the boys got to whistle at Martine Petra, a photographer in DSG who is frequently the model in her own photographs.

And after the video they got to pass around some samples of my work. I let them handle several candle holders made of different kinds of wood, along with some samples of wood that were unfinished so they could see the difference which, in many cases, is dramatic. They saw cherry, pine, red heart, and cedar in the finished state, and cherry and curly maple unfinished.

In years past I know I have inspired a couple of kids to pursue art as a career. One in particular is planning to go to art school after graduation and then go to work for his uncle, who is also a very talented graphic artist working in Dallas. I'd love to find out one or two of these kids decided to make sawdust for a living after college.

Some of these kids might be inspired to become woodworkers later in life. Many of them can take wood shop as an elective when they get to Alvarado High School. Mr. Ransom is a wonderful teacher, as my son has learned over the last two years. He is also able to inspire kids to do more than they thought they could do.

Next year I will cut the graphic art portion of the talk back a bit more because I will have so much more to tell them about woodworking. The classes are 45 - 50 minutes long, so there's very little wiggle room. When the kids start asking questions I frequently get rushed toward the end. I'll fix that problem by talking more about this job I love so much. And next year will be even more successful.

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First Monday, part two

2009-02-17T13:58:00.004-06:00

I now have 90 pieces ready to go to Weatherford for First Monday Trade Days. I should have at least 50 more ready by February 27 & 28.

I'm also working on signage for the event. And I need an 8 foot table. I may have to rent the table. I could build one but it would be difficult to transport to the site.

I'm getting a trailer soon, and that will make things much easier, but right now I don't have it so I need to figure out a work-around.

My First Monday

2009-02-13T22:53:00.011-06:00

There's this thing we have around north Texas. Various cities have Trade Days. "First Monday...", "Second Monday...", "Fifth President's Day...", whatever it is, they have them. I'm sure this isn't unique to north Texas.

Some members of Etsy Texas Crafters have proposed getting several booths in the same area at the First Monday Trade Days in Weatherford, Texas. The price for a booth is very reasonable, so I'm planning to go. This means I have about two weeks left to prepare.

I wish I could round up some members of Design Style Guide to go with me, but we're spread all over the globe. There are several of us in Texas, though, so maybe I can arrange something for the following month. It has been my experience that DSG members are both willing and able to help with just about any project.

Generally speaking, when I build items to sell at Etsy I can get away with producing four or five of a single design. When I sell out I can either produce more or design something new. The only real exceptions to that are bookends and wine rests; I have a large number of both of them in stock. So now I have to stock up for a big show, and I must build multiple numbers of several designs. With all the other things I have to do I'd better get my butt in gear.

I found a short length of Alowood Cherry and decided to make a few candle holders out of it. Alowood is a partially engineered product. They take some wood (Pine? Maple? Chinaberry? Who knows?) and run it through a process that both colors the wood whatever color they want so it looks like something more expensive and hardens it, making it more stable. It works like a softer maple, the color goes all the way through and the company claims they are preserving our hardwood forests by making this out of some unidentified lesser wood that is not in short supply. All I know is this chunk of wood looks good, didn't cost much, and it yielded six beautiful candle holders.

I came up with a different design for these. There are no feet on the bottom. Instead, there is a single short pedestal positioned at a 45º angle across the bottom of each fake cherry candle holder. I like this design because it takes less time to build and I can clamp up a whole bunch of them at the same time by securing them to the top of my bench. With the other design the four feet have to be clamped separately and I run out of clamps in a hurry.

I like this design so much I built ten more candle holders out of some scrap pine I had in the shop. They'll look great when I stain and finish them. My wife likes this design because she thinks it has a bit more elegance to it than the four-legged variety. She may be right. It will be interesting to see which design sells best when the customers can see them side-by-side.

Additionally, I have built ten new cherry candle holders and ten cedar candle holders in the regular style. I have a short piece of red heart I can use to make a couple more candles holders and a longer chunk of mesquite with which to do the same.

The majority of the pieces I take to this show will be made of pine. I can sell them for less than most hardwoods and they still look wonderful, so the customers should scoop them up in a hurry. I'd better stop typing and start making sawdust.

Inauguration

2009-01-20T14:13:00.004-06:00

This is one of the proudest moments in this country's history. Republican or Democrat, no matter the skin color or faith, we can all be proud that we have finally lived up to the promise of this country.

The future is bright. The future is here. Embrace it.

And now I must get back to work. My table saw awaits.

Here Are the Cabinets: The Drawers of the World, Revisited

2009-01-18T15:15:00.009-06:00

So, here are the cabinets I built for my friend, Clay. They are ugly, the drawers are scarred and weren't built for the hardware he wanted me to use, but they serve their purpose well. I'm sure Clay and I could stand on the top together without overtaxing the structure.

Clay is an artist and an art teacher. I'm sure he figures this unit will only get paint all over it anyway, so why bother making it look wonderful to start? He had the drawers and the top (an old door) in his possession already, he wanted the drawers to slide smoothly no matter what they looked like... This is the perfect work center for his purposes.

Thanks to Clay Roberts for these photos.

DSG: The Real Deal

2009-01-16T22:15:00.008-06:00

I am a member of Design Style Guide. This is an Etsy Street Team, yes, but it is so much more than that. I have been contacted by clients to do projects for them, for cash, as a direct result of my membership in DSG. I'm not a cheerleader by nature, but this team is the real deal.

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