WoodDance Studio » Projects

Cancer the Crab Necklace Rack

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:05:46 +0000

My daughter asked me for something to hang her necklaces on. I thought about it for a week and came up with a few designs but nothing seemed worth the effort. Sunday afternoon project time; another piece of recycled mahogany siding from a Frank Lloyd Wright house turned into something cool.

I’ve got an idea! I went online and grabbed an image of a crab that I liked the style of then printed it out the right size for this project and taped it to a piece of the 1950′s siding I had prepped. I cut away the design and marked the edges, transferring the image to the wood. When it was marked, I cut out the crab on the band saw.

With crab cut, I ripped a length of 1/2″ x 1/2″, hand planed it smooth then cut it into two 12″ pieces. After sanding, I made marks 1.5″ apart and drilled 1/4″ holes for the dowel I made. A spot of dark wood glue in each hole, a mallet to knock in the 1.75″ pegs and a quick handmade peg from some denser hardwood to join the two sides.

Here are some images of the project coming together.

[View with PicLens]

Framed painting from recycled wood

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:39:05 +0000

Hi.
Here’s another personal project to come out of my shop recently.
While working on a Frank Lloyd Wright home, the homeowner, knowing how much I like Native American art, gave me a painting from her wall. After nearly a decade hanging in my bedroom this painting has grown on me and I decided to make a frame for it.

For the wood, I used pieces of mahogany removed from the same FLW home. The stock is true 5/4 X 12 but riddled with nails, coated with a hardened finish, oils and some exterior stain.

As with any project, I started with a pencil and paper. Once I had my design, I ripped to width the pieces (a bit oversize) and set them to the thickness planer. I planed down both sides of the wood but concentrated on making one face the usable side. The oil painting is an inch thick so I could only take 3/16″ from the stock.

After surfacing enough roughly sized pieces to make a frame, I milled the pieces to shape and cut a rabbet on the inside edge to retain the painting. Then came the fun part; making up the design! I cut the top and bottom out on the band saw, filed smooth, sanded and viola – ready for assembly.

I didn’t want to buy anything for this project so I used some stain and new poly I had on hand. I haven’t used stain and polyurethane in ages. I made sure to let each coat dry thoroughly and sanded lightly before the next. It’s really amazing how the third coat really brings it all together. I like it and I’m the one that has to sleep with it.

[View with PicLens]

The painting is a David Chethlahe Paladin titled: Talking Gods and The Sacred Twins – 1973

Mahogan-’E’

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:14:06 +0000

A shelf with movable boxes in the form of the letter E.

Here is a gift I made for my daughter this Christmas that I thought I would share. Constructed of Philippine mahogany with 1/4″ birch-ply backing it’s mahogan-’E’. Based on multiples of 5 1/2″ the boxes will fit in any location on the shelf; 3 across the bottom, stacked several high or one here one there.

The shelf was finished with Sikkens Cetol Log Decor then a low-lustre BL Interior Clear topcoat. The boxes were colored with Master’s Solar-Lux dye then covered with 3 coats of Sikkens Interior Clear.

The lumber was all milled to 5/8″ or less and finished with two coats before assembly with a pin nailer. Because of the ultra-low profile of the 23 gauge brads, I only used glue and many pins for the assembly. I predrilled two holes in the birch ply 16″ o.c. for mounting and wrapped each box separately with another wrapped gift in each one.

I enjoyed the result of the letters I made for pulls. Before setting to the the bandsaw, I decided a hand drawn letter looked much better than a stencil or ruler drawn letter and all three of these came out matching italic capital letters. After finishing each with a chisel, sharp knife, sand paper and dye they really look sharp!

Wall of storage!

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:53:47 +0000

At the top of my stairs is a small studio space. The area was so cluttered with stuff it’s been completely inaccessible. I put in a few hours after work each night for a week and built a really nice wall of cabinets. Included in this space is a shelf for a television and VCR with the DVD player discreetly on a shelf below. The base cabinets also support a fish tank for our 10 year old goldfish who has lived through incredible conditions, including months in still 40° water.

I built these cabinets out of birch plywood with a poplar face-frame and piano hinges. All the doors are simple slabs of plywood with no edge treatment. The idea was to get this wall of storage cabinets finished!
After adding an edge to the countertop and a few interior shelves to increase capacity this baby will be ready for paint.