All posts filed under: Geek

5 Board Bench

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I’m a huge fan of Steve Ramsey from Woodworking for Mere Mortals (link). This week, I made a 5 board bench inspired by Steve’s design. It’s a quick and simple project, and could be completed with limited tools. I started out by cutting this poplar board to length for all my pieces. This wood has lots of character. It’s old, and is full of beetle holes. I butted the bottom of the legs together, and drew a circle with a compass. I used a jigsaw to cut this portion out. I used the table saw to cut the sides at an angle. I cut the same angle on the rails, where they connect to the top. I connected the rails to the legs using pocket screws, then connected the top. I used Minwax Hickory gel stain to darken up the piece. I wanted this bench to look old, so I sanded some of the stain off. I finished it with Minwax water based Polycrylic. I really enjoy this design, and it was super easy to …

Gentlemen’s Caddy

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I started out this week’s project with the intent of making a padauk and walnut box. However, my plans were thwarted at the last moment by my router. I ended up leaving off the top, and adding a divider. The result… the Gentleman’s Caddy.   I had plenty of padauk and walnut lying around the shop, so I cut all my pieces for the glue up. I glued up the boards and clamped them in a matching pattern. Since I was going to run these pieces through the planer, I wasn’t worried about cutting them to the same length. I haven’t made a planer sled, so I usually have to cut the ends off from snipe. I cut the boards to length using my miter saw, at a 45 degree angle. This isn’t a very large piece and won’t be used to hold a lot of weight, so I didn’t worry about using splines. I cut a rabbet with my router table, and inserted a piece of backer board for the bottom. I created the …

Cedar Table with Tapered Legs

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I received an unexpected surprise this week. My Step-Father brought over some wood he’d been keeping in his shop for the last 40 years or so. This wood belonged to a friend of his that past away. I didn’t have a lot of material to work with, but I decided I wanted to make something nice out of it. Something of an heirloom, to pass down, just as it had been passed to me. The cedar had darkened quite a bit over the years, but came back to life after a few passes through the planer. I cut the boards for the top, and joined them together with a biscuit joiner. I wanted the overall look to be rustic, so I didn’t worry about milling out any knot’s or holes. I cut the legs into 1.5″ strips, and glued them together. I squared them up by running them through the jointer and planer. I created a jig to taper the legs, and ran them through the table saw. This is the first time I’ve tried these …

Wall Mounted Bottle Opener

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This week, I made a simple wooden bottle opener. I recessed two magnets into the back to catch the bottle caps after opening, which really adds to the functionality of it. I used scrap cedar and pine from around the shop to make this piece, but you can use anything you have available. I glued the pieces together and let them dry. After about an hour, I took them over to the miter saw, and cut off the edges. Now that my boards have nice clean edges, it’s time to clean up the gaps on the face with my planer. The planer is my new favorite piece of equipment lately. No matter how messy the glue up is, the planer shaves it down nicely. One of the best tips I learned, was to use “Waste Stock” around your work pieces when cutting, to avoid tear out. Here I’ve surrounded my work piece with MDF. It really creates much cleaner edges than from sawing alone. I’ve also used masking (or painter’s tape) when cutting, but I usually …

Tablet Stand

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I love using my tablet. It makes life so much easier. I can quickly look at videos, pictures, read the news, etc. etc. What I don’t like, however, is having to hold the tablet while trying to perform other tasks such as cooking, playing video games, and of course woodworking. I’ve seen a lot of plans out there, but my favorite is the simple wood stand. I’ve made a few of these stands in the past, so I decided to liven this project up a little. I found a cutting board kit at Woodcraft containing pre cut stock of some of my favorite woods; Cherry, Maple, and Purple Heart. Since the boards are already precut, all I had to do is glue them together. A little Tightbond and some clamps, and it was good to go. This is the first time I used a planer, and I am hooked! I’ve always had to be mindful of glue squeeze-out. This usually resulted in using inadequate amounts of glue on my projects. Since I knew any squeeze-out …