All posts tagged: Minwax

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 …

Refinished Coffee Table

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  Things used on this project: 60 Grit sand paper MinWax Dark Walnut Stain Home Made Polyurethane Burnt Almond Valspar Paint (chalk paint supplies) Natural hair paint brush (optional) Antiquing Glaze This is a coffee table that has been sitting in our attic for seven years.  It is a typical coffee table that you would find in any furniture store, and I for the life of me have no idea where we picked it up.  Ever since we started refinishing and painting furniture I have been wanting to get my hands on this thing. First things first, getting this table down from the attic which was not easy since the staircase is EXTREMELY narrow and it is kind of heavy.  So that was fun. 🙂 Then sanding.  I used a 60 grit sand paper with an orbital sander.  This is a veneer top table and a very HEAVY layer of poly.  So………four sanding pads and two and half days later this beautiful top was under all that dark stain!  Once the top was clean and …

Shadow Box

Shadow Box

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Our son recently got a rock tumbler, and needed something to display his finished rocks. So we made a shadow box to put them in. I’ve never worked with glass before, so I was really excited to try this out. I’m making the shadow box out of left over poplar boards from the table top redux. This will make good use of otherwise scrap wood, and save us some money too. I used the table saw to cut the boards down to the height I wanted the box to be. Then I used the router to route out groves that will hold the glass and base. I used the miter saw to cut the ends at 45 degrees. Since I always have trouble with spill out, I decided to stain the boards before glueing them together. I stained the boards with Minwax Dark Walnut stain, and let them dry overnight. The next day, I cut the plexiglass to the size I needed with a razor blade. I inserted the glass into the top groves and …