Blue Table

Here is the end result.  A small tabl base made out of pine and a reused top from a TV tray.  The top is made out of beech.

I went to set up my router to cut a chamfer on the edge of the aprons and realized that I can do it faster with a hand plane.  I make my own planes so any time I can use one is great..  Here I used a small smoothing plane made out of ash to cut the chamfer.  A couple of passes and it was done. 

Reused Parts

Lately I find myself reusing or repurposing materials.  Partly because I can't offord a lot and it gives me a lot of joy and satisfaction to give an object or material new life. Today I made a small shaker style table.  The legs were from a batch I had cut and tapered  earlier. The aprons are made out of a piece of pine that is right off of the shelf of Home Depot, milled to 3/4 of an inch.  I ripped the board getting two pieces 3 1/4" wide.  I cut the tenons to fit the mortises that were cut earlier in the legs.  The top is one of two tops I took off of some old TV trays that my neighbour had thrown out.  I sanded down the top and painted it blue.  I'll rub out the top with 0000 steel wool to distress it a little.  I'll finish the table with a oil and wax finish.

Episode Four: Cigar Box Guitar

I'm so excited about the upcoming episode of our show "The Garage".  In this episode I make a cigar box guitar.  These guitars are awesome.  So simple yet so amazing.  I had a lot of fun making these guitars.  In this episode we feature the music of Mike Snowden.  Mike is an awesome musician and maker of cigar box guitars.  Mike hails from Marietta Georgia.  He's a maker of incredible cigar box guitars and he's a fine musician.  He's recorded three Cd's using a cigar box guitar that he hand crafted. The guitars below are the ones I made for the show but check out Mike's website to see the awesome instruments he's made, there you can purchase his Cd's or buy a great cigar box guitar shirt.  I love the shirts and plan on buying one soon.
Thanks for the music Mike.  Check out the show, scroll down the side to see if it is playing on your local access channel and if not- ask your local access cable channel to play it.  We'll send them the DVDs.  

Check out Mike at www.snowdenguitars.com to learn more about his beautiful handcrafted guitars and to purchase his cds.  Mike plays a three and four string cigar box guitar on the Cd's

I finally got around to sanding and finishing the tables.  I went to my friend Jeff's place and ran the tops through his large planer.  I then sanded them and finished them with an oil and wax finish.  The old pine floor boards 'POP' with the oil and wax.  They look very warm.
The table bases were finished with the same treatment.  I love how the contrast of the old tops works with the new bases, they look awesome.

An Old Timer

Yesterday Liesl, Quinn and I visited some friends in Providence.  On the front lawn of their beautiful home is this fantastic Japanese maple tree, the largest I've seen.  I couldn't resist taking this picture.  The tree reminded me of an old man using a cane.  It looks wise and knowledgeable.  The tree is approximately seventy years old.

A+for perseverance

"A whole new meaning to continuing education"
Last evening we went and visited my good friend Glen and his family.  Glen and I first met when he took a class I was teaching at The Worcester Center for Crafts back in 2002.  The class was a one evening a week, ten week long beginning woodworking class. The project for the class was a small table.  We covered a lot of material in the class, how to use the machines, safety, joinery and theory.
This is the table Glen built, it's beautiful.  It's a fairly ambitious piece to try and complete in ten sessions.
As we all know life can get busy.  I tease Glen Because he started this table in 2002 and finished it in 2009, giving a whole new meaning to continuing education.

One More

I couldn't help but take one more picture of the completed run.  The chickens have more room to roam.  I made a raised bed and planted more tomatoes.