Wood US idea

Im getting off to a slow start this new year. The first weekend was a bust in the shop because it was so cold. I began this project the second weekend, but ran into problems that had to be worked out.

I spent a lot of time New Years Eve weekend watching the Twilight Zone marathon on T.V. which gave me the idea to make a fortune-telling box. You remember: the episode where William Shatner and his new bride get caught up feeding pennies into a fortune telling machine in a diner. Its answers to questions were accurate enough in Shatners mind to begin to run his life.

This started out at a simple idea: create a pressure plate and a couple rollers and cards would spit out. It turned out for more difficult. Thats not to say that the concept of this box is complicated. I suspect there are many of you who can devise a much better system, but in the end it actually works.

I like projects like this because they remind me that woodworking is a never-ending learning process. Come up with an idea and figure out how to pull it off. Along the way you will encounter problems, but if you just think them through, you will find solutions.

It has been a lot of fun seeing all the workbenches this week. Thanks to all of you who sent pictures.

Whenever a non-woodworker visits your shop, they might marvel at — or at least be curious about — some of your tools.  Your workbench will probably receive little attention, yet for most woodworkers its really the most critical element of a shop. We call it into service on every project we build.

If you want to set up a wood shop, your first project must be a workbench. There are plenty of plans available for the "ultimate" woodworking bench, but all you have to do is look through this weeks viewer pictures to understand all that a work bench really needs to be: a sturdy table.

This video shows you a workbench design that Ive been using for years. It costs next to nothing to build: a few 2x4s and a sheet of plywood, yet it will provide you with years and years of quiet service. Plus, with this basic design, you can modify it in any number of ways to suit your particular needs. Its all held together with a lot of yellow wood glue and 2 1/2" decks screws. It isnt a showpiece, but in my mind thats a plus. You wont be fearful of abusing it.

For some reason Ive been meaning to make a Halloween candy dish for a long time and never got around to it until this year.

Coffin styles

I decided a coffin would probably make the most sense as a recognizable Halloween design. My first thought was an ornate, rectangular, Dracula-style casket. The biggest problem with that plan is that a trick-or-treat candy box needs to be seen in dark conditions. A vampire coffin could come across as just another box. The solution would be heavy ornamentation and a silky, padded lining.

Then I remembered the classic "toe-pincher" coffins you see town undertakers building in old westerns. That six-sided shape is uniquely identifiable as a coffin. You probably wont confuse it with a jewelry box!

Making it look rustic

The fun part about building this was making it look as though it had been build by one of those old west undertakers. Individual boards held together with narrower cross braces. To make mine look even more authentic, I used scraps of pallet wood containing splits, stains, and nail holes. Although I glued it all together, I added some rusty coffin nails.

If you would like to make your own, here is the cutting template I made for mine:

• WWMM Coffin Candy Dish templates (pdf) 

You could certainly experiment with the size. Mine is 13" long by 6" wide. It seems to hold plenty of candy.

You will also note that I didnt bother to figure out the angles needed to create the six sides. Since it is rustic looking, I wasnt concerned with cutting anything exactly. I just sort of estimated the bevels and made them work, gaps and all. If you want to turn this into a fine woodworking project, you would probably want to figure out the exact angles and cut them accordingly.


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Someone, (Woodshop News) , has actually paid me to write something for them. Appropriately enough, it is a short essay about blogging ... Even got a blurb on the cover ... Its online here now ... Check it out ... dan

well, i really wasnt trying to copy his glass house.  kit just asked me if i wanted to make a gingerbread house, and, if i did, what kind of walls did i need.  over the last 20 years or so, we have made a few basic styles, but this year i thought i would go just a little outside the box and do something a little more modern.  click the photos to enlarge them ...
i had to have some gingerbread so i started with a rectangular back wall with two large windows above the kitchen cabinets.
and then i made an end wall and a door wall with pieces of pine and saran wrap.  at about that point, phillip johnson came to mind and i frittered away more than a couple hours painting my interior walls, building some simple kitchen cabinets, an actual leather covered couch and a spalted maple coffee table.  i even stuck two andy warhol stamps on the walls for paintings.  it was a rainy saturday, ok?

i dont see any majestic wood stoves in the images above, but when i started fooling with the big gumdrops, i just couldnt resist thinking about them ...i remeber them from the 70s ...
 


 ive got one or two more posts in the works and i may get to them before christmas since it will be a four day weekend, but if not, you all have a fine holiday season ...

hmmmm .. busy time here in the designing and pricing and proposing department.  plus its spring, which always cuts into the free time i usually have available for blogging.  this post will be more or less a continuation of one from the end of last month, where again, i didnt take the time to write in depth about specific projects.  i think, maybe too, the writing is taking sort of a backseat to the enjoyment of living, for the moment at least.  getting out for five rounds of golf in april is pretty good for me. 
heres a quick april projects in the works lineup, and some hints of whats to come in may ... click the photos to enlarge them ..
a claro walnut coffee table from the offcut of a previous dining table ... we keep em, and sometimes we get lucky, and someone needs one exactly the right size ...
this ones heading to chicago this week.  industrial look welded steel base by sam.
speaking of sam, the metal shop is humming, and hes cranking it out.  these are parts for some large turnbuckles that will hold a building together, where the second floor floor was removed.  there are four of them total ..
 thats 1" solid round stock bent into those graceful hooks .. turnbuckles from peak supply ...
and he fabricated and installed some new custom railing projects ...
i think this one was installed a couple of weeks ago ...



and these unusual objects will support wooden poles which a local message artist will hold on to while she walks on your back ... sounds interesting, but i havent tried it yet ... a niche market for sure.
and next up we have the new design department.  thisll be a new kitchen, hopefully by this time next month ...
i finished the shop drawings using some uninterrupted time this weekend ... during the week, i often work from one interruption to the next, and drawings like these just dont flow for me unless i can concentrate.
and after a few sketches and cad iterations of this wall, we have a confirmed design for a long bedroom wall ... coming up in june sometime ...


another claro walnut coffee table ... waiting for its base that will hopefully happen this week.  the ant attack area is fascinating ..
and the pine sideboard is finished and gone, and now in its new home in stowe, vt ...
and this one, will whipped up week before last.  its finished now, and i hope we can deliver and set it up in the clients home early this week.  shaker influenced design, simple detailing,

and will is currently, along with a couple of new banjos, working on this slightly smaller version of a lutyens style desk he built back in 2009.  luckily, in a couple of blog posts, we documented the process as we figured out the first time so hes got a little leg up on this one.  also, four additional years of practice doesnt hurt either ...
the new onw was starting to take shape by last friday ... still a long way to go though .. lots of detail.
and trevor whipped up this little rustic coffee table last week.  it may not look so rustic in this photo, but now the base is distressed and pickled, the top has its breadboards, and the culry maple top will be distressed, stained and finished later this week.
and jim and sam made a couple of reclaimed oak tables in the bethlehem steel style .. burned, and lightly distressed reclaimed white oak from west virginia ...

and, actually one of the larger projects we wrapped up this month has been ongoing since last september.  it will start to take shape, hopefully, by early july ... we have one more approval to go, and sams new metal shop will start happening.  its been a long slog, with lots of challenging permit related details, but i think we have cleared almost the final hurdle. we have received the loan commitment, and the last detail, which i will not mention for fear of jinxing it, will be approved by the 15th of may ... and then, my free time will be gone.   life is uncertain, golf now.