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I'm cleaning up and getting the cobwebs out. Been awhile since I shared my shop. 😊
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Woodworker Friends,
Here’s my latest project. I like to challenge myself, and this one did the trick. Again, I spent hours going down blind alleys but in the end came out pretty good. I had to leave a few problems because they would have required taking everything apart. They are mostly errors of 1/16 inch and don’t show. Next time, if there is a next time, I could cut my time in half. But also, now I’ve figured out some techniques that could be used on other projects. By the way, does anyone know what this kind of chair is called? I just came up with Padded Chair, but I’m sure there’s a more accurate term. I’ll be interested in your feedback as to how you would actually build this. Thanks, Dan

I do bowls, not furniture.  I'm stuck here with my adventure in furniture.
Walnut table with cherry insert. Shellac over the cherry before dark walnut danish oil on the rest. 
Oil dried two weeks before 5 coats of poly, lessening amounts of cutting with mineral spirits.
Semi-gloss Poly dried four weeks before today.  Minimal bumps and nibs. I was so proud, yet
I knew it needed to be rubbed out. 

I recently retired from a career that required about 80% travel so there was never anytime for hobbies. Now that I have the time I built myself a small (12 x 24) wood shop to reintroduce myself to woodworking. 

Hi Everybody,
Here's my latest Sketchup model, an Adirondack Chair, with a little streamlining. I looked at a lot of pictures of the chair and I think this design is unique. Also,  there are many ways to use color. I'm showing three. This model turned out to be harder than I thought and I spent hours working on little problems until the lightbulb came on, and I saw a much easier way to do it. What do you think? Dan

Hello gents. I keep meaning to get back on here and see what's being talked about — found something the other day and thought I'd post it here. (Do tell me if there's a better section/sub-forum here for this sort of thing

It was in May 2024 when I completed the chest of drawers #1.  I have not posted since then, but I have the second one in-work.  It is not the same style but is similar.       Just a few pics. The dovetails were made using my table saw.  I have the tails (qty 100) done and have not started the pins.  I choose to apply the finish before assembly.  I only have the drawer fronts milled in rough dimn.   I spray outside or in the garage and then carry every piece in to my clean rooms (kitchen, living rm, or use the ping pong table in the basement).  Thanks for looking.   Danl        

Congrats to all of those who participated in this summer's annual fund raiser. Thanks for the donations and the help in keeping our site alive.
 

My daughter asked me if I could take her husbands childhood bed and turn it into a bench.  Always up for a challenge, I said yes.  She also wanted to work with me in making this happen.  She works, so it’s going to be a slow process.  The bed is made from hard maple.  I think it’s about 40 -50 years old.

Hi Everyone
So-I decided to change coarse  a little and start a new project. I have 4 grandkids and the oldest one just had his 10th birthday. I asked what he might like for "Gramps" to make him  and he said he really liked " Pandas". We found a piece of free clip-art he liked so I drew up the pattern and created the subject for my next Intarsia project. 23 pieces from Peruvian Walnut , Holly, Ebony, Brownheart and Lignum Vitae. Stay tuned- this will be fun!! 

My Projects

Ready for a bit of wall!

So I am thinking I'm going to have to take an in person class some where in my area to get the basics of the gouges.  I decided to scrap my poplar laminated project entirely since it was just too far gone and not to liking.  How ever with the red alder I purchased from a new local lumber supplier. Which is very nice but gotta drive a bit to get there.  Either way started off of course I used only EWT tools for this. 

Hi All, I made this item about 40 years ago. I don't have a photo, but here's a Sketchup model made yesterday. I'm not sure what to call it, but this is on the inside wall just next to the back door. It is for keys, gloves, mail and miscellaneous things. It was very handy. Again, not a woodworker so I put it together with finishing nails and spackle. Also, below is one of my paintings, "Old Glory." This is the best time of year to show it. Dan

The park where our club is has a fair every 4th of July. Anybody in our club can sell in our meeting room. We have around eight people that take advantage of it, we are just required to work. I will apologize in advance for all of the pictures. The two lathes we have members turning full time. The kids love it because they get free tops.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The park where our club is has a fair every 4th of July. Anybody in our club can sell in our meeting room. We have around eight people that take advantage of it, we are just required to work. I will apologize in advance for all of the pictures. The two lathes we have members turning full time. The kids love it because they get free tops.                          

I landed this kit back early last winter. I've had a lot of things pop up keeping me away from my projects but was able to get started yesterday. It's something that is on my "to do" list. Starting at the very basic level here but we'll see what happens. I really need at least 6 ongoing projects to fit whatever mood I wake up in that day...this should put me back up to at least 5 kit is basswood,

I landed this kit back early last winter. I've had a lot of things pop up keeping me away from my projects but was able to get started yesterday. It's something that is on my "to do" list. Starting at the very basic level here but we'll see what happens. I really need at least 6 ongoing projects to fit whatever mood I wake up in that day...this should put me back up to at least 5   kit is basswood,            

Introduction
We are pleased to bring you another great opportunity as presented by our sponsors, and friends at Woodcraft Supply and Easy Wood Tools. We are having a fundraiser! Presented to you are some wonderful prizes donated by our sponsors for the purpose of raising funds for our woodworking community.

Introduction We are pleased to bring you another great opportunity as presented by our sponsors, and friends at Woodcraft Supply and Easy Wood Tools. We are having a fundraiser! Presented to you are some wonderful prizes donated by our sponsors for the purpose of raising funds for our woodworking community.   How this works If you donate $2.00 to our fundraiser, your name will be entered into our random draw 1 times. If you donate $5.00 to our fundraiser project, your name will be entered into our random draw 3 times. If you donate $10.00 to our fundraiser project, your name will be entered into our random draw 7 times. The more you donate, the more chance you have of winning. The project will start on June 23, 2024 and end on August 2, 2024 when the names will be drawn to receive the fabulous items donated by our sponsors.   Donation amounts and number of entries $2.00 enters your name 1 times $5.00 enters your name 3 times $10.00 enters your name 7 times $20.00 enters your name 15 times $50.00 enters your name 50 times $75.00 enters your name 80 times $100.00 enters your name 110 times   Enter the drawing Click on the "DONATE" button! Fill in your billing info at the secured PayPal server (we do not have access to your credit or debit card details, and you do not need a PayPal account), and you're done, and good luck!   Drawing Items will be assigned to the winners drawn in the following order.   Offered by our friends at Easy Wood Tools 1ea. Mini Rougher $96 Winner Peter Tomlinson 1ea. Wire Burning Kit $54 Winner Lynn Roth 1ea. Multi-Spur Drive Center $77 Winner Steven Krumanaker 1ea. 4-Prong Drive Center $52 Winner Steven Bunn 2ea. Yorkshire Grit Original $19 Winner Gerald Cousins 2ea. Yorkshire Grit Micro Fine $19 Winner Ronald Dudelston   Offered by our friends at Woodcraft 1ea. Woodriver Bench Router Table $300 Winner Albert Berube 1ea. Pinnacle Arkansas Stone Boxed Set $45 Winner Sharon Zimmerman 1ea. Pinnacle Double Square $53 Winner Lew     Rules Fundraiser starts June 23, 2024 and ends August 2, 2024. Everyone (guests, members, forum staff, and admins) is welcome to enter, except the owner of this website (John Morris) and his relatives, and their immediate relatives. Sorry, but only participants who reside in The United States/Alaska and Canada are eligible to participate. Last but not least, have fun! And thank you for your support!   Alternative Method for Contributing Some of us don't like using our credit card for things like this, that's ok, you can send a check for this project, and we'll enter your name into the hat for the draw!   Make check payable to: The Patriot Woodworker and send to: The Patriot Woodworker 977 Sussex Rd San Jacinto CA. 92583   So, if you live here, if you have benefited from this community at all, if you visit us and you are entertained by our woodworking community, if you login and hang out and call us home, please consider participating in this fundraiser. This is your community, this is your chance to help in a direct manner by contributing to offset the costs associated with running our woodworking forums and the causes we support.   In closing Our entire community would love to thank our contributing sponsors. Woodcraft and Easy Wood Tools, they are staunch supporters of our woodworking community.        

Thank you for joining us. Below is the Military Challenge Coin Display as described by The Patriot Woodworker network. This is a design that we drew up with the help of designs seen all over the web, it is easy to build, most folks have the tools that are necessary to build it, and the finishing process is quite simple.

Thank you for joining us. Below is the Military Challenge Coin Display as described by The Patriot Woodworker network. This is a design that we drew up with the help of designs seen all over the web, it is easy to build, most folks have the tools that are necessary to build it, and the finishing process is quite simple. If you don't have the tools that I am using, your sure to find a way around that, as this is as I said, very simple to build.This basic display is 12" long, 4 1/2" deep, 1 1/8" tall at the front, and 1 7/8" tall at the rear. The grooves are 1/4" wide and 5/16"" deep. The beauty of this design is you could take an 8' long board and mill the board out and groove it in it's entirety, and then section it up to make many coin displays at one time.This display unit will hold up to 20 challenge coins plus or minus as the coins can vary in size. The front face of the display is 1 1/8" tall to accommodate a name plaque if the warrior wishes to install his or her own name plate. I have found that our soldiers actually take their name tag off their Class A's uniform and apply it to the front of these displays. Now here we goThis display cost me nothing to build, I had the wood on hand, and the finish on hand, it took me an hour to build this first prototype.I first started out with a 2" thick (8/4) by 4 3/4" by 12" long walnut blank. I then drew a guide line at the end of the blank, note I started at 1 1/8" up from one side to the corner of the back. After I drew the line, I laid it on the jointer and set a straight reference item such as my engineers square (it can be anything straight) to determine the angle I needed to set my jointer fence. I eyeballed this, it doesn't have to be perfect. The 1 1/8" side is your front, the front is where the name tag is secured. As you are looking at the blank, it is laying upside down on the jointer. The front is to the right against the jointer fence. I set my jointer to cut 1/8" increments, you can set it to whatever you want, it's purely a personal choice. After a few passes my blank is taking shape. The following picture is after my final pass, it really only took about 15 to 18 quick passes, about 3 or 4 minutes on the jointer to get it to this point. The final cut is a bit off the line, but I am calling it good. You see, this is not rocket science folks! It's just fun! Before I lay out my centers for the grooves, I set my table saw to 5 degrees and shaved off the front of the display, I am sorry I failed to get a picture of this, but just set your display upright and the back of your display against the fence, set the fence so your taking just enough off the front to make the front a 5 degree slant back as your looking at the front. Keep in mind, I am using a right tilt TS.Now with the front of the display cut at 5 degrees, I laid the first groove out at 5/8" from the front, then 1" on center after that, you'll end up with 4 grooves for the coins. Depending on what your blank ends up being, you might have to fudge the numbers a hair until you get an equal layout between the grooves.After I marked the centers, I laid out the sides of the grooves at 1/8" on both sides to make a 1/4" groove. Now set your TS blade at 90 degrees to cut the grooves, this allows the coins to rest in the crook or angle at the bottom of the grooves. Your natural tendency is to cut the grooves canted back, but the better option is to just lay the display face down and cut the cut grooves at a 90. To come up with a nice even set of grooves I set my calipers to 0.250 or 1/4". If you don't have calipers, plane a piece of wood to a 1/4" for a feeler gauge, we want these grooves to be 1/4" as close as possible. Then I set my blade height at 1/4". (ATTENTION, make the grooves 5/16" deep) Now you will have your blade set at 90 degrees, you now have your depth properly set, you are now ready to cut the coin grooves. Set your display face down, bottom side up, and with the front against the fence, set the fence to your layout line, and start your cut. I make about 3 passes per each groove, after the first two passes, I check the groove with my calipers to see where I am at.(I failed to take a shot of this process so I laid the finished display in place for a visual reference, sorry!) NOTE: the display is upside down, face down, front against the fence, rear of the display to the left of the blade. After the grooves are cut, you will notice the blade left a nice kerf mark at the bottom of the grooves. I took a very sharp Marples 1/4" chisel and cleaned up the bottoms of the grooves. I used the chisel in a scraping fashion. Be careful not to drag the chisel on the top edges of the grooves, it's easy to do, please don't ask me how I know. You might have to skew your chisel a hair to avoid dragging it against those edges. After you've cleaned up the bottoms of your grooves, you can now sand the grooves, I used a folded up piece of 120 paper, I wasn't making much progress getting the bottoms smooth with this method, so I ended up folding the paper around a piece of wood that could fit in the grooves, then the bottoms were getting the attention they needed with this method. I finished the grooves to a final sanding of 220. No one will be able to touch the inside of the grooves, so just a good sanding to clean up the chisel marks is all that is needed here.I sanded the entire piece with 120, 220, 400, 800, then a final burnishing with Abralon 1000. The Abralon actually burnishes the wood to a nice dull sheen. During the sanding process I paid special attention to the end grains, I love end grain when it is finished nicely, it adds a ton of character in my opinion. Below you'll see an Abralon pad on my ROS After we have sanded the display, I wrote a heartfelt message on the bottom of the display, and signed it on behalf of my family. After all your work getting this far, this in my opinion is the most important part of the entire project. This is what adds personality to your display, this is what makes your display unique, and none other in the world will be like it.On my display I wrote with a black Sharpie,"Dear Service Member: Thank you for all you've done, Thank You!! Drive on and Stand Tall, We Love You!!From:The Morris Family" In the lower right corner, I wrote the species of the wood used.Also, feel free to write your company name on the bottom, or brand it, I will be affixing a small decal on the bottom with our network name on it. Now we are ready to finish the display.I finished the display with BLO. Brush on the BLO. Let the BLO soak in for about 15 minutes on the entire piece then wipe clean. I will repeat this process two more times to get the BLO to soak in. I like the simplicity of oil. And for the coin displays, they are strictly being used on top of furnishings, not in moisture areas where a protective finish would be needed. I love the deep rich tones that BLO and Danish Oils bring out in furnishings. Once it's all dry and ready to go, I will affix four round felt pads at each corner on the bottom of the display. So there you have it folks.Keep in mind, this is only a guide to making a wonderful Challenge Coin Display for our troops. This is not the end all be all. I would like to really encourage folks to be creative, your more then welcome to come up with your own designs, and your more then welcome to use any type of wood.If you have any questions regarding this project, feel free to leave a comment here in this blogAnd, please take pictures of your displays and post them on our Woodworking Forum ! 

Pouring resin on mesquite can be a real PITA.

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