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A few weeks ago, I build a set of white oak stock racks for a lady in our church which I stained cherry and put a spar finish on. They turned out well and matched the truck to a "T". Her brother saw the racks and decided that he also needed a set and wanted them painted black. Couldn't believe my ears but I took the job. Here's the before and after so I have to ask, "Is the customer always right?"

finished the last of these today. will be given away next saturday.

Someone in one my FB groups posted a picture of a "skeleton" clock. I didn't know what that was until after I did some research. I guess all it means is that a person can see the gears. The one I saw was on a pedestal and it was very nice looking. I need a demo for June and had a little different vision for one. When I do a demo I will make several of an item to make I have it down. So far I've made four of these, no pictures of the first one. It was just to figure out dimensions and diameters. Let me know what you honestly think please. This is the second I did, it is very simple and very basic, I actually kind of like the front view of this one. It is made from a piece of 8/4 walnut as about 1 1/8 thickness is needed to hide the back of the clock. This is a perspective view and it just doesn't work IMO. The brass trim ring looks huge on this one. You probably noticed there is no foot. There isn't a foot on any of these. My vision is for the clock to sit on a high shelf or fireplace mantle and kind of rise out of the surface. This is the next one, it is white oak and walnut. I have always liked the way those two woods look together. IMO, the walnut feature ring is just too small and is hard to see. On all of the clocks it's hard to see the hands from any distance but I think that's the movement itself. Persepective on the walnut and white oak clock, definitely looks better in the front view. This one is a little heavy on the front too. it would be okay on a mantle or high shelf but on a table it would tip over if bumped. This is the last one I've done and the best one I think. It is hickory and walnut. I like the white oak and walnut better but the walnut ring is better on this one I think. For what it's worth, it's the same movement in all three. It just presses into a 2 3/4" diameter hole. You can tell in this one how hard are the hands to see. Perspective on the last one. Let me know what you think, not sure about the look and maybe a foot will be necessary. Steve

Well, I just returned from installing the two bookcases that I've been babying for the past three weeks. The new owner was thrilled to death to have them and I was thrilled to death to get them out of my shop. They stand 78" H X 36"W X 11" D and because of their height, I secured them to the wall with a french cleat. Now on to the next project.

Well, one shell of a white oak bookcase down and one to go. The twin will have the face, back and top added tomorrow. I'm so ready for these to leave.

Delivered this set to son and DIL last Friday. White oak, wipe on home brew finish. One more to go. DIL claimed this one.

This is a storage bench I made from a tree that one of my brothers cut down at his home. It took me three years to build it, mostly because I'm disabled and have had 11 surgeries in that time with one more on my neck coming up. I had to make the drawer out of white oak because I ran out of wood from the tree. I glued a bunch of scrap oak I had sitting around, I made sure the grain on the front of the drawer matched. I used hand cut dovetails for the drawer. Router cut dovetails for the seat box. I used through tenons on the side and arms of the bench. I also used pegs for the slats to make sure they stay put. I did a lot of hand tool work on this project because I enjoy the more hand on approach. I've been buying more and more hand tools but I do have a Profesional saw stop table saw too. I guess I like to mix it up, I'm glad to finally have this project done. Tomorrow we are having an unveiling party for the bench I hope he likes it. Thank you for reading my ramblings. Jaime

I have had these two jobs on my board for a while and just seem to keep pushing them back. Saturday morning I got up early and headed to the shop to get some of these small jobs finished and out. I had a customer bring me a rocker that had broken on his old family rocker and ask if I could make a new one to match. He is going to stain to match the rocker and install so I just need to get it cut, smoothed and the mounting holes cut right for him. Here is the old one and the new one clamped to it. I also had this old rocking chair that is over 100 years old to make new rockers for. The old ones and worn flat and down to the point the post were about to come through the bottom. So I made two new ones for this rocker. The picture was before I drilled the holes and it seems I forgot to take one after I set it in them so I will post another picture tonight. All of the rockers were made of White oak. I made these for the old rocker a little thicker and it should rock for a long time now.

About a week ago I had a friend tip me off about a barn full of lumber that a lady wanted to unload. Long story short, I bought about 800 - 1000 BF of ash, walnut, maple, cedar and quarter sawn white oak. There were several walnut 8/4 and 12/4 boards 12 foot long that are going to make some fine, fine challenge coin displays. Here's a picture of two van loads of walnut and maple. I unloaded about 100 BF of white oak into my barn and I figure there's about 200 bf of walnut in this pile. A big shout out to my BIL who has a nice big pole barn to store everything I can't handle. The picture is a bit deceiving because I throw a sheet of black plastic over the pile so you're really only seeing half the length.