My fist commission

People loved the tea candle holders I posted last time, in fact I was actually commission by several friends to make some for them. I learned an important thing while making them, You have to be really careful pattern routing end-grain Purpleheart.

Let there be light

It’s hard to believe it’s been over 3 weeks since my last post, but there it is. With the weather changing, the holidays coming, and other interesting changes happening in my life, I haven’t spent a lot of time in the shop over the last month. I have however, found enough time to design and build some prototype Christmas presents. In stead of giving gift cards this year (my family is impossible to buy gifts for), I wanted to give something I made.

What I came up with were tea candle holders. They are simple to make, all you need are holes 5/8″ deep and 1-9/16″ in diameter. The best way to make the holes is with a Forstner bit on a drill press. How many candles per holder, and the shape of the holder can be anything you want. The following holders are ones I made from off cuts I had laying around the shop.

A small saw till Pt. 2

I almost forgot I took the photos, until I found them this evening. The till went together with out any major complications, and after the glue dried, it received a coat BLO, and paste wax. It’s mounted to the wall with a single drywall screw, that’s more than enough to hold the weight. I decided to make the till large enough to hold 4 saws, so that gives me room for one more. I sense a 14tpi dovetail saw in my future.

A small saw till Pt. 1

I have 3 of the Veritas back saws now, and I’m starting to use them more frequently. Since I’m in between big projects, and storing the saws in the guestroom closet is less than ideal, I decided now was a good time to make a till.  My  requirements for the till are as follows:

1. It needs to be big enough to hold my current nest of saws with room for one or two more.
2.  it has to be made with stock I have on-hand

With the requirements outlined, I started milling some 4/4 hard maple stock Sunday evening.  The sides are a little less than 3/8″ thick, and bookmatched. All the other boards  in the project are 5/8″ thick. I didn’t want any joinery showing on the side panels, so they are joined to the cross members with sliding dovetails. I’ll have more details next time.

First attempt at bookmatching

My first, and hopefully not my last attempt at resawing & bookmatching. The panel is kind of thin, as it started off as 4/4 stock. After two rounds jointing, planing & sawing it came in at a little over 3/8″.