Hannah’s Hope Chest
When my daughter was a little girl, I wanted to make her a hope chest. It ended up being a multi-year project, and she almost grew up before I finished! I designed it using frame and panel construction with two drawers beneath the main chest area. Years before, I had found some beautiful, locally harvested quilted big leaf maple and western claro walnut. Some of the chest dimensions were driven by the lumber I had, there was no extra maple! The chest was made almost entirely with hand tools including all of wood preparation, joinery and molding profiles.
This was by far the largest and most complex hand tool project I had ever attempted. I think it turned out very nice and hopefully will be enjoyed and passed down through generations.
Andrew’s Display Case
Several years ago I made my son a birthday gift. It was a long time in the making (like most of my projects!) and centered on his love of fantasy video games and my discovery of a German story book from 1848 about a young boy who went off to slay a dragon. The engravings are incredible. Rather than just giving him the book, I decided to make a custom dagger to go with it and a display cabinet to keep it all safe in his new man cave. I wanted the display box to look old and hand crafted. It was made entirely from walnut with hand tools, and I left many of the marking lines, tool marks and flaws behind. It is difficult to tell, but the box has an interlocking dust seal from an inlaid bead mating with a groove. The hinges and hasp were custom made by Black Bear Forge. I did not make the dagger blade itself but made the rest of the dagger with the help of my machinist for the hilt portion.
I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this project from the initial inspiration, the design phase, woodworking, making the dagger and putting it all together. This was a project that was from my heart, for my son whom I love, and it turned out perfectly.
Timber Framing
I designed and am building a cabin using a hybrid approach of conventional wall framing and a timber framed roof. The roof is supported by a central post and two ridge beams. The outside supports for the ridge beam are also posts but are integrated into the 2x6 framed walls. Roof rafter beams are supported by the ridge beam and exterior walls. There is also a loft which ties into the central post. I used a combination of power and hand tools for the joinery, but my 24 oz Blue Spruce Mallet and 2” Whitherby framing chisel got the biggest workout! The pictures tell the story.
Sandpaper Cabinet
I wanted to organize my sandpaper sheets. The solution was a small box of drawers sized to full sheets of sandpaper; one drawer for each grit. I had a wide board of soft maple and some leftover curly soft maple that longed to be used for something useful. It was a low stress project that I used to try some new techniques. The pulls were a lot of fun. I was going to use simple, turned pulls but got an idea to try and use soft leather pulls. They give a little surprise feel every time you open a drawer as you are expecting a solid feel. I may use this idea on some other project in the future.
Boxes & Other Projects
I enjoy making boxes and other small projects . Here are a few of the many such projects. If you would like me to make a custom box, audio speaker set etc., just contact me.
