A Shadow Box and a Shop - Project/Shop of the Week
This week we are featuring our first Project/Shop of the Week dual post. It is submitted by Chad in Maryland. A worthy gift for a decorated soldier. Let’s see what Chad has to say:
“First of all, I want to say I really appreciate what you do for the woodworking world and the time you spend making all the podcasts. I have learned a lot and have gained confidence in the wood shop from your videos. OK……now I can get on to more man-type conversation. This is a shadow box for a friend who retired from the Air Force after nearly 22 years of service! The frame and majority of the box is made of Bloodwood with Tiger Maple inlays for the stripes and star. You’ll notice the Maple strip down each side….I would like to say that was planned, but we’ll just call it decorative compensation. The stack of inlays to make this project is about a foot high–a lot considering each template is made of 1/4″ plywood. I used an inlay kit with my router to get absolutely perfect matches, but as with any detailed inlay, I had to break out the chisels and sandpaper. I would love to go through the list of DOs and DON’Ts of working with Bloodwood, but I’ll save that for anyone that would like to know–it’s a long list! I hope everyone enjoys looking at the box as much as I did building it.”
“One of the photos is of me (on the right) with the man I presented the shadow box to. He absolutely loved it. I guess you see a little different side of me as well. In addition, I thought it would be neat for your viewers to see the wood shop a certain project came out of. I just wanted to let folks see my small shop and what it can produce. When I first started fine woodworking (almost a year ago) I would’ve never guessed something like the shadow box could come out of my little shop. I think this is what you stand for and who you want to reach with your Woodwhisperer webpage… anyone who has a love for woodworking no matter what tools or space they have to work with.”
“As you can see I have very limited space and everything is pretty much mobile. I don’t think anything can be used where it is sitting for anything major at all. The DeWalt planner is probably my most recommended tool; it performs over and over with very little snipe (even on that Bloodwood!). You can see that most of my tools are Craftsman and I’ve had great success with them. Some tools I strayed away due to reviews, but the bottom line is you have to set any tool up properly and maintain them and they usually work as advertised….rocket science I know, but some don’t do it.
So enjoy the pics and don’t stop what you’re doing; I look forward to your website at least every other day!”
Germain’s Holiday Project
“I built this box from some 8/4 maple and hickory I had left over in my shop. It was intended to be a practice box, but I thought it turned out pretty nice. The design is from Lois Ventura’s book. (Although she doesn’t recommend using hickory, it worked fine. It was just a little more challenging to sand.) It’s finished with a few coats of my go-to product: General Finishes Arm-R-Seal.”
Hrolfr’s Holiday Project
OK here is my one little Christmas project. First Christmas that I have been into woodworking so only one project. I received this commission from a co-worker to give to her Mother for Christmas. I used 3/4 Red Oak, the cross is attached to the base using a 1/4 in dowels and finished with Dark Walnut Danish oil. The co-worker really wanted a high gloss finish, I was going to top coat with a gloss poly, however I brought the cross to in to show her the progress, (ok partly because I felt that the cross looked good as finished) and she decided that she liked the look of the cross as is and did not want a gloss finish after all.
Tom’s Holiday Projects
Tom from TomsWorkbench.com says, “In the back row are two sets of picture frame bookends. One set’s frames are made with zebrawood and the other’s are made of sapele. Both of the uprights are made of maple. The frames are sized to hold a portrait 4 x 6 photo in a slip-in acrylic photo frame. In the front row, you can see some of the end-grain cutting boards I made from maple, cherry and walnut. While they came out looking great, I discovered that I really need to improve my sawing and glue up technique. I finished them a la The Wood Whisperer method with thinned polyurethane. The boards readily soaked up the thinned finish, and a final sanding with 220 on my random orbit sander gave them a very slick and smooth surface. “
Phil’s Holiday Projects
Actually it was you that inspired me with your gadget station. I built two of these campaign boxes while following along. I know Greene and Greene came after campaign boxes were no longer used but what the hay, it seemed like a good idea at the time! The wood is some 4/4 oak that I picked up at a reasonable price and then hand planed it down to 5/8″. The lid panels were made up from re-sawn pieces and ended up about 1/8″. I don’t have a paneling bit for my router so I did the panels with my table saw. The corner joints are screwed and the plugs are walnut. I cut the plugs on the band saw and the holes with a chisel.
The bottom is birch plywood (but you can’t tell) for stability. All the hardware came from Lee Valley. The handles are recessed in (with about a 1/16 to spare). The finish is Tung oil with a wee bit of MinWax Rosewood Stain to bring out the grain. As these are “Campaign Boxes” I had plaques made with my sons’ names and recessed them into the top each box. The reason I made these boxes was my twenty something sons still carry their “important” documents around in shoe boxes from apartment to apartment! ! probably should have just bought them filing cabinets instead.
-
Just Starting?
-
Keep Up With TWW!
-
Support the Show
-
David Marks' New DVD
