Cookbook Holder – Viewer Project
This project is submitted by Mike. Let’s see what he has to say:
Thanks for the inspiration on the magazine rack. It struck me that this would be a great design for a cookbook holder, which my wife had mentioned to me would make a good Christmas gift. So I made a few adjustments to the design on SketchUp and went to work with the new (tentative) dimensions. The biggest change I made was the angle of the channels for sliding the two pieces together. Instead of 45 degree cuts I made them 90 degrees. Everything else was pretty much your design.
I found the length of the the legs to the shorter piece to be about perfect. It allows for the correct reading angle of the book that will be resting on it and for support of the entire piece. (Shorter legs and the thing wants to tip over backwards, longer legs and it might tip forward) I made it out of cherry and put a lacquer finish on it.
All in all, it was a fun simple project that will surely put a smile of my wife’s face. Thanks for all that you do.
Cutting Board Design Software – Viewer Project
This project is a bit different, as it is actually a piece of software, designed and submitted by Jay. Let’s check it out”
“Hi Marc! Long time listener, first time writer. First of all, I just wanted to say what a great job you do. Your videos and blog are absolutely informative and easy to follow for an amateur woodworker such as myself. I look forward to everything you put out. I just started putting together my basement shop late last summer. In fact the sole reason why I got started in woodworking was because I got hooked after watching your cutting board video (and promptly watched the rest of your videos), so many thanks to you! Since then I have engulfed myself with as much woodworking text as I can. After building an end table and some shop furniture, I actually got around to making my first cutting board based on your design. I attached a picture of it for your information, finished according to your videos. I really liked how it turned out.”
“Anyway, I wanted to try out new designs so I tapped into some of my limited programming background that I have and made a program in Visual Basic (I deemed it, CBdesigner) that lets you virtually design a cutting board in a matter of minutes by defining each layer. Also attached is a picture of the program showing your own design to illustrate how it works. I made a shout out to you in the program (I’m sure you can recognize it). I posted it at Lumberjocks to see what other people thought of it. I’ve been doing some small updates to the program based on people’s recommendations. I know you’re Mr. Apple so I’m not sure if it can run on your Mac, but I just thought you might be interested in it too. :) Not sure if a program qualifies as project of the week or not but I thought I’ll let you know know about it.”
Blanket Chest – Viewer Project
This week’s project comes from Keith in Virginia. Let’s check it out:
“Hey Marc! I wanted to show you a few pictures of my first completed piece of what I guess you’d call “casework”. I made this blanket chest as a gift for my brother-in-law and his soon-to-be bride. It’s made out of rift sawn and quartersawn white oak. The dimensions are 42″L x 21″W x 20″D. This project was a first for me using many different techniques. It’s the first breadboard lid I’ve made, as well as the first time I’ve attempted a frame-and-panel case. I used aromatic red cedar planks, purchased from Home Depot as “closet liner”, to line the box. These were applied with 3/4″ brads.”
“I started the finishing process by applying a liberal coat of Transtint’s Dark Mission Brown, mixed in distilled water. After a light 320 grit sanding, I applied a coat of dewaxed shellac. From there, I wiped on a thick coat of General Finishes walnut gel stain. I let it sit for a couple of minutes, then wiped it off with a clean cloth. After another light sanding, I applied three coats of General’s Satin High Performance topcoat, rubbed with 0000 steel wool between coats. A couple of coats of paste wax later, and this is where it’s at.”
“My wife loves it and has mentioned a couple of times already that her brother will never know that they didn’t get their “original” gift. :-) I guess I’ll be making another one of these soon. Thanks for looking!”
Computer Table – Viewer Project
This week’s project is submitted by Dustin. Let’s see what he has to say:
“OK, so the story is I scored two great deals from two different guys and was able to stock a good amount of Maple and lots of other various wood. I put it aside and dreamed of lots of fun projects. We are expecting a baby, so this is the perfect opportunity to re-arrange everything. My wife decides we need the computer in the bedroom, not the living room, so the Ikea table won’t work anymore. She wants to get a desk from Target, and now that I have delved into the world of woodworking, badly connected particleboard is no longer a value for $120. So I say “I’ll build you a table” – she agrees. I begin to mill the stock and while I am admiring the beautiful grain (which was clearly visible only after planing and jointing the rough surface) my wife declares she wants the table to be painted black! I understand matching the other furniture, but to paint something so beautiful. Well, I allowed her to let me finish, and then see.”
“On to the actual construction details. I started by cutting the legs. They are double tapered, cut on the bandsaw, and then jointed and sanded. In hindsight, I’ll skip the jointer and tackle the tapers with just the sander. I did use my belt sander to finish the shaping. The construction of the frame is basic mortise and tenon for the aprons. One of the apron pieces had an interesting effect where a bug had bored a few holes, making what I thought was a beautiful accent. I decided to use this piece on the front, I figured that it added to the individuality. I cut the mortises first with a drill press followed by bench chisels. Then I cut the tenons with a dado blade on the table saw. I glued up the frame, sanded to 220, and started on the top. I had a rather large, wide (11.5″) piece of Walnut. Jointed the edges and glued it up. Used a scraper to clean up the glue line, and cut the top to size. I rounded the edge over with the router and a 1/4″ roundover bit. I sanded the top and then attached it to the frame with figure 8’s.
“The finish is two coats of tung oil followed by two coats of clear poly, all with steel wool sanding in between. Once I was done, the wife did not demand a black paint job. In fact she is now on my case about starting a matching dresser.”
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