Mixology Cabinet
What does every budding mixologist need? The answer is a cabinet for all the necessary glassware and equipment. This is an original heatskymakershop design. The case is made from walnut plywood from, the painted surfaces are a mix of solid poplar or birch plywood and the face frame, doors and drawer fronts are urban salvaged walnut. The piece is finished with a hard wax oil.
Ocean Research Project (boat project)
ORP is a non profit organization dedicated to scientific research under sail. I had the opportunity to support a few refit projects on their 72’ Bruce Roberts Voyager 650 steel schooner. I made multiple doors along with designing and fabricating a secondary hatch that will be located over the saloon . The doors and the associated jambs are made of cherry and MDO to match the rest of the boats design esthetic. The door design includes a small spacer pad around the handle which allowed the use of standard hardware. The hatch, located over the main saloon is designed to open in both directions (by swapping hinge pins from for to aft). The hatch is made with one inch Coosa board, glued together with thickened epoxy and the windows are half inch polycarbonate. The hatch will get a coat of fiberglass and be painted white prior to installation.
Sculpted Low Back Chair
A delightfully attractive chair with many applications. Similar to the the Sculpted Barstool, this piece is a Sam Maloof inspired design created by Paul Leminski of Canadian Woodworks. The material, elm, was sustainably harvested from urban trees by Kevin Scheimreif of Steel and Grain Slabs. This piece gave me the opportunity to practice the skills I learned in Paul’s class. I look forward to making more pieces in this style. The wood is sanded to 500 grit and finished with Odie’s Oil.
Bulkhead doors (boat project)
These watertight bulkhead doors were made in collaboration with 59 North Sailing. There are 3 doors which are part of a refit that divides this Swan 59 ICEBEAR into three watertight compartments. The doors are made from a combination of solid Sapele, 3mm Sapele plywood, structural foam and associated hardware. The jambs are made from solid Sapele and are attached with screws and epoxy per the specification of the naval architect. Everything was finished with multiple coats of marine varnish.
Entry Bench
For those of us that wear shoes regularly we need a place to put them on and take them off. This shaker inspired design includes an angled back and carved seat which makes for a comfortable bench. We also made 2 boxes on casters that can hold shoes and roll underneath. Our delightfully talented shop assistant, #DeltaNewf, has already figure out out how to roll them out and get at the toys within! The piece is made from Maple from a few different sources (the board that makes up the seat has lived in multiple states waiting for the perfect project) and it is finished with Odies Oil.
2Fifty Blade and Bracket Pedestrian Sign
We thought it was pretty cool when our favorite local BBQ place asked us to make a sign for outside their main entrance. Special design considerations were made because they sign was going to live its life outdoors. These included the chosen materials which are Sapele Mahogany, an African hardwood, and marine grade plywood. We also turned to the marine industry for finish which is many coats of spar varnish for the Sapele and topside boat paint for the plywood. We also took great care to design the shape such that water would not have a place to collect, this included water runoff “channels” in the plywood behind the letters. This piece can be viewed at 2Fifty’s Riverdale Park location.
Live Edge End Table Cabinets
Its seems like most people need a place to keep their “stuff”. In our house we have graduated from some old metal filing cabinets to a set walnut end tables that include a few drawers. The base cabinets and drawer boxes are make from Walnut plywood, sourced from Chesapeake Plywood. Solid strips of walnut to band the plywood edges. The tops are make from live edge walnut we purchased from Asheville Hardware in North Carolina and the drawer fronts are from Legacy Lumber in Ontario. All of the components were pre-finished with Osmo PolyX prior to assembly.
Sculpted Barstool
This barstool was made as part of a class put on by Canadian Woodworks. It is a 4 day course where you leave with a fully fabricated and partially shaped chair. The chair is fabricated from templates designed by Paul Leminski of CWW. The design is largely influenced by Sam Maloof and Scott Morrison. Once fabricated, the chair is shaped and sanded using various wood shaping tools. This chair was made from black walnut and was sanded to 500 grit then finished with Odie’s Oil. Building this chair will be the inspiration for future pieces.
Magnetic Utility (Knife) Blocks
Elegant solution to hold any tool made from ferrous metal. These pieces have rare earth magnets embedded 5mm below the wood’s surface and are held on the wall with a simple metal bracket. The only limitation to this piece’s usage is imagination. Magnets are held in place with epoxy and the surface is finished with a food safe oil.
Ikea Inspired Stepstool
We had a step stool from Ikea that got a lot of use around the house. Since we liked the form we decided a version made from walnut would fit our style. The material from a short walnut log my dad had been aging for over 30 years. The log had a lot of checking so epoxy repair was required. We improved on the original design by using a flitch matched, live edge top and step and some through mortise joinery. The piece was finished with General Finished Arm-r-Seal.
Live Edge Walnut Coffee Table
This coffee table is made from live edge black walnut with chrome legs. The top is made from one log that was cut and joined in the center. Voids were filled with walnut inserts and epoxy. The surface was finished with General Finishes Arm-r-Seal then hand rubbed until it was smooth. Chrome legs were procured through an online retailer and attached with threaded inserts.
Kitty Palace
Why can’t a litter box be a nice piece of furniture? Add to that some drawers to keep bags and a scoop along with a maple top where Theo can eat without being disturbed by the dogs. The design is inspired by an old maple buffet we have. Case is made from Russian birch plywood, face frame is poplar and joinery is all floating tenons. Top is maple with breadboard ends. Drawers have under mount slides and the doors have European style inset hinges designed for flush mount doors. Finish is blue big box store paint on the base and danish oil on the top.
Studyset Boxes
Sarah’s current career requires her to keep slides of interesting things to look at under a microscope. This three drawer box is inspired by old school card catalogs. To get the dimensions right I elected to make a prototype which ended up going to a close friend in the same field. The main box is connected using through dovetails while the drawer fronts are half blind dovetails. I used the Leigh dovetail jig to cut all the dovetails. Sarah’s box is made of Walnut and the prototype is an unknown type of oak. Both boxes were finished with General Finishes Arm-r-Seal.
Handtool Cabinet
As I built my skills in woodworking I started adding handtools to my arsenal. I never really had a nice way to store them so I thought a cabinet was in order. The design is influenced by a Fine Woodworking magazine article, the Wood Whisperer and lots of time surfing the google images. Highlights include mitered dovetail joinery, inner door panels with embedded magnetic catches and a design completed in Fusion 360. Material is maple with a combination of solid and plywood, finish is Osmo PolyX hardwax oil.
Toolbox 2015
This project was a birthday present for Sarah so she could have her own tools in one place. It was my first woodworking project that wasn’t in support of home renovation and was completed in 2015. It was at this time I declared I would make a new toolbox every 5 years. Design was inspired by a YouTube video from Jimmy DiResta. Material is white oak and the finish is General Finishes Arm-r-Seal.
Ball Jar Caddy
While renovating our latest project house we uncovered a wall made from what appeared to be old shipping crates from the building of the pentagon. Being fans of upcycling we decided to make them into some caddies to hold our ever increasing collection of ball jars. Each caddy can hold 12 jars where they are separated by some scrap marine plywood my dad had leftover from a boat project. The sides are mitered with a “spline joinery” and all 5 are stackable. No finish was used in this project. #cratetowalltocrate
