Archive for the ‘Readers’ Projects’ Category
January 31st, 2012 by Matt Becker
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This reader-submitted coffee table features hand-made joinery and a clever use of tile for the tabletop.
I wanted to share this project that I’m so proud of: a custom built coffee table with marble stone tiles on top.
To use stone tiles for the top of a table is a great way to give furniture a more luxurious feel without spending a lot of money. Me and my husband built this table from scratch without using any nails or screws, but instead doing a lot of chiseling and some gluing. We chose hemlock wood and stained it in red mahogany.
For the top, we used 12 x 12 inch white carrera marble tiles, which we put close together without any space savers; then we didn’t have to use grout and could create a more seamless surface.
Overall I love this technique and our coffee table is just gorgeous!
More info and pics available here:
http://christonium.com/HomeProject/building-wooden-coffee-table-with-marble-tiles
Thanks so much for your time!
Linn
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Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: coffee table, Furniture, hemlock, mahogany, reader projects, tile
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January 16th, 2012 by Matt Becker
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This reader’s project incorporates some clever “interactive” functionality and plenty of storage.
A family I work with has a son who is crazy about airplanes. The mother sent me a picture of an airplane bed, and I knew I could do better. Attached are the sketchup design, a few pictures of the work in progress and the finished bed with Paulito included. I was disappointed that they added the box springs, as I had designed it for a single bunk mattress only, but I was told when Paulito goes to bed, he feels he is really flying.
It is made from hard maple, padauk, and Peruvian walnut. There is a little maple plywood and veneer, but it is mostly solid lumber with no stain or paint. I made two propellers which are easily removed. One is maple and the other is padauk and walnut. The wings pull out and form a storyteller’s seat, and the propeller really turns. There is plenty of storage in the drawers on the base.
- Joe Byron
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Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: bed, Furniture, Maple, padauk, reader projects, Veneer, Walnut
Posted in Readers' Projects | 1 Comment »
January 4th, 2012 by Matt Becker
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Woodworker’s Journal staff members turn to a certain favorite hobby when the holidays come around. Now that we won’t be spoiling any surprises, here are some of our projects given as gifts this year.
Almost two years ago, our family was fortunate enough to take a trip to Africa, and we purchased an original watercolor painting from our guide to remember our time in the Masai Mara National Reserve. My wife has wanted it framed ever since, and now it is. Her Christmas gift is made of cherry back-banded with walnut. I used half-lap miter joints to bring the frame members together and added a beaded profile to the walnut to create shadow lines. She loves it. – Chris Marshall, Field Editor
I built something recently for my wife. It isn’t technically a Christmas present, but it was a holiday-related gift to her and the theatrical company she works for: Shakespeare Santa Cruz. They were doing a holiday show called “A Year With Toad and Frog” a musical that’s for both children and adults. It’s a donation box on a stand made from Douglas fir. The box joints are all mortise and tenon, and the top mitered frame is joined together with Festool Dominoes. - Sandor Nagyszalanczy, Contributing Editor
This was my first holiday season as a woodworker, but once I got the idea to make one gift, it quickly spiraled out of control and before I knew it, I was even making gifts for people I hadn’t seen or spoken to in months. In addition to numerous turned pens and bottle openers, I completed not one but five butcher-block cutting boards (technically six if you count the one I cut in half). The cutting board pictured is the one I gave to my wife – the majority of the board is walnut and cherry, with the edges done in purpleheart and zebrawood. – Matt Becker, Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: collection box, cutting board, festool domino, Lathe, mitered frame, pen turning, Picture Frame
Posted in Projects, Readers' Projects | 2 Comments »
December 14th, 2011 by Matt Becker
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The unique drawer joinery, two-tone wood and clever integration of the drawer pulls into the faces bring some clever touches to an already-impressive piece.
This is a country style pantry that I built for our new home. Two-toned white oak with a dark brown dye stain for the main cabinets and clear gel varnish for the final top coat. There are 22 small item drawers (6″x6″x15″) in the center and 4 larger drawers between the upper and lower outer cabinets. I used glass doors to add ever changing color to the kitchen and a flemish glass pattern to defuse the contents of the pantry portion of the cabinets. Clear glass was used on top for display. Over all dimensions are approximately 96″ x 96″ x 16″.
- Leon Bridges
Do you have a project you’d like to share? Click here to send it in!
Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: kitchen project, reader project, White Oak
Posted in Readers' Projects | 2 Comments »
November 9th, 2011 by Matt Becker
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While many projects can be somewhat timeless, furniture for babies & children may lose some of its usefulness after time. This reader found a great way to extend the functionality of his work.
I made this changing table for the baby of my brother-in-law and later I made the top that he could add on to modify to a dresser.
So the furniture has a second life, and maybe his daughter will change her baby on the same changing table.
Made of yellow birch.
- Denis Pinard; Sherbrooke, Quebec
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Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: changing table, dresser, Furniture
Posted in Readers' Projects | 3 Comments »
October 11th, 2011 by Matt Becker
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This reader’s project is a good example that even in great looking pieces, there are often decisions that we’ll make differently “next time.”
This is a jewelry box I made for my sister in Melbourne. It is the first of this type I have made and was done more as a trial piece. The carcass and lid frame are made of recycled silky oak which started life as a door frame in a government building. The lid panel is camphor laurel and the base is pine. I wouldn’t use the pine again but it was a trial piece. The dividers and interior boxes are silky oak.
- John Lear; Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
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Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: gift, Oak, reclaimed lumber
Posted in Readers' Projects | 3 Comments »
October 6th, 2011 by Matt Becker
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We received this photo from a reader after we ran a previous letter showing his work in our June 2011 issue, all of which are variations on the Arts & Crafts Blanket Chest featured in the April 2010 issue.
First, thanks for the credit and photos of the arts & crafts blanket chest that I built from the April 2010 issue of Woodworkers Journal. As I mentioned in my letter [which was run in the June 2011 issue], I was planning to make three more of the chests for my daughter and her two girls, theirs to be used as a ‘hope chest’. I finished the three down-sized chests yesterday, trying to make them to scale of the original version, and finished them out with the asphalt stain treatment and then waxing with tudor brown Briwax.
The chests are 18″ X 18″ X 30 1/2″ for the chest, with the tops being 32″ X 20″. As I counted, there are approximately 90 individual parts, not counting the boards individually for the tops or the bottoms or the splines, with 28 mortises and tenons. Quite an undertaking, but I am pleased with the results. Each time I assembled one of the chests I learned something that made the next one easier to assemble. Having purchased the lumber through my son-in-law in Mississippi I got better quality lumber at a better price. Each chest cost about $200.00, including hardware and finishes.
- Dewey Lackey; Brentwood, TN
Do you have a project you’d like to share? Click here to send it in.
Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: arts and crafts, blanket chest, Furniture, Oak, reader projects
Posted in Readers' Projects | 1 Comment »
September 19th, 2011 by Matt Becker
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This is by far the oldest reader’s project we’ve had submitted (more accurately, ancestor of reader’s project), but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. Its longevity is a true compliment to its maker.
My great-grandfather was a finish carpenter for a company that made huge riverboats. He specialty was doing the fine trim work in the Captain’s quarters. He built this tool chest around 1870 and is 36″ x 22″ x 18″ and is made out of just six pieces of cherry. When I got it, I thought it had been painted as it was mostly black and my intention at that time was to just clean it up and repaint it. When I discovered what was underneath the dirt and the stains, I refinished it to what you now see. It is a treasured piece of furniture in our living room.
- Kent A Russell; Middletown, Indiana
Do you have a project you’d like to share? Click here to send it in!
Matt Becker
Internet Production Coordinator
Tags: Cherry, reader project, Tool chest
Posted in Readers' Projects | 4 Comments »
