Here are a couple of woodworking gifts you could make someone for Christmas.
With any of these plans you can add your own touch to have a bit more fun. For example with the bottle tote I added a bit of live edge wood to keep the bottles apart.
I built a box for a bluetooth speaker. The speaker kit was purchased from Rockler when it was on sale. It sounds great and is easy to use. I think it will make a great Christmas gift.
The build was straight forward using the plans. I changed the sizes a bit to make the box bigger thinking it might help the sound. Instead of using a miter saw and router I went with my table saw for everything. I did the miters using a miter sled and cut the splines with a jig on the table saw. My spline jig slides along the table saw fence (picture below).
If I build another one I will probably buy some fancier wood. I just used some maple and cherry I had laying around. It’s a good project to use up scrap wood.
This cubby shelf built with poplar and finished with shellac and medium brown dye. The shelf was my wifes idea to help organize a bunch of stuff. This shelf was made with poplar panels. I bought 1x4’s, 1x2’s, and 1x12’s and glued up the panels to make it a about 14” deep. The width is about 50”.
The panels were put together with pocket hole screws and wood glue. Before assembly I added some shelf pin holes using a Kreg 5mm Shelf Pin Jig. My holes were aligned perfectly but got some tear out. I think the tear out was user error and will try a higher speed drill next time.
Next I added on a face frame to give it a bit more strength. I don’t own a brad nailer yet but clamps work fine. For finish I used some dewaxed shellac 1 to 1 with denatured alcohol. Then another coat of the same mix but added a drop of medium brown dye.
I needed a quick win while I work on a larger project so I bought a Cribbage Template from Rockler. Works pretty well and easy to use.
Here it is with some stain and a coat of lacquer. I buffed this out a bit so it wasn’t so shiny when it dried.
Also got a “Timberwolf bandsaw blade” and these things resaw like magic. Going to have fun making thin 1/4 inch boxes from this.
The following are a bunch woodworking projects that I did while I tried to learn about woodworking and setup my shop in the garage from 2015 to 2018.
For some reason I got into cutting staves. Really want to get better at this. Will try again now that I know how to setup my bevels correctly and maybe someday taper the staves to make a real bucket.
One morning I found a huge chunk of maple laying in my yard. Some firewood fell off a truck I guess. Decided to make a big sauna spoon out of it.
Not sure why I made this. I think it was because I had some scrap maple and a broken luggage wheel laying around which had a decent baring. Also pressure fitting a bearing into hard maple is pretty fun. Got to use my belt sander to tweak the size of my fostner bit to make it exactly the correct hole size.
A quick fun project using up some scrap wood.
A shop stand. Pine base and tops are from an old coffee table. I bought a belt sander and needed a stand. I threw this together and eventually put castors on it. Works really nice.
We bought some blinds and the person installing them broke the cover. While they ordered a new part, I just built these to cover up all of the blind hardware. Turned out better then I expected but still not as square as I would have liked. Would like to do more trim work now.
Probably the most fun project I’ve done so far. My dad even got into it and helped me figure out the curved tapered chair back supports.
Practicing box joints some more now using table saw.
A Christmas gift for my dad.
Got a better bandsaw and needed to learn how to use it.
I’ve made a bunch of these as they are easy and fun.
cutting board 2
big cuttin board
Son got interested in dart boards so thought this would be fun. We use it once in awhile and it is pretty nice to have. Used my tenon jig to make the raised panel doors. Also have a nice router bit for doing the stile and rails which is fun to use on the router table.
I made these plans but decided to change the doors after people said I should do raised panels.
I had some free pine lumber and we needed a toy shelf. This was the first project I attempted to use Sketchup. It was fun to see how the design and result compared. The dimensions looked better in sketchup. I also got to use my tenon jig for the spline on the miter joint which was fun.
Friend helped me with the moulding and I mitered and routed it to make some boxes.
Oct. 8 2017 - Cedar miter box.
[ miterbox_open.jpg Miter box open %}
Sept. 30 2017 - Birthday gift for my mom. She wanted a decorative wooden wheel. Now that I have a better bandsaw I want to give this another try.
Sept. 2017 - Made these as gifts during Christmas. I have a couple of these I use around the shop for holding misc stuff.
May 21 2017 - First tool I ever made. Works pretty good for banging on things that don’t fit right or need adjustment.
July 2017 - We took a trip to NY and bought some art from a street vendor. Thought they would look good in my sons room with some frames.
This picture was a gift from my sister from many years ago and I finally got it framed. Was fun to use real glass on this one.
Apr. 15 2017 - Built this jig for making raised panel doors and I actually used it for my dart board cabnit. Found the plans in an old woodworking magazine. I picked up hundreds from someone who was moving.
Apr. 14 2017 - Aromatic cedar blanket chest. I had no idea what I was getting into trying to build this. Turned out alright for my first big project. This project gave me the excuse to buy a thickness planer.
Feb. 11th 2017 - I needed a better router and table so built this. Now it is one of my favorite tools in the shop now. I do have a fence and dust collection but not in this picture. This was built to make it easier to make a cedar chest.
March 27, 2017 - A cedar planter made from some old decking. Wife asked for this and gave me a rough idea of what she was looking for. People like the rustic look.
Dec. 4, 2016 - First attempt at a box joint box. Was a big mess but learned a ton. I have since moved to using my table saw for box joints but this was done on my router.
Nov 6, 2016 - Used old cedar decking. It turned out way to thick and heavy but it is still in use today.
May 17 2015 - First woodworking project made on my work bench. I eventually made another which turned out much better.
