We live in an older home. With that comes some need of making home repairs and improvements. Our house has some nice single panel fir doors but they have been coated with many layers of paint through the years.

Quite some time ago, I got the urge to see what treasure lay beneath the layers of paint on one of the doors. This was a test to see if I wanted to reveal the wood on all the doors in the house. This task proved to be a real chore and not one that I thought was of enough value to put all that effort into. Removing multiple layers of paint is WORK!

So I ended up with one stripped door that needed to have something done with. This one ended up getting hung back up and nothing done to it for a couple of years until now. We had the plan to paint this image on it but the desire or the time to get to it seemed to keep dodging us. Finally with the birth of a new boy, I had a couple of weeks off to spend helping with the other kids and taking care of household chores. We got excited about painting our door and this is what we ended up with.



We also made a video of the process and we think it turned out fun!

Now we need to come up with a picture idea for the back of the door!



Woodworking is not only fun, but practical.

Our towel bar, that was mounted to the wall with those plastic drywall screw type thingies, finally worked itself free on one side, looking like an old jalopy car with broken suspension springs. The one side was hanging on for dear life while the sinister single towel that hung upon it, was trying to bring it down to its demise.
Well, before the bar came down to its certain death, I decided that something needed to be done before this happened. So I finally got around to making a towel bar with a shelf. Or is it the other way around? A shelf with a towel bar?

Either way, this is it!

It’s made from some 1” cedar decking that I had left over that I used for a small section of fence to divide an area in the yard. I no longer needed the fence where it was and took the section down and stored it outdoors under cover.

When I came up with a design, which took about 3 minutes on the internet, I went into action Faaaaaast!

This was about a 3 hour project fron start to finish this Sunday afternoon. It is contructed with glue and nails. No fancy schmany joinery here! In fact, no finish either! Just the raw wood.

This isn't the only wood thing that I have been doing. 

Here is a goblet that I made for Sean, our newest member of the family.

This is a video of the making of this goblet.  I hope that you enjoy it.



Here we are after a hard days work!  Ha ha.



A New Arrival!

No, no, no, I know what you were thinking...  a new TOOL! 

No, this is NOT about a new tool, however nice that is but, this is about a new BABY!

Yes, we are blessed to have a new baby boy in our home! 

Sean joined us on July 22nd.  Of course he was an instant HIT with all of us!

Now for those of you that were looking for something woodworking related, here is a video of making a rattle for Sean the evening before he was born.



Pencil Tips

Here are a quick series of 3 videos for tips on shop pencils.

This is a very lengthy and diverse subject but I think that I was able to condense the important topics down so that even the uninitiated will comprehend it.

The video series should be watched in order from the top down for the most sequential presentation of this confusing subject. 

Put your thinking caps on!

I can't believe I built a BANJO!

Yes, I did it, I built a banjo.  And it works!  Ha ha

This is the link to the completed project at Lumberjocks.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/65783

I am also working on a second banjo.  Here are a couple of links to two videos of turning the "pot".  It is made from madrone and black walnut.

Hello... hello... hello...

Is there anybody in there?  

Yes, we are still here.  Been busy with life but I haven't ceased from making fun with wood. 

Here is a conductors baton turned from maple and sapele for my 15 year old son.

I hope that you enjoy it!