Hi everyone-

This is the second of 5 humidors I’m building. This is also made of Cherry, Walnut, and Spanish Cedar. Overall dimensions are 8.5”x11.5” x 5.5” tall. This was my first attempt at doing inlay, over all I feel pretty good about how it turned out. The feet on this were a bit more challenging because of their small size, and they have a bit more detail than the others I’ve made, as far as the profiling is concerned. I was originally going to use 4 keys on each or the corner joints, and at the last minute I decided to make the top and bottom ones stripes that went all around instead.

Again, thanks for any comments or critiques.

I promised my self, that since I was starting my new life as a early retired because of health, I would invest in my workshop, the first part was some state of the art Festool tools from Germany, and second part was this – old wonderful tools for woodworking, and most of all some planes, since this was a big wish for years, at the time where I was working 70 hours as a Architect, and never had time for that.
It amaze me that one circular saw is the same price as I paid for all what you see in the last picture – I must say it’s amazing as you get value for money in the old tools, and how much better the quality are, so thank you guys for all the great inputs, that made the base for my choices.

Today I got a big box of old tools I bought on the web in Denmark for 70$ (first picture).
This was really a bargain, one Stanley 220, one broken Record 130 that I will rebuild to a chamfer plane, a fine old square, a spokshave, a veener saw, a router plane, a special wood plane, a bandsaw tooth adjuster, a marking gauge, and a wonderful old hand drill.
I bought also from the same guy 3 old mahogny chinese style woodplanes for 140 $ (I have no idea if this price was fair, but I fell in love, and felt I had made such a good deal first, that I could pay some extra… He asked for 170 $, but I managed to get it down) (First and third picture), with English Sheffield blades, and they are supposed to have been made in France a long time ago… They came from a retired furniture maker. These planes are so extremely beautiful, that I cant wait to try them out, but I think I have to flatten the bed, and sharpen the blades before, so it will be a fair test. My god I cant wait! It might become my favorite frinds for the finer woodworking.
(I would love to hear if somebody has any information on planes like that).

And one more box with some vintage Record planes I bought from a guy in England for 150 $ (second picture) wich I thik are fair but not fantastic (and the shipping was a little expensive).
As I can see the quality of the Records are the same as the Stanley, except from the very old Stanleys and the Bedrock’s. Does anyone have some experience in that also?

And yes – pinch my arm, there are some wonderful stuff, so now it will be time for hours of restoration…
I was in the woodworker heaven today, and will now sleep with a big wooden smile on my lip!

So I have decided it’s time to build a cabinet, a proper place for all these wonders, perhaps from some scrap pallet wood, as a wonderful contrast, I was thinking of a style like a Japanese toolbox.

Maple framed mirror. Finish is one coat of General’s light brown dye stain and 3 coats of glaze…General’s water based poly + light brown stain 1-5 mixture.

March, 2010—More fun boxes, with very little waste. The exotic wood in the middle came from the cut-off pile from Anderson Lumber Company in St. Petersburg, Florida. The oak came from an old book rack I picked up at a thrift shop for $1. These are sanded to 600-grit and finished with Watco Danish Oil. The middle size one is my favorite in this group because I think it has the best proportions. This project was the first time I have used my router on my band saw boxes. The edges on the tops and bottoms of all the pieces have been eased with a chamfer bit in the router. As you can see from one of the photos, these nest easily since they were all cut from the same block. However, I did not make these with the intention to nest them. The smaller box only nests when you turn it upside down, which I had done because I wanted some oak on the lid. To make nesting boxes, I now know to always keep the cores oriented up (the same way as each other). Thanks for looking.

Just a simple ash monitor stand that I made for my desk at work. Mortis and tenon joinery. Wipe-on poly finish with a couple of coats of wax.

This is really one of my first woodworking project since I started it in highschool (15 years ago!), although I didn’t finish it until about 7 years after (8 years ago). I started the legs in highschool not having any idea how much work they would be. After highschool I didn’t feel I had the tools or skills to finish it properly. I originally wanted to do a solid top but at the time I though that a simple frame with a bronzed glass insert would be easier and cheaper.

It’s not perfect but it’s solid and it looks pretty nice in my parents living room!

March, 2010—These are fun to make, and there is very little scrap. First is a glue up of some wood. The top is poplar, but I can’t tell you what the other two are. They are from the cut-off pile at an exotic wood store I go to. The smaller box is made out of the core left over from the larger box. I finished these with the Watco Danish Oil, which always brings out the beauty of the grain. I lined the bottom of the larger box with felt. I noticed the other day that the smaller box just happens to be exactly the right size to display Splenda / Equal / Sweet ‘n Low packets! The packets looked great on end in the little box. But then if I used it for that function, the lid becomes redundant. So I plan to think about new boxes to store sugar packets. Hey, maybe I could sell the boxes with the sugar! :-)

Some scrap wood and quick thinking turned this trash bound Ikea desk lamp into an excellent light for my very old Companion bench-top drill press.

February, 2010—After some heavy duty pruning on a bush out back, I figured I could turn a chunk of it into a band saw box. Well, I did it! Not sure i would want to do many more of these, but I learn a thing or two doing this. For instance, the darker brown color is exactly how the wood looks after the bark falls off. The lighter color is where I cut or sanded. So it has a kind of two-tone appearance that I did not expect. Also, working with odd shapes like this presents more of a challenge on the band saw! I had to be careful, and really think through each cut to be sure the blade wouldn’t pop through one of the slanted sides. In the end it turned out OK. To keep the rustic look, I simply used some dowel stubs for drawer handles. This is finished in lacquer.

This was a gift I made for some friends of mine that were getting married. I knew in advance that their parents were getting them a beautiful new dining table and they were worried about it getting damaged during our weekly poker games so I made this to fit perfectly over that table. it fold in half for storage and the center sections slide out for cleaning or recovering. I have since recovered it with a green fabric that the cards slide much better on. The green looks better too.

The only thing I didn’t do fully myself is the cup holders. The oak bits were banister caps (or whatever these are called) I bought from home depot, and the brass inserts were bought online.

There were a lot of first in this project and I probably didn’t use the best techniques on some things but it came out great.