I've got a new small project in the works, but I've been a little under the weather lately and need some more Black Walnut to complete it. So I'm going to share a little flashback with you...
Back in November of 2004 I was asked the question that I’m sure all woodworking fathers would love to hear. My oldest daughter, Jasmine, asked me to build something for her!
Not just a random thing, but a specific request. At the time of this request, Jasmine was 10. She’s a smart girl, but she has a habit of proving that common sense just isn’t all that common!
So, I’m in the hallway upstairs one night putting my programming books on a shelf. I had to move them up there to get them out of the way in the dungeon. Jasmine came out of her room and following conversation took place:
Jasmine: “Can you build me a drawer for Christmas?”
me: “You want a drawer?”
Jasmine: “Yeah, you know, to put my clothes in.” (...like I’m some sort of idiot.)
me: “Where are you going to put it?”
Jasmine: “In my room.”
me: “A drawer. Just a drawer?”
Jasmine: “Yeah.”
me: “You realize that a drawer is the box that that goes in a dresser, right? Do you want a dresser?”
Jasmine: “Oh yeah, that! Can you build me one of those for Christmas?”
me: “Yeah, sure.”
It ended up being ready for her birthday in April!
I built it with Eastern White Pine. It's finished with a couple coats of Ipswich Pine and a few coats of clear semi-gloss polyurethane. My father-in-law was nice enough to do the finishing for me. Though I had tofight to get him to use the stain I wanted. He wanted to go with more of a Dark Walnut. I'm not really a big fan of dark stained wood, and since I bought the stain, he did it how I wanted. I also chose to not use any mechanical drawer slides, figuring that they will only be the first thing to wear out anyway.
And I think this picture was taken the last time all of the drawers were shut at the same time! Soon after, it went up to her room and has had clothes sticking out ever since...
This is the board that I was complaining about yesterday. That 32 grit sand paper (kinda like rubbing a handful of pebbles on the board) I picked up yesterday at Home Depot helped even things out a bit quicker.
This board, made of Cherry and Red Leaf Soft Maple, is next up in Line. I've arranged for the stripes to run the length of the board on this and the next few boards.
Here's a shot of one of three cuttingboards that I have rough cut. All three have the stripes running the length of the board and are all complosed of Walnut and Red Leaf Soft Maple. The other two have the outer edges starting with the maple.
What was once supposed to be a laptop writing desk and a drawer for my daughter's dresser has now become a butcher-block style cutting board.
! Of course it's also a bit bigger than I had imagined. For some reason, a five foot tall, three foot wide dresser didn't sound as big as it really looks. And when I say really big, I mean "holy crap, I hope I don't have to move that very often!" BIG.
Here's a look at my second cigar pen. I made this with a piece of the wood I got from Gary (if you hadn't already guessed that!). I applied a new finish on this pen than I have on the rest. I mixed some of the BLO with the paste wax until I got a sweet potato / baby food type consistancy. Then applied some to a rag, rubbed it in and buffed it to a nice little shine.
It seems like everything I read about woodworking, there is talk of grain matching. Basically this is when the woodworker takes great care in selecting the pieces being used. A simple example would be two dresser drawers that are next to each other. These drawer fronts should ideally be cut from the same piece of wood so the grains flows from one drawer to the next.
