Mar 10

Carving Tool Box – Daniel D. Brown, 2018

Well that was fun! I woke up today and decided to make a box for my carving knives and accessories. My old one is too small now. It’s a pretty simple box, with lots of flaws – but I’m super happy with it for my own use. I made the top by resawing a piece of scrap walnut to create a bookmatched panel (with a lot of handplaning). I cut the big chamfers (or whatever you wanna call them) on the table saw. The lid panel and bottom are inserted into grooves on the sides, which are made of cherry leftover from @tam_a_ryn’s kitchen island cart. The bottom is just some scrap pine I needed to get rid of. Finished with tung oil.
I was gonna add splines. But I wanted this to be a quick project and was just ready to be done. I think it’ll hold up fine with my usage.

 

Feb 18

Elm Coat Rack – Daniel D. Brown, 2018

Coat hanger complete! I made this thing out of an old half-rotting log someone was giving away as firewood in Squirrel Hill. I loved the endgrain, which seemed structurally sound enough, and thought it might be pretty inside. So I milled it up with my cheap chainsaw, flattened it with a router/jig, filled the knotholes with epoxy, sanded and sanded, added keyhole slots in the back, added the hardware, and finished it with Arm-R-Seal. I was gonna square it up, but @tam_a_ryn liked the sawed angles from when it was originally cut down. The hooks are staggered because I couldn’t bring myself to cover that beautiful knotted figure. Still not sure what species. Checkout the before and after pics at the end. More of this in my story highlight. Inspired by a similar coat rack made by one of my favorite woodworkers on IG, Matt Plumlee @gotwoodwrkshop.

 

Dec 21

Three-Legged Stool – Daniel D. Brown, 2017, Red Oak and Elm

I found a big chunk of red oak from a tree that was felled near my house in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh a year and a half ago. After letting it sit and dry in my basement all that time, I decided to make a stool out of it. I also had a few elm branches I picked up in a neighbor’s yard around the same time. (side note: I actually started drilling the leg holes early in the summer – and broke my finger in the process. Now that it’s mostly healed, it was time to tackle this bastard).

The original chunk of red oak
The chunk had a large bug hole in it going all the way through the corner, which I decided to fill with epoxy resin, mixed with a tiny bit of green watercolor pigment.

   

Check out that grain!