The intersection of creativity and function
I wouldn’t recommend sitting on any of these, but they are functional in one way or another.
Art Gallery (2021)
Boss Lady is a professional artist. I made this for her in the spring of 2021. I’m glad my one summer before college working as a roofer finally paid off.
Chess Set (2022)
Such a fun project. My son and I designed the pieces, opting for a minimalist art deco style as I do not own a lathe. Next version will have better integrated storage. Maple and walnut.
Dice Tower (2021)
Went to PAX East in 2020, right before the world went to shit. Saw a mess of these and thought, “Maybe I can make one.” I succeeded, although I should’ve taken a refresher in physics as the dice fly into the tray. Purple heart with walnut dowels.
Dice Tower (2024)
Walnut with maple accents.
This was… a lot. It doesn’t seem like it, but it was one of those projects that had unforced error after unforced error. I started this in late December, struggled with getting the CNC demon to not look like ass, got frustrated with the glue up, was distracted by the shop renovations, and wasted more wood than I care to admit trying to design a dice tray that was functional but didn’t take up too much space when not in use. I could’ve also used a refresher on how to sand pieces before finishing. Yeesh.
But in the end, I’ve a pretty solid prototype for future builds. I can talk about the things that went south all day long, but let’s talk about how this has built-in storage, and that the tray folds up so the tower can sit inside it. It may not be 100% but I learned a ton from this project and if I ever get a commission to make one, I have a lengthy list of what not to do. And that’s what it’s all about.
Gift Box # 1 (2022)
Made of cherry and walnut.
Gift Box # 2 (2023)
White oak and purple heart. The gift, for a dear friend of ours, included a small painting by my wife (www.kerrypegorarofineart.com).
Gift Box # 3 (2023)
White oak and walnut. The 2022 raffle gift for my Pan Mass Challenge Fundraiser. For this piece, I wanted to skip the hinges and latches and use a simple liner of walnut to match the lid (spoiler alert - I also had a hefty amount of warped walnut that I milled down to 1/4” so there was plenty to spare). The miter joints look a little cleaner (new blade on the saw, go figure) and the handle turned out really well (note to self: build a jig next time, you dummy). Thought about adding handles on the side for a hot minute but I decided they would’ve made it a little too chonky looking.
Jewelry Boxes # 1 (2023)
Walnut and cherry, with epoxy resin lettering. A wedding gift commission that involved a bit of trial and error with learning how to use a CNC router and figuring out resin pours. Screwed up the “J” on the first iteration of the lid, but as with all happy accidents, it gave me an opportunity to tweak the design. With the two boxes and four inserts, there was quite a bit of hurry up and wait with the assembly, but the finished product speaks for itself.
Painting Trolley (2024)
Pine
Client contacted me with a pdf of an A-frame style painting trolley. “Can you build this?” was the ask. The answer was “Yes, absolutely!” but the how remained in question. While I appreciated the design, it was made with big box lumber (not always a bad thing, especially with utilitarian pieces, but you’re always going to be at a loss for quality) and did not seem as sturdy as it should have been. You could practically see the thing sway in the pictures.
First up was material. I scrounged around the shop and realized I had a swath of barn board up in the rafters. Client was delighted to only have to pay for hardware, and I found out the hard way that I still cannot accurately budget my time (pro-tip: it takes more than a couple of hours to mill wood).
Second was the assembly. Keeping in contact with the client was a boon, as at one point she wondered how she was going to get it up to the second floor of her house. A single A-frame was structurally problematic, but two A-frames connected by the rails would not only make it more solid but also make it easier to transport and lug up a flight of stairs. And as a bonus, it now had built in storage at the bases.
Router Table Cabinet (2024)
Gumwood and birch plywood
Usually I won’t post shop cabinets here because unlike some woodworkers, I don’t do Fancy-Pants® for stuff that I know will be knocked about. But in this case, I upgraded my router table from the shoddy portable desktop model to this banger of a Jessem, which called - nay, screamed - for a cabinet of better quality than the usual muckity muck. Also, I may have watched too many YouTube videos on router table cabinets.
I didn’t have enough plywood lying about and I was too lazy to go out and get some (plus, buying plywood from the Big Box store is a lesson in aggravation, as more often than not when it’s actually available, it’s also way lesser quality). But I did have a stack of gumwood I picked up a handful of years back. And it just so happened that there was enough to build this cabinet, which I would classify as a mix of fine furniture (the gumwood) and “eh, whatever” (the plywood drawers, the dust collection supports on the back). There were some neat design challenges and I’m pleased with the results, which is enough to warrant dumping some glamour shots here. Plus, I even swept the floor for the photos!
Spaceships (2011)
Spaceships are awesome. Mostly leftover pine, with bits of equally leftover birch plywood and dowels of various widths
