Previous Work

Some of these are links with more information about that particular item.

Playing Card Box, 2006.

Maple and Mahogany, Tru-Oil finish. Custom-sized to fit a deck of Russian playing cards.

Tenor Ukulele, 2005.

Mahogany. Click the photo for more info, including a building log and sound clips.

Mountain Dulcimer, 2004.

Mahogany and Cedar. Click the photo for more info. Sorry, no sound clip for this one.

Porch Lantern, 2004.

White Oak and copper. From a plan in Workbench magazine. This was harder to make than it should have been since I didn't have a table saw to do splined miter joints and the like. (I used a router table and rabbetted everything instead.) The copper was cut on the scroll saw; a stained-glass supply house cut the glass for me. There is no protective finish on the copper and it began tarnishing after only one day outside. Lighting is from a 40-watt bulb.

Monkey Mobile, 2003

Walnut, Purpleheart, Cherry, and Oak (I think). Made for one of my nieces. Fishing line was used to suspend the monkeys from the crossarms at top. It's a hassle; I'll use black thread next time. The monkey pattern was adapted from those used in Barrel of Monkeys (tm).

Bassoon Reed Box, 2003

Walnut and Basswood. Holds three baroque bassoon reeds (barely.) The lid isn't really hinged, but it was supposed to be. Slight problem with brads splitting the 1/8" thick lid. I remembered a neat trick for getting decent miter corners on this one - stack two adjacent sides together, flip one, and sand them at the same time. That way they match even if they aren't exactly 45 degrees.

Intarsia Sun, 2003

Pine and poplar. This plan is Cherry Tree 41-585. My first attempt at intarsia, which involves lots of trimming with the scroll saw and the conversion of about half of your wood into sawdust. (I used a 1" belt sander.) Dye is Woodburst yellow with a bit of orange. Useful tip: add dark color to light, not light color to dark. I'm actually pretty pleased with how this came out.

Pen Stand, 2002-2003

Oak. I've made these out of oak, walnut, and scrap plywood. The walnut was particularly nice, but I don't have photos of it as someone actually gave me $20 for it.

I'd been looking for some kind of pen display stand and couldn't find anything, so I made one. The design is rather mechanical, as I was looking at a lot of Victorian-style machinery and steam engines at the time.

Plate Stand, 2002

Cherry with a wax finish. Made as a Christmas gift for my mother, who paints plates better than I make stands for them. Actually, I'm fairly pleased with the result on this one. The design is my own, inspired vaguely by Celtic knotwork patterns.

Putting a wax finish on fretwork is a pain. Spray lacquer is the way to go for this type of work.

Mantel Clock, 2002

Oak and birch plywood. While I'm not wild about the miter joints or the finishing, or the placement of the face marks, this came out okay. We needed a mission-style clock in oak to match some furniture, so I designed and built this one.

The movement is a standard AA-battery model available from any number of sources.

Christmas Carousel or Pyramid, 2005.

Mostly birch. Click the photo for more info.

Last updated 26 July 2010

Soprano ukulele, 2007.

Mahogany with rosewood fretboard and bridge. Built in a week at the Blue Stone Folk School Meat ‘n Taters ukulele workshop. Click the photo for more info.

Soprano ukulele, 2008.

Mahogany with rosewood fretboard and bridge. Maple binding and neck laminations. Click the photo for more info.

Box, 2009

Yellowheart sides and handle with mahogany lid. Click the photo for more info.