Bedroom Makeover: Nightstand Edition

So it is now time to make over our bedroom.  It’s still in the drab white that was painted with the house built.  In an effort to maximize our dollars we decided to give our current bedroom suit a make over.  There are several things wrong with it all of which I will fix over time but the first thing that hits you is it’s just plain ugly.  We still haven’t totally figured out why we bought it 10 years ago.  I guess we were young it was in our budget and we needed furniture for the house we had just moved into.  That...

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SUNDAY POETRY: "FLYING FISH"

  Sunday: The day to indulge a poetry addiction. Flying Fish by Carl SandburgI have lived in many half-worlds myself... and so I know you. I leaned at a deck rail watching a monotonous sea, the same circling birds and the same plunge of furrows carved by the plowing keel. I leaned so... and you fluttered struggling between two waves in the air now... and then under the water and out again... a fish... a bird... a fin thing... a wing thing. Child of water, child of air, fin thing and wing thing... I have lived in many...

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OUTTAKES: THE BACKSTORY

 As usual in writing a book, a lot of good stuff ends up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. This outtake was hard to let go of, more so because I didn't write it:Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. -Edna St. Vincent Millay Dirge Without Mu...

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THE LONG-DISTANCE WANDERINGS OF LEATHERBACKS

I'm on a leatherback sea turtle thread at the moment—not the sole focus of DEEP BLUE HOME... but recurring characters. I love their wanderings.Seriously cool-beans stuff is coming out of satellite tagging of these awesome creatures. Check out the track maps at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation.You can adopt a leatherback and help fund the conservation work. I just adopted the lovely Panamanian leatherback Naya.From the CCC website:document.title = "General Behavior of Sea Turtles :: Caribbean Conservation & Sea Turtle Survival League" "NAVIGATION:...

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RANDOM EXCERPT FROM "DEEP BLUE HOME:" SEA TURTLES IN THE ICE REALM

"It's not surprising to see a leatherback up hereon the edge of the ice, since this is one of the most traveledof all vertebrate species, perpetually on the move alongjellyfish highways between the tropics and the high latitudes."DEEP BLUE HOME-Chapter 14The Distant Geography of WaterPhoto courtesy COML....

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SWIMMING TOWARD THE LIGHT

The book is really on its way.Working through copyediting,proofreading, blurbing, printing,and all the months of detail workbetween typing The Endand appearing on the New Nonfiction rack.Birth date 9 July 2010.I'm starting to feel a flutter in my stoma...

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COMING SOON!

A new book.A new blog.One to elucidate the other.Please check ba...

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Beginner Woodworker Tools

Today I want to talk about some of the basic tools of woodworking, some of these tools you will have some you will want and some are necessary for successful projects.    Lets focus on small and medium sized projects: If you are working on smaller projects you may not need a table saw or other “advanced” tools to complete the project.  Take for example the Coffee Table featured here: I completed this table using only a Compound Miter Saw, a biscuit jointer, a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, Clamps and a Random Orbital Sander sometimes...

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Chair Design Part 2

I spent some time yesterday trying to come up with several different blends of the chairs. I think I like the last set the best and will probably be what we go with. Chair Set #2 I didn’t like the way the base turned out on this set of chairs.  It looks like it might be slightly unstable. Chair Set #3 This set of chairs is my current favorite, I like the overall design I need to fix structure underneath for support but I think these will be viable solutions. Let me know what you think about the 3 different sets. Technorati...

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Chair Design

I have started working on potential chair designs for a new Dinning Table Set that I am going to be building in the near future.  My plane is to build the majority for the framing structure from 2x4’s.  The picture below is a rough sketch of what I am thinking about.  The sketch is not to scale or size currently.  I will post those once I get that taken care of and I also have a third design I am going to work up.  It will be the same principal however I will change the skirting just a little bit.  Here are the first...

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Holy Readers Batman

Thank to all the fans of Knock Of Wood who swung by.  I am very delighted to have you here.  If you don’t mind leave me a message and tell me what you would like to see on the blog.  If you want custom designed pieces that you can build I can get into that or if you want to just continue to see the stuff I am doing in the shop that’s great as well.  I am looking for ideas to make this a fun and informative blog for the new woodworker, aspiring woodworker, and even you old pros.  I am a fairly new woodworker.  I have...

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A Pen for my Father-In-Law

My father is a captain with a major US airline.  I had made him a pen a year or so ago and he wanted another one.  I let him hunt through my stash of blanks and he found one that looked like it could be clouds.  The more I turned it the better it got and finally came out with this. ...

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A Pen for the Wife

I purchased a couple of Lime Green blanks for my wife and I from exotic blanks and I created this for her today.  I hope she likes it....

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Fountain Pen

Here is the latest Fountain Pen that I made this weekend.I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I think this is going to be a nice pen.  Just trying to figure out if it will be a gift or a personal pen....

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Coffee Table Complete

I got all the clear coats on and they are dried.  I have it in the house and think it looks pretty good. Check out Thrifty Homes Penny Pinching Party! Featured on: Knock Off Wood: BRAGGING BOARD: So many projec...

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Coffee Table Part 3

Ah a half day Friday.  I took the opportunity to spend a little time in the shop this afternoon.  I was able to complete the base of the table.  I also got it stained. I also got it stained....... Not only did I get it stained I got it attached to the top and then got the top stained.  I am not waiting on the whole thing to finish drying.  Once it is finished drying I will spray it with some satin poly and bring it inside. ...

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Coffee Table Part 2

I had a little time in the shop last night and was able to get the legs cut, shaped and sanded.  I also took off most of the first pass of stain.  My wife and I then proceeded to beat the heck out of the table top and today I will finish sand the top and re-stain everything.  However first I am going to layout the skirting on the bottom of the table and use a method I haven't used before for attaching table tops.  I am going to use the Kreg Pocket hole system to attach it.  I am trying different ways of attaching the tops...

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An Organized Kitchen

Since January seems to be “organization” month.  I thought that I would show you how I organize my kitchen.  First, I hate a cluttered kitchen because that’s where I spend most of my time and I need the space.  During the day, my counters get full of food, paper, snacks, cutting boards, books, laundry, markers, paint, crayons, glue, bottles, barrettes, etc. so I need space to put them.  If I have too much on the counters,  I feel squished!   I only have a few decorations which I am always switching out and...

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