Project III

Sarah was in town for the weekend to visit me. We wanted to work on a project together so we went to the hardwood store and picked out some wood, drew up an idea and then made it. The design was mostly Sarah's idea, she wanted a box to store letters from me. We used wormy maple and walnut with 1/2 inch finger joints and a tung oil finish. Sarah did the wood burning on the front of the box cause she is awesome at that.

Project II

This project is sort of a project to allow other projects. A proper work bench can really be the difference between a job well done and mediocre job. I built Sarah's desk on a cardboard lined piece of plywood, it was frustrating, annoying, and ultimately led to some mistakes that could have been avoided. I found the plans for this work bench online and used those as a starting point, making some changes where I saw fit, for instance, using a slatted oak top as opposed to a much more expensive butcherblock-style maple top. I wanted to save money but I also wanted to look at oak every time I went to work on the bench. I think the bench itself should be gorgeous if I want gorgeous projects to come from it.

Building the bench took about three weeks and I was able to learn some new techniques, including pegged mortise and tenon joints in the legs and feet, and finger joints on the corners and on the vise.

Now that the bench is done, its time to build some portfolio boxes, picture frames, and a blanket chest for Sarah and me and our future home.

Project

As a gift for Sarah for Christmas I decided to build her a laptop writing desk. She loves to write and draw so having a home for those activities seemed like the right thing for her.

The desk was originally designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 as a means of staying productive while traveling, he ended up using it to write the Declaration of Independence. It is a very interesting design with a lot of detail, including hand cut dovetails and a mortise to flush fit the hinged support stand.

It took me two weeks to make and I opted for Walnut instead of Jefferson's mahogany. Sarah's finished desk was photographed in my grandfather's barn, on top of the pile of raw hardwood where the wood for the desk started.

Woodworking, like working on cars, like darkroom work, like picture framing, feels tremendous and is a comforting break from the subjective nature of photography.

Oh, and she made me a quilt and it is awesome!

we found a hatchet in my grandad's barn