Sunday, December 18, 2011

Wishbone Woodworking's New Website

Hello everyone!

I'm very proud to announce that Wishbone Woodworking LLC now has a fully functional website.  Please check it out!

wishbonewoodworking.com

Also, if you're into it, we have a facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/wishbonewoodworking

Max and I have been working like crazy lately.  I'll post some of the more recent stuff as soon as possible.  Thanks for checking out the blog!


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Walnut End Tables


End Tables
Walnut, Maple, Purple Heart, and brass watch parts
Tung Oil finish



This pair was built to go into the same living room as the Ouija table.  The crescent shape is solid brass that came out of an old stop watch.  The brass pieces work so well with these table because they go with the Ouija Coffee Table.  A lot of the imagery on the Ouija board itself looks like the crescent shape. 





The interior of the table is a drawer box that is just big enough for a magazine or a nice print.  It make a functional display case.  The purple heart is fun to work with, and it makes a nice subtle accent.






Oak Coffee Table


Oak Coffee Table
Oak and Mahogany
Tung Oil finish




This is the first time that I inlaid a key.  In hindsight it seems a little risky to make your first attempt in the top of a solid oak table, but seeing as how this one is for my house, it's just fine.  I'm getting better at inlays.  Maybe a wishbone sometime soon.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Floating Ouija Coffee Table


Floating Ouija Coffee Table
American Walnut and Curly Maple
Tung Oil finish



The Ouija table that is in the middle of this is custom made by a wonderful artist named Florian Bertmer.  Please check out his blog here




Tricky joinery makes the whole think look like it's floating.  Thank you James Krenov for the inspiration.





Every piece has a slight curve to it.  This is something that has always seamed very daunting to me, but once getting my system down, they went pretty smooth.  This is what they look like as I rough them out on the band saw.



Once all the legs we close, I used the large belt sander to get them a little closer to their final shape.  This is a new tool to me, and I'm learning all this great stuff you can do with it.  Anything with a curve becomes very easy to sand with this machine.  Also, this helps with some more of the sculptural aspects of wood work.  Curves are fun because they aren't as rigid as angles.  It's real easy to get carried away.
These are all the little pieces with all their mortice and tenons.
CLAMPED!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Walnut Entertainment Center

Entertainmanet Center-Walnut
Hand rubbed oil finish



This project was built and designed by Wishbone Woodworking but I can only take partial credit on this.  Max was the main builder for this project, and it came out so nice that I wanted to post it here on the site.





Behind the doors are maple cabinets with adjustable shelving for DVD's and storage.  The doors are on touch latches and open easily with a bump to the doors.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Kitchen Table

Kitchen Table-Maple and American Walnut
Hand rubbed Tung Oil finish

















I feel like making a kitchen table is a big deal.  Its always been something that has intimidated me since I started building furniture.  Families are made around the kitchen table.  The conversations that are had, the delicious food that is served, the homework and science projects that are done around a table make memories for a life time.  I hope that the family who now owns this will thrive and prosper, and maybe, this table will be a pretty thing that stays with them for a long time.






This is the clamp up for the table top.  It was done in three steps to make sure everything stayed flat and equal.




This is the mortise and tenon that holds the legs to the table top. 

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Hidden Key Dressers

Dressers-American Walnut and Maple
Hand rubbed oil finish

These dressers were designed by myself and close friend Seth Babb for Wishbone Woodworking. They were built for a very talented artist named Myles Karr. You can check out some of his work here.


A subtle concave in the face of the walnut adds dimension to each face. This small detail was very challenging and took quite a bit of time. Totally worth it in the end.

I've collected keys for as long as I can remember, and finally I have found a use for some of them. As doing inlay work becomes more common, it's fun finding small flat things to put into furniture projects. Hidden within a few of the drawers are these little gems from the 1930's.


The bow tie joints are made of a wood called cocobolo. A real treat to work with, but so expensive that it may have to be for just small things at this point.


This is what the dressers started as...


All of the pieces were ran through the table saw perpendicular to the blade to start to get the concave. Each drawer face was passed through the saw 25 times to get the concave close enough to start to work it it by hand...That's 250 passes through the saw to get a 3/8" concave!


Then it each face was hand planed to smooth out the surface.

Next was using the scraper across the grain to further smooth it out before being able to get into using sand paper.


This is what they looked like before putting the straight maple piece along the sides and sanding.

Wishbone Woodworking's NEW SHOP!!! Pt. III

Ahhhhhh....Shop Sweet Shop. We are still not totally done with the set up and organization of everything, but as time goes on, I can't ever imagine being all the way done with set up. We have started a few new jobs and are getting situated into the space, and for now it is perfect. I love it, and couldn't ask for a better shop.




All the ducting throughout the space is for a central dust collection system that drops to each tool to collect the dust that it produces. This was a royal pain to install, and it's still not done, but for now, it's perfect.

We get great natural light in the shop, but no direct sun, so it is usually cooler inside than outside. There is no A/C so it's defiantly quite warm throughout the summer. We have a couple of fans, but the heat can get a little extreme.


Clamp Pile!!! We still need to make a storage system that gets these off the ground, but the clamps are always one of my favorite things about wood shops. Hopefully some day this pile will be triple what it is today.