Outdoor Bench

Cleaning up a pile of old fencing turned into some kind of ink blot test..

What do you see?

A comfy bench!

Patio Tables

Well, having a nice outdoor patio is great, but practically worthless with out the right furniture! So, I set out to build a table and bench set. It had to be easy to maintain, and big enough to fill the space.

My direction was clear -- to use pressure treated lumber or cedar for the structure, and some kind of synthetic decking (the kind made from recycled materials) for the bench and table tops.

The house is an older-style brick bungalow, with a cedar pergola. So, cedar framing and dark brown decking to match. Definitely worth the effort, and MUCH more affordable than buying furniture of this capacity.

This is my second set. My first set isn't pictured here.. it is pressure treated lumber (the green tinted kind) and grey Trex decking. The color combo was a little funky -- and perfect for the patio at my California Contemporary or Mid-Century Modern style house. It fit so well, that we just left it there when we bought our new house.

Introduction To Woodworking

So, everything up to this point was accomplished with whatever stale knowledge I had gained during middle school wood shop class and whatever info and techniques I could find online and in books. After hearing a little bit about the nearby fine woodworking school at RRCC, I gave them a serious look and got pretty motivated to jump into the Lutherie program -- starting with Introduction to Woodworking.

There were a handful of discussions on selecting wood and materials, dimensioning techniques, joinery, and even some finishing. We learned how to use most of the tools available in the shop safely and effectively. The first "project" was to hand-cut a ton of dovetail joints. This was difficult.. actually, I feel like heading out to my shop right now to try my hand at it again!

The second project was a "little bench". Every student started with similar amounts of lumber and we all went through a reliable process to build a very sturdy 1'x1'x18" bench. One foot tall.. ok, more like a little stool. We had to sketch it out isometrically, by hand, leaving no detail to the imagination. Then we learned and were encouraged to utilize Google SketchUp for future prototyping and modeling. I love Google and SketchUp is just one reason why. I learned AutoCAD at Mines and was pleasantly surprised that computer drafting could be so easy! Anyway, here's my little bench.

The final project was to build a "tool box" (actually, any kind of box). It had to have a pre-conceived purpose and it had to be designed to function for that purpose. Many students built small cabinets, or  literal tool boxes. I couldn't think of a tool box I needed (I didn't have much storage at my house at the time, so I didn't try too hard, either). I decided I needed a guitar case for a telecaster. I didn't succeed, entirely, but I do believe that I came up with an acheivable design -- just not acheivable by me in the few weeks we had to complete the project.

I ended up with an interesting equilateral triangle after testing my joinery while designing the guitar case. Finger joints cut on an angle were the feature that allowed my guitar case design to be plausible. This triangular box, made up of three practice joints, turned out to be my final project.

Tapered Leg Pub Table

More pictures on Facebook

In trying to downsize our office furniture, my wife and I decided that it would be nice to have a second table like one we got from a furniture store. I took the opportunity to try my hand at building custom furniture.
I developed plans by copying the dimensions of our existing table, and styled the design to match the style of furniture in our office space.
I finished this project almost exactly 2 years ago! This table took weeks for me to complete. I only had weekends and evenings to work on it, and a lot of the work had to be done at Club Workshop. It was great fun and I learned SO MUCH, thanks to the guys at Club Workshop for giving me tips along the way! After all, I walking away scratching my head about certain aspects of the process and results -- I knew I had much more to learn. 
There are more pictures on Facebook, here. (When I find time, I will try to move the pictures in line with this post.)

Standing Coat Rack

This coat rack is made of cedar from Home Depot. I had to take my time to select a straight 4x4 for the long part. The rest was made from scrap left over from my outdoor patio table and benches.

The business end of the coat rack was fun. I got to use all my power tools to work it out. I cut the pyramid shape on the top using the power miter saw, the arms were cut to shape with the bandsaw then routed flush to a template with the router table. I used mortise and tenon joinery to attach the arms to the post. This involved the router table, hand held router, and chisel to complete.

The legs were cut with the power miter and simply glued onto the post. This part was pretty easy, but I completely smashed my left index with my mallet while I was trying to align the legs! Yeah, that really hurt – and no guitar for a few weeks. :-P

We haven't chosen a finish for this piece, yet. I'm thinking a nice walnut stain/finish would blend nicely with the exposed wood in the house. :)