Steve's Workshop Projects

This is a reproduction of Gustave Stickley's #802 Sideboard, which I made for my sister. The piece is based on the Shop Drawings by Robert Lang. There are several modifications, most notably the removal of the backsplash, which Linda wanted. There is also an interior frame is not in the original, but I made the error of departing from the Harvey Ellis design in that I tried attaching the arched front apron with biscuits, which are not strong, and this joint failed when I put some stress on it. The interior frame is 3/4 x 1-1/2" poplar, and now carries the tensile load that the apron would have carried, and is attached to the leg sets and the front apron by glue and screws. Click here to see the interior frame or click here to see the hi-res image. The drawers feature handcut dovtails. Here is a photo of the finished piece in Linda's Dining Room. The finish consists of an initial coat of Boiled Linseed Oil, followed by Olympic Merlot Stain, with some Lockwood Red dye brushed onto the wet oil stain and rubbed out. After that dried for a week, it was followed by three coats of Zissner "amber" shellac, thinned to about 1/2 lb cut. That was followed by four coats of polyurethane (Minwax "fast-drying") thinned 1:1 with turpentine with a few drops of Japan Dryer. All coats are wiped on, allowed to dry overnight, and scuff sanded before the next coat. The top has a fifth coat of varnish. The final step was to rub out the gloss on the varnish with Butcher's Amber paste wax on 0000 steel wool, followed by final buffing.

This shaker-style candle box is based on the drawing in Ejner Handberg's Shop Drawings of Shaker Furniture & Woodenware, Volume 2. It was made for this year's Crefeld Auction, out of local black walnut from Spacht's sawmill. The box features handcut dovetails and a hinged lid with a thumbnail profile on three sides. The base has a similar profile and was attached only in the middle of the two sides with glue and dowels from the bottom face, to allow for wood movement. The finish is boiled linseed oil, followed by five coats of thinned shellac, with a topcoat of paste wax that has been rubbed out with steel wool. The winning bid at the Crefeld Auction for this piece was $150. Click for a hi-res or med-res image.

This Arts & Crafts style Doorbell Cover houses an electronic doorbell unit. It is constructed of 3/4" and 3/8" quarter-sawn white oak except for the square pegs which are made of black walnut. Both are leftover wood from the octagonal table. The finish is Watco Dark Walnut Oil, followed by 5 coats of amber shellac, followed by a coat of dark Briwax. Click for a hi-res or med-res image.

This 24" high, octagonal taboret is one of the projects in Popular Woodworking's book Authentic Arts & Crafts Projects. It is a "knock-down" piece in that the legs are held in place by pegged, through-tenons. It is constructed of 3/4" quarter-sawn white oak which I purchased from David Spacht's mill except for the pegs which hold it together, which are made of black walnut. Click here to see a detail of the peg, which was ebonized using a method described by Alan Turner, in which one dissolves steel wool (or other iron) in vinegar, then coats the wood with this solution, thereby forming ferric tannate, when it reacts with the tannin in the wood. These pegs are also used to fasten the upper stretchers. The finishing method was mostly taken from one described in the Spring issue of Woodworking Magazine. I started by smooth planing, then orbital sanding with 120 grit, then hand scraping, then 220 grit, then hand scraping again, then hand sanding with 320 grit. Next I raised the grain with water, and sande again with 320 grit. Next I applied a water based stain of dissolved Van Dyck (walnut) crystals. After that I followed the magazines method of Minwax (they recommend Olympic) Special Walnut stain, Watco Dark Walnut oil, followed by amber shellac. I used 3 coats of thinned shellac and the top has a polyurethane coat for added toughness. Click here to see the before and after finishing high-res images.

This crosscut sled is a composite of the design found in Jim Tolpin's book Table Saw Magic and suggestions from Alan Turner. The sled bottom is 3/4 inch MDF and slides on two Incra adjustable mitre track runners, and the fences are of straight-grained ash, with a leading fence that is 4" high by 3/4" thick, and a trailing fence that is 3-1/2" x 1-1/2". The rear (trailing) fence is glued up from two 3/4" boards and capped by a third piece of the same stock, slotted to accommodate a t-track (planning to buy a 36" piece soon!). The trailing fence also has several through-holes to attach sacrificial fences and temporary jigs with 1/4" bolts. Also made of ash, is a replaceable insert that spans the area of the saw kerf. I made a plywood template first with which to locate and predrill the screw holes, which hopefully won't get lost in my shop. The ash was supplied by David Spacht's sawmill. Note the stop block on the left edge, which protrudes below the saw table surface. It butts into a block clamped to the edge of the table, to prevent overshooting the point at which the blade exits the back of the rear fence. I plan to add a blade guard to this area made of lexan.

This is similar to the cherry version I made in October, but is longer to accommodate 10 inch candles, and of course is made from black walnut, rather than cherry. This was a Christmas present for my wife, Carol, who wanted to know after the other one was sold at auction if I would make one for her too.

This bench is made from a slab of white oak, with tapered mahogany legs, The project was taught by Alan Turner at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, in conjunction with the Main Line School Night. (Click here to see a class photo. Alan is in the middle.) Alan provided the rough lumber which was milled to 1-1/2" thick and 9" wide. The mahogany legs are joined to the bench top with through tenons, wedged with rosewood. Before assembly, the wood was surfaced using machinery, then a hand smooth plane and a hand scraper then sanded with 220, 320, and 600 grit. The wedges were inserted into saw kerfs in the through tenons to lock the legs in place The legs were then marked and cut to produce a bench height of 19-1/2" which is taller than Alan's regular hearth bench, but is better for use as a piano bench. The finish shown consists of thinned, Boiled Linseed Oil, cured for 5 days, followed by multiple coats of polyurethane varnish. When this has had a few weeks to cure, I plan to apply a pastewax top coat and rub the high gloss out to a medium satin finish. Click to see in hi-res or med-res.

This colonial candle box is made from Pennsylvania cherry end cuts that were "freebies" from David Spacht's sawmill. (Spacht Sawmill, Fairview Village PA 610-584-1855). It is sized to hold 3x5 recipe card in case you don't feel the need to keep 9" tapers handy anymore. Unlike the jewelry box below, this time the cherry was planed to 1/2" thickness. Joinery is handcut dovetails. The top was chamfered on three edges with a table saw cut set to about 8 degrees, using a tenoning jig. A finger pull was carved into the top just using a bench chisel (a gouge might have been nicer.) The parts were smooth-planed, then sanded with 220, 320 and 600 grit, followed by two doses of boiled linseed oil to bring out the figure. The top coat is shellac rubbed out with paste wax. This piece was donated to the Crefeld School for their annual auction (Nov 4) and the winning bid was $100.

This is based on the jigs shown in Jim Tolpin's Table Saw Magic book, adapted to the fence of the Rigid TS3650. There are three main components: a sled with a maple handle and a runner on the right side that rides against the fence; an auxiliary fence that bolts onto the fence and captures the runner of the sled; and a slotted workpiece holder, which has an extended foot and hold-fast clamps to keep the work in place. In this view, I've just cut a nice cherry wedge off a leg for a Stickley 802 reproduction piece that will appear here in completed form, one of these days.

This project may be of interest to other owners of the Rigid (tm) TS3650 Contractor-style Table Saw, and so I've decided to document it here. This photo shows the nearly completed outfeed table, which is supported by two 30" steel L-channels that were attached to the upper left and right sides of the saw body, and by a pair of hardwood legs supporting the back end. More photos and discussion of how to make it is available here.

This project was started when I botched a dado in a large piece of 3/4 birch plywood. Measuring what was left on either side of my error, I settled on this design which has horizontal shelves of 6" (top), 12", 18", and 24", with a 5" spacing. The shelves and verticals are all biscuit joined, with a single #10 biscuit at each joint. The finish is 3 coats of Bullseye Shellac (thinned a bit), followed by a topcoat of wax rubbed out with 0000 steel wool. The case has a back cut from 1/4" birch plywood, and is designed to hang on the wall using a "French cleat." If I were to do this over again, I would have provided a rabbet edge for the back side plywood to be inset, so as to make the case hang closer to the wall. I might also add edge banding to hide some of the small voids in the plywood layers visible on the front edges. Next time! Click to see in hi-res or med-res.

This project was taught by Alan Turner at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, in conjunction with the Main Line School Night. Alan provided three pieces of cherry about 3/4" thick and 10" wide, and another about 2.5" wide for the stretcher. The half-blind dovetails and the wedged, through-tenon were cut using handtools, though the curves on the leg sides and bottom were pattern-routed. Before assembly, the boards were surfaced using an E.C. Emmerich Primus Wooden Smooth Plane, then sanded with 220, 320, and 600 grit. The parts were assembled with hide glue, then maple wedges were inserted into saw kerfs in the through tenons to lock the stretcher in place. The finish shown consists of Bartleys Gel Stain on the top and stretcher, followed by Boiled Linseed Oil (thinned), and rubbed out. When this has had a few weeks to soak in, I plan to apply shellac and a pastewax top coat. Click to see in hi-res or med-res.

Not to be outdone, Ben decided to make a jewelry box for Becca, using some freebie cherry from Dave Spacht (Spacht Sawmill, Fairview Village PA 610-584-1855). The joinery is entirely done with a Porter Cable Biscuit Joiner, with the exception of the cherry trim which hides the birch plywood base, which is attached with dowels. Ben did the design, and assembled and sanded the parts, while dad did the machine tool operations and applied the finish. The finish consists of Boiled Linseed Oil (thinned), and rubbed out, followed by Jeff Jewett's paper towel varnish method using 7 coats of thinned fast-drying polyurethane varnish. Click to see in hi-res or med-res.

This project was designed last fall, and constructed over the winter. It is made from 4x4, 2x4, and 2x6 Red Cedar from D.M.I. Home Supply in Ardmore PA. The 2x6 lumber was resawn to obtain the lattice strips which ended up 1/4 x 1-1/2" x 3 or 4 feet. The 2x4 cross members were joined to the 4x4 posts using mortise and tenon joinery, with the tenons being 3/4 x 1-1/2 x 3". The diamonds are a double thickness of the lattice, mitred on the front, but not the back. Here are more pictures of installation. Click to see the roses in hi-res or med-res.