Smaller Projects

07/10/05

10/15/2004 Mission Style Ottoman

The mission style ottoman is a very late Christmas present for my mom. It is made from solid quarter sawn oak with through tenons and a traditional mission style finish. I've used the brown mahagony dye so far. I will be using a walnut gel stain for the glazing, topped with satin Arm-R-Seal and a dark brown wax.

This is the ottoman dry fitted together ready to be sanded, profiled, and glued up. I had literally 8 hours of sanding and profiling after this picture was taken. All peices were sanded to 320 grit, wetted, resanded to 320 and them assembled. Raising the grain is necessary when using water based dyes.

	This is the ottoman completel. This was my first experience with using water based dyes and it was very easy. I simply added 1/2 oz of brown mahagony dye to 1 quart of hot water. Let it cool, strained it, flooded the surface with a brush and wiped away the excess with a clean rag. It evened out all the tones of the oak and has started to product that dark mission finish I'm going after.
	The ottoman was then glazed with walnut gel stain and finished off with two more coats of Arm-R-Seal satin. I'll wax the piece with dark brown wax in a few days once the finishe is totally cured.
	The top is made of a very soft leather. My neighbor works for a local furniture manufacturer and brought me a few scraps to use. This is very high quality leather. This top is composed of 3/4" plywood with a 2" foam and a few layers of low density batting.
	Where the corners were notched for the posted I worked hard to fold the leather to give a nice look. I think I was successful. I don't think it was too bad for a first attempt at apolstery.

Lacewood Display Cabinet -- Here is a display cabinet that I just completed (July 18). While picking up some lumber for a couple cabinet jobs I decided to try something new. I checked out all the exotic woods and came home with a this Australian Lacewood. I thought it would be the perfect showcase for my $10,000 hole in one memorabilia. The case is 30" tall 18" wide and 4" deep. The corners are through dovetailed and the back is comprised of veneer I resawed on my band saw and attached to a 1/2 piece of birch plywood. Lacewood is a tough wood to machine. The flat sawn timer is very prone to tear out. It also contains the same chemical compound as poison ivy that makes you break out I broke out twice during the construction of this cabinet. Both times were a result of heavy sanding. Even with a respirator and good dust collection I still had problems. The bottom left picture was taken with a flash to show off the awesome grain of this wood.

Feb. 2003 Maple and Cherry Mantel Clock - Made from the November 2002 WOOD magazine.

Jan. 2003 Shaker Cradle - Built from the November 2002 WOOD magazine issue, but increased in size.

Sept. 2002 Saker Coat Rack - Made from the November 2002 WOOD magazine. (Boy there were a lot of good projects in that magazine.

Feb. 2001 Wall Mirror - Built from a Woodsmith plan. The cove molding was made on the table saw. This was my first attempt at this technique.

Nov. 2001 Spice Cabinet - built before the days of a planer and jointer from a Woodsmith magazine

Oct. 2001 Paper Towel Holder - built before the days of a planer and jointer from a Woodsmith magazine.

This site was last updated 07/10/05