The Desk for the Ham Radio Guy

In real life, I have been a trim carpenter, cabinet-guy and Cabinet Maker for the last 12 or so years. Once in a while a good one comes by. This is a desk area I did for a very well-to-do Ham radio guy. The first step was to bump-out the back wall to allow the installation of (4) 4" PVC tubes vertically inside the wall. Each tube had a "Y" fitting just above the level of the eventual shelves. These were later covered with grommets and allowed said homeowner to run all the wires he needed between shelves, into the attic and into the basement --and of course, out to his huge antenna. (No zip-ties or spaghetti here)

The whole job was done in Poplar (for all the painted parts) and African Mahogany for the woodwork. I milled a fabricated each and every piece you see, including the curvy bits and all the individual pieces of bead-board that make up the back and side walls. I also designed this whole thing.

The finish is a hand-rubbed tung oil. The paint is just good ol' latex and the flooring is Ash with a pickled stain and poly.

The goal here was to make something that looked like the wheelhouse of a boat, including a hinged box with a lid to hold "charts" ...and after my homeowner gave me some of the brass accessories to add, I think it fits the bill.

Flying at Crosby Beach

One of my many hobbies is flying model airplanes. I started as a kid back in Kansas flying 2 and 3 meter gliders. With the fields and thermals there, I could keep those guys up for hours. Now, with lipo batteries and brushless motors, I have moved on to powered flight.

One day, in a flash of inspiration, I realized I had a tiny, lightweight video camera in my pocket in the form of an iPod Nano... A little masking tape and badda boom, badda bing...

Tigger the Toyota

I don't really want to talk about this one too much. Lets just say that I got royally hosed on the deal --both buying and selling. I did however, learn a lot when forced to rebuild the motor.

Tigger the Toyota is a 1977 FJ-40 Landcruiser. I did an engine rebuild and swap to drop-in a small block Chevy 350. During the rebuild, a few things were added --Big fat cam, nice dual-plane intake, big carb, fancy coil, etc. In the end, the thing would climb a tree if you asked it to --all at a nice, 8 MPG...

Hey, if nothing else, that engine sure did look all nice and shiny when I was done!

The Little Trailer

After moving to Cape Cod, the land of tiny roads and lots of summer traffic, I decided my days of towing a full-sized trailer (7x16) were over. The trailer was falling apart anyway. I grabbed a cutting torch, and took the 16' long trailer down to a pile of materials in a matter of hours. Putting down the torch, and picking up the welder, I made this little 4x8 guy outta the parts and pieces. Now, because it came from a much larger trailer, I think this may be the only 4x8 trailer with brakes and a 2 5/16" ball!

Everything was reused, even the fenders above the wheels used to be for tandem tires --they were cut in 1/2 and rewelded into the single-fenders you see now. Same goes for the doors and latches --even the axle was an original one, cut and narrowed.

Now, I have one nice, tidy trailer that I can back into a Dixie Cup if I need to.

Oh, the Plywood Rack

So, I had a "flames" stage. Well, actually I still have it.

This is a plywood rack I had in a past shop. The sheets were stacked sideways, on edge and sat on small, maple rails to protect the finish on the rack. I also installed a small "nook" that allowed me to get a hand under the edge of a sheet allowing me to lift it out. Two big drawers finished it off.

The finish: The finish is shellac. I shot a clear coat over the whole of the top to get things rolling. Next, the flames around the center were taped off and masked. Finally, I dyed the topcoat with an alcohol-based dye in the shellac itself. I shot the red, removed the flame mask and shot a few final coats of clear over the whole thing.

Pretty snazzy, eh?

Random Woodwork Stuff

 This is my own personal dining room table. I was working a job where we were ripping out HUGE (and equally ugly) 1970's-walnut stain-on-rough-pine beams from the ceiling. Seeing the pile of this great but hideous wood, I couldn't bear to toss them in the dumpster. They made their way to the top of my truck and later through my planer. The result is this nice, big-ass, bulky, family table.

Back in the day, I worked with a fine chap at HomeCraft Renovation. Being the stand-up cats that we were, we needed a sign to reflect our craftsmanship...

Australian Cyprus is the lighter wood and for the life of me, I can't remember what the inlays were. They were a full 1/4" think though, and took a month of Sundays to get them all to fit just right...

Here's a conference table we made, and I have to say, I don't think I have lifted or moved anything more heavy or awkward in my life. I swear this thing was 14' long and weighed as much as an elephant.

This is a sink base I did, the top is Walnut. The base is actually an alcohol-based dye with a clear-coat and still shows the grain of the wood through. The top was shot with I don't know how may coats of Urethane, and a metric ton of wet-sanding.

And here is a little hutch. To be honest, I found this in one of my portfolio folders, but I can't even remember what state I was in when it was built. I hope I made money on it!