Category: Woodworking

A little over a week ago, my wife and I had our first child. With that came the continuous diaper changing, 8-10 times throughout the day. We had purchased a typical ‘pack’n’play’ or play-yard, that included an attached basinet and changing station. This was a great option for us in our small house, as we could move it around a bit and have it on hand right in the main space of our house.

We quickly learned that the station had a seriously flaw. The changing station was far too low. My wife and I are both almost 40, and the constant strain of leaning over to change diapers on a screaming infant was beginning to show in our lower backs. As a woodworker, I knew I had to build a height booster for the changing pad, but also ensure that it was still safe for our precious baby.

In order to support the frame, it’d have to have a cut-out to lock onto the sides of the play-yard. So I created the heightened portions and ran a deep groove on the table saw to create a slot for the side walls of the play-yard.

The top potion had to have a somewhat rounded protruding section for the plastic clips of the changing station to lock into. I cut the sides out on the table saw, then rounded it over with the belt sander. I created a locking groove on the sides as well for extra security.

Now my risers were laminated together to create the height I needed. I then just screwed in some scraps of plywood to connect the frame together.

The contraption was a success. The baby changing station locked in perfectly to both the top of the play-yard frame, and the station locked solidly on the top.

Now changing diapers is much better on the lower back, and I feel more patient while my infant is screaming during the whole process.

My wife and I are expecting this fall and the list of woodworking projects are exploding. We have a relatively small house and needed to adapt what we have to accommodate the new baby. My wife wants to keep an existing desk in the bedroom for storage and use the top for a baby-changing station. However, the flat top doesn’t suit the needs very well. After looking at some existing models, I decided to build an adaptive top for the desk.

The build was a basic plywood box with cubbies for storage and a well in the top for the cushion. It’s a perfect adaptation to the top of the desk, putting the baby at just the right height for diaper changing.

I decided to reorganize my basement. I had been recording episodes of the Tales of Enelis, my solo-roleplaying podcast. Things had been a bit too cluttered. So, I move all my live-show music setup and put that away in storage to make room for my podcast environment. My old computer desk, which was really an old dining table, was going to move as my tabletop for roleplaying. I would then need a new computer desk. Since one on my large amps was getting put away, I needed a shelf in the corner too for my lamp and to hold my beverage when I jammed on my piano.

Corner Shelf

The first project was a quick corner floating shelf for my lamp, above my piano. I created a simple frame and set it into the corner of the wall.

Next, I created the shelf. It was simply two corners of 1/4″ oak plywood with a red-oak insert for the edges (with some nice shaping).

A little bit of stain and some shellac, and the piece came out perfect, fitting into the frame.

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Computer Desk & Floating Shelf

The second project would be a computer desk that was focused on music production. I knew I wanted a top shelf for my keyboard and MIDI controller. I also wanted a floating shelf for my speakers and monitor. The whole rig should be right against the wall to maximize my small space.

The floating shelf was easier, a square torsion box with some painted plywood over it. It was screwed to the wall studs.

There was a slight angle to the shelf, angling downwards, but it seemed okay.

Unfortunately, I didn’t capture any photos of the computer desk build. It was mostly an ad-hoc construction based on my measurements.

The end result was perfect. A computer workstation dedicated to podcast and music production.

I had gotten a new toy at the end of 2022, a medium-sized benchtop lathe. I didn’t get a lot of time to play with it before the cold winter enclosed the shop. However, with the new toy, I knew I’d have to rearrange the shop to better utilize the space.

I move my lumber rack to along the side of the garage door. This was basically useless space that I hoped to utilize for storage. I moves the miter saw under that.

I also moved the large storage cabinet to under the window, since that was where I did a lot of my planning. It’s nice to look out the window and enjoy the morning sunlight.

I also moved my fancy workbench up against the wall, since I never moved around it anyway. I also placed all my most-used tools above it, so I can more easily work at the workbench without moving around looking for tools. I also built a hanging shelf for my drill-press, which allows some storage underneath.

I moved the large upper cabinet to the back corner, out of the way. Since it mostly contained rarely used hardware and miscellaneous items. This allowed room for my giant 4×4 table-saw sled to hang on the wall. Now my lathe setup could dominate the back of the shop. I also sorted all my cutoffs and set many aside for the burn-pile.

I finally got a new tight-cutting bandsaw blade (1/4″ 14 TPI raker blade). The 1/8″ blade I had previously had trouble staying on the saw. After popping off a few times I gave up on it. Now that I have a new blade, I really wanted to try some sharper curves. I’ve always wanted to make a bandsaw box since I first got my bandsaw.

I glued together four boards: one dark walnut, two red oak, and one poplar. Then cut out the basic shape using a plywood template I drew out. I then cut off the back then cut out the inner drawer. I then cut off the drawer front and back before gutting out the draw middle. Then glued on the front and back to the drawer and then the back to the carcass. It’s a very easy project and a lot of fun. The worst part is the sanding, which requires quite a bit to get a nice smooth touch.

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Things in the shop were going pretty well, but I was beginning to consider a redesign to garner some more space.

However, I had another project to work on. My wife and I had started gathering various items on top of the refrigerator. The new waffle maker, some Kitchen Aid mixer addons, and other rarely used appliances. I can’t stand seeing that sort of clutter and decided it was time to build the cabinet I had envisioned over the fridge.

I placed out a large piece of plywood to cut out the dimensions on my track saw.

I tried to use the bare minimum pieces I would need for the large cabinet, and built a frame using pocket hole joinery.

I failed to capture the adding of the internal shelf, but it was quite an ordeal. I didn’t have a large enough piece for the shelf, so I had to improvise.

Next, I painted the cabinet and fit it into my kitchen.

You can see in the pictures, there is a little box that is connected to our old-timey doorbell. It still creates a strange buzzy noise when anyone dares to press the ancient device at the door. I had to build a cut-out for the box, so that the cabinet could fit over the doorbell. You can also see in these pictures the crazy contraption I had to build to get the small shelf to fit properly. I didn’t want to resort to cutting up a new sheet of plywood.

Thankfully, I had intentionally bought two extra handles that match our other kitchen cabinets, explicitly for a future cabinet over the fridge. This payed off, as the cabinet matches the rest of the kitchen perfectly.

My wife desperately needed some organization for her vanity in her room. She had been using an old desk from her childhood, which provided a few nice drawers for storage. A large mirror hung on the wall over the desk to help her get ready. But she had the habit of covering the desk’s surface with various day-to-day clutter, cosmetics, and jewelry. I proposed to solve this problem with a new set of drawers.

I mapped out the size of the desk and created a basic design with two large drawer sets on the sits that stick out farther than a middle section with small jewelry drawers just under the large mirror on the wall.

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Basic Frames

I cut out the basic boxes (utilizing some old wood when I could). I also created nice drawers with slides.

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Beautification

Next, I started adding sections of red oak to the frame to give it some beauty to the piece. My homemade router table really helped make some cool shapes for the edges.

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Staining

I cut out all the drawer fronts and fit them, but I wanted to stain them before applying them to the rest of the drawers. I eventually settled on a Red Mahogany stain, it looked great with the Amber Shellac finish.

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Assembly

Next I had to assemble all the components and get those drawer fronts on. I ran into one snag, where one of the drawer fronts must have shifted after glue up (see fourth picture below). I ended up taking that drawer to the bandsaw, slicing off the front and re-gluing it.

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Jewelry Drawers

Next, I wanted to put some dividers in the center drawers. I cut little dividers from 1/4″ plywood. I then began to felt the drawers to make the jewelry not bang against the wood and to hold the little pieces in place. A little white glue held the felt perfectly in place.

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Final Topcoat

Next, I applied the final topcoat, the amber shellac. It combined beautifully with the red mahogany stain, for a perfect, classic-looking style with that red oak.

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Add the Hardware

Next, I added the hardware components that my wife had picked out. She chose a nice selection of button knobs and handles. Unfortunately, the hardware only came with 1″ and 1.5″ bolts, but I needed more like 1.25″. So, I had to cut the longer bolts down so that they’d fit. I built a little setup for my hack-saw and went to work on all the bolts. I really need to get a metal-working vise.

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Finished

The end result was a classic-looking collection of drawers, perfect for my wife’s vanity set.

My garage workshop has been fantastic. It’s great to have a separate building to go into and do some woodworking, away from the screens and other distractions of the house. However, there is one flaw in the garage shop, there is no natural light. Sure, during the summer I can leave the door open and let some light and breeze in. But in the transition months, I want to hold on to the heat, so I leave the door down often. Even in the heat of summer, the insulated garage can maintain much of the coolness if I leave the door closed. In these times, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the outside world. In the winter, I often forget the time of day as I work under the immense brightness of the LED lights.

Therefore, I decided to add a window to my workshop. Just a small window to add light and a nice view on occasion. Since it would be facing towards the yard (east side), it’d get nice morning light. But this also means it had to look nice from our back patio. I decided I’d make a nice octagon frame, which would add a nice distinctive touch to the backyard view while also testing my woodworking skills.

I cut the frame from poplar boards, ensuring the width was just right from the outer wall of the garage to the inner wall.

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Next, I added a decorative frame for the inner outside part of the window, this part would hold the glass.

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The second decorative frame was for the outside, to hide the crack and gaps between the window and the wall. This was more difficult, as I had to ensure the size was perfect before gluing it to the rest of the frame.

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With the frame completed, I had to cut a whole in my garage wall. I first put the frame up against the wall on the inside and traced its location between two studs. I then started with a few holes using a 1/4″ drill bit at each of the corners. I then used a combination of my jigsaw and Japenese pull saws to cut the perfect octagon hole. It took some careful edge trimming to get it to fit the frame perfectly.

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The (now painted) frame fit snugly in the hole.

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I filled the insulation back in and cut out a similar octagon from the OSB wall panel. Then that fit over the hole, creating a near-seamless window.

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Next, I added some crossbars to ensure birds wouldn’t try to fly into the glass and to add to the decorative beauty of the piece. These were held in with simply screws, in case the glass every needs replaced.

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The overall result turned out great!

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A nice addition to our backyard experience.

Five ago, my wife and I had talked about putting a pergola upon on our back patio. Mostly because that western sun-set can be quite brutal in the summer. Especially since we often sit out there for dinner just as the sun is setting back there. A pergola would give is a a scaffold to attach cloth tapestries to block out that bright, deadly menace.

Back then, I had zero wood-working experience and didn’t feel like it was something I could build myself. So, due to cost and other priorities, the pergola was put aside as an idea that never saw fruition. But now… I’m a wood-worker! A pergola is an easy project compared to the bookcase I built last year. Precision is on the order of inches, not 1/16th inches. Therefore, after wood prices went down enough for us to stomach the costs, we begun our pergola adventure.

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I started by digging out the holes for the posts. They were going to be 6×6 12′ posts, so I had to go pretty deep.

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I found the massive posts actually pretty easy top maneuver. Cedar is not very dense, so I was able to manage moving those massive things around by myself. I soon had them deep in the ground.

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A little bit of concrete and covered with dirt, and voila!

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Next, I added the crossbars, carefully measuring their placement and ensuring they were level as they went across. I then had to drill through two boards and the post (9 inches) to fit a carriage bolt through the assembly.

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With all the bolted crossbars in place, it was time to cut off the excess tops of the posts. I cut through them quite quickly with the cross-cut side of my large ryoba (japanese saw). Soon, I had four stumps for another project.

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Next, it was time to add the second layer, the scaffolding for the thin slats. These pieces were a bit tricky, because I had to cut out a notch in them so that they were ‘fit’ into the crossbars. I oversized the notches to make it easier, but perhaps a bit too much, as now I see some gaps. I few screws ensured they will stay put.

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It was a perfect Saturday to be working on this. Blue skies and a comfortable 75 degree (F) temperature. I just love the Minnesota summers.

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Next, I cut the slats for the top layer. I ripped a number of 2×4’s in half and added a special curve to the ends to match the curves I did for the crossbars. The curve was made using a template.

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With all the slats on with a few screws, the pergola was finished, perfect time for a summer afternoon hang-out.

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The eastern sunrise climbs over the houses across the street and beams upon our the front of our house. The living things to enjoy this are the ugly bushes and giant bed of weeds under our front windows. I had always planned on redoing that garden bed and this spring seemed like the perfect time.

My wife and I found ourselves often sitting in the sun on a few yard chairs in front of the weeds. It was the perfect place to start a morning in the spring, when the sun is a welcome visitor to morning tea-time. After some discussion, we decided to put a permanent patio in the front to enjoy that sunshine a bit more.

First, I cleared all the weeds and pulled up the massive roots of the bushes.

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Then, the digging and flattening began. I set out markers for the patio itself.

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I then dug out the area slightly to accommodate the paver sand, and conveniently placed this dirt in the surrounding areas that would become the garden beds.

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Then the pavers arrived, and I started laying them out it a somewhat random pattern.

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A little finishing polymeric sand, and everything was coming together nicely.

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We added some rocking aiderondack chairs and soon we had the perfect morning hangout spot.

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I set out the garden bed and did my usual layers of newspaper to kill the weeds, then covered in mulch. A few baby perennials where put into place and it became quite the cute little spot.

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