Fine Woodworking

 

Because it is harder to bike during the winter I usually have some projects to keep me busy. I did list a ride for this past Saturday out of Etra. It was almost 50 degrees but the wind made it a little unpleasant. You have to suffer a little if you want to ride in the winter. 

Last weekend I attempted to summit Forked River Mountain. Yes there is a mountain in Forked River. It's more a mound of about 180 ft but it does provide a view of the surrounding pine lands and the ocean. However the fire road I tried to take on my mountain bike was too flooded. This was unexpected as its all very sandy soil and one of the higher points in the area. 

In my down time one of the things I like to do is a little wood working. In my old house I had a small workshop and enjoyed building some furniture. I like it the hands on nature of it and creating something original. None of the things I make could be considered works of art like the pieces the master wood workers make at Winterthur but they are nice enough and fit the space they are made for. 

The picture at the top of the post is a new clock I made for my office. I made it from some maple and African rosewood. I also used some epoxy resin to put a blue stripe down the middle and also for the final finish. I have been wanted to experiment with epoxy for a while and so this project gave me a chance to try it out. Epoxy finish takes a lot of prep work and is a bit expensive but I like the results so may try it again on some other project. 

 In my new place my work shop is in my garage so I don't have the room I use to. Because of this I got rid of some of the tools I use to have including my table saw. What I learned though from this project is that I can do a lot of what I use to with a good miter saw and router jig. 

On of my other projects was redesigning a bookshelf to better fit into my new office. I had a large bookshelf I made for my old office in my old house which fit perfect in the space. 

My old office was in a 12' X 15' room and the shelf and recliner fit on one wall. My new office is only 12' X 12' and although I was able to fit the bookshelf and recliner in the room it was a little crowded. I also don't need that much room for books anymore since almost all the ones I buy now are electronic. Because if this I decided to take the middle out and just use to curved ends to create a display shelf for the wall in my office between the door and the closet. 

It now fits the room a lot better. 

I do enjoy being able to work with my hands and create some furniture and other things from wood. I recently acquired some live edge walnut. I'm not 100% sure what I will make with it but wood like this is hard to come by so I'm sure I will find some good uses for it.