All this time I thought it was a birdhouse and here it was a house for squirrels!

When I built the birdhouse last year it ended up being a bit too late for tenants that spring. We were keeping our eye on it this Spring but hadn’t seen any action other than the occasion visit from one of our resident squirrels.

However, my wife and I were having tea on the patio the other day when we heard a noise and looked up and saw a small head poke out of one of the windows:

Continue reading 'And I Thought It Was A Birdhouse!'

This month’s meeting of the Atlantic Woodworkers Association was our Annual General Meeting. In addition, we also had a report on our nesting box project, a Show and Tell, a Q & A session and a draw for a set of Sorby woodturning tools!

The meeting got off to a quick start with reviews of the year-end and financial reports. This was followed by the executive nominations and approvals. Finally, the proposed changes to our By-laws were voted on and accepted.

The AGM portion of the meeting only took about a half hour (gotta like it! ) which allowed lots of time for other things including Show and Tell which there were several pieces brought in for.

Here’s a turned bowl that was made out a 3/4″ thick piece of wood. Circles were scroll sawed on an angled, refitted, glued and then turned:

Continue reading 'The AWA Annual General Meeting'

Last month I finished the Craftsman Style Sofa Table, the final piece of the four part living room set that I made from the Oak of a couple of reclaimed church pews.

It certainly is a welcomed addition to the coffee table and the end tables that I completed in the months before.

With the experienced gain from the previous three pieces the construction went quite smooth and somewhat quickly. The funny thing about it was that I tried to do this table as fast as I could and I did, almost. From stock to a standing table it only took about 12 hours over a three day period. However, it stood in the shop for almost four months waiting to be sanded and the finish applied! So much for getting it done as fast as possible.

The finished size of the table is 18″ wide X 47″ long and 28″ tall. It is stained with Flecto Varathane Golden Mahogany and then several coats of polyurethane was applied.

Here’s a few more photos:

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Well, they’re finally done! The Craftsman Style End Tables that I started several months ago are finished.

It’s always a thrill starting a new project and equally as thrilling, no, even more so, when it is finished. Sometimes this is because you are just happy to be done with the project, other times it’s because you are happy with the project. In this case, I’m quite happy with the project.

The overall size of each of the tables is 20 1/4″ wide X 24 3/8″ deep X 24″ high and they make a great match for the Craftsman Style Coffee Table made previously.

Although they took me several months to complete the actual time spent working on them was only between 40 and 50 hours. I worked at them periodically, interspersed between other projects. The pieces sat for a couple of months waiting for an opportune time to do the finishing which I knew would tie up the shop for a couple of weeks.

Here are some more photos of the finished tables:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style End Tables – Done!'