Office Bookshelf

Karla and I decided that we would refurbish a piece of furniture for my office (As my birthday present this year).  We picked this side table/shelf up at Deseret Industries for $15.

  The top of the table was open.  We figured it originally had a sheet of glass over the top. 

 Instead of cutting a large sheet of glass for the top, I routered out an edge in the top and put in a recessed piece of plexiglass.

I had to hand chisel out the corners for the glass to fit in the groove.

 I cut a small piece of 1/4" oak to span the gap in the middle so that we'd have two smaller panels of plexiglass.   The plexiglass in this picture looks foggy because I hadn't peeled off the protecting film yet.

 After sanding the varnish off the entire piece, Karla and I painted it with a glossy black paint.  We did this project in January '11, it was freezing cold in the garage every night, hence Karla's outfit. :)

This is how the final project now looks in my office.  We have since added a toy box on the bottom shelf so that the girls have something to play with when they visit for lunch.

Piano Music Box

In 2002, I decided to make a music box shaped like a piano for my mother.  This was the result.  

 I wood burned her name "Lisa" into the top of the piano and burned each individual key onto the keyboard.  I purchased the legs from a craftstore.

 I found a little music box button meant for inserting in stuffed animals or other crafts.  It plays "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. By no means is it a fancy music box that plays when you open the lid, but it still works. 

 When I built this project, I didn't know how to use a router and still used a scroll saw for everything.  I made the basic shape by stacking four layers of wood together and cutting the shape.  On two of the cut pieces, I cut out the middle and then glued them together.  If I was doing this again, I would probably try routering out a block of wood.

I remember being really proud of this project and was anxious to give it to my mom.

This was actually the first "piano" I have made.  I designed this basic piano representation as a gift to our choir director.  I later built one for my mom, just prior to making the piano above.  I also helped some friends make pianos for their senior prom dates and they wood burned various pictures/messages on the top.

Wooden Fire

I orginally built this for a Cub Scout Pack meeting where they wanted to pretend sitting next to a campfire (indoors of course).  Once I had cut it out, we ended up doing something else and I never got around to painting it or rigging in any kind of lighting.  I still think it is pretty cool though.

 The design is as basic as it could get-just two interlocking pieces.  I cut it out on the scroll saw and rounded the edges over with the router.  I think this still has some potential later on.

Mt. Rose Hike Tracker

When we moved to Reno, NV in '99, my dad and I decided to hike to the summit of Mt. Rose, a peak that overlooks the Reno area, at least once a year.  I built this little project for my dad to record how many times he had hiked the peak.  There are not enough beads now, but he now writes the dates on the sides of the beads. 

The peaks and trail marks are a rough representation of the trail.  The trailhead has since been moved about a 1/4 mile away, changing the first portion of the trail significantly.  It's a fun casual hike for most ages.

Palm Tree Pencil Holder

This was simply a random project I built in an afternoon for fun.  I wanted to try some different things with my router and ended up with the two middle blocks and I quickly threw together the rest.

 The leaves were cut out on my scroll saw and mounted on wire hanger pieces.

 Pretty random project, but whatever.

"Cortez"

This was straight-up, a gag gift for my mother and requires a brief history.

My grandparents (on my mother's side) have a 3-4' tall full body statue of Cortez at the end of the hallway in their basement.  I don't remember where they got it or why they display it (valid questions for anyone reading this post), but I do know it scared the ba-jeebers out of me, my siblings and our cousins growing up.  I remember the mental battle I would have waking up in the middle of the night, trying to figure out how I would get to the bathroom at the end of the hall without him getting me first.  I would finally do a quick dash down the hall, jump into the bathroom and shut the door.  Before I opened the bathroom door again to leave, I would turn off the light and wait for my eyes to readjust to the dark...cause heaven knows Cortez would have had me for sure if I had opened that door and wasn't able to see him.  It wasn't until we were older that all of the grandkids have since admitted to being scared out of our minds...our parent's and grandparents were completely oblivious.

I made this little Cortez bust statue for my mother just prior to my brother and sister-in-law having their first child...and thus making my mother a grandmother for the first time.  It seemed weird to us all that she was going to be a grandma, so I gave her this gag gift with a note that said something to the effect of, "Now you are ready to be a grandma."  (Note: None of her 6 grandkids are afraid of this version of Cortez...as far as we know.)