Monthly Archives: August 2015


Oak-walnut floor lamp 1
Here is a floor lamp that I built in the early 1990’s. I was in a lamp building frenzy back in those days and this one was perhaps my crowning achievement. It features a tapered pole made from laminated solid red oak and walnut and tapered red oak legs that attach to the base of the […]

Oak Walnut Floor Lamp


Solid oak coat rack 2
Some years back, the family was growing and we were running low on coat/jacket hanging options. I decided it was high time to make a coat rack. Or two. I realized we needed something that was functional, able to hold roughly 10 items at a time, but not too utilitarian. Something that could be proudly displayed […]

Coat Rack



Jig consists of a curved template and adjustable end clamps
After embarking on a mission to create a box load of mini-mallets, I realized a handle forming jig was called for to make each handle the same shape and to keep me from going crazy (no way was I cutting every single handle on the band saw). I came up with the simple router jig […]

Mini Mallet Handle Jig


A mini-mallet makes a great tree ornament!
Having made several full-size mallets for general purpose shop use, I decided to make some mini-mallets. My initial thinking was that they could be used as tree ornaments, and that’s exactly what I did with a couple mallets in our home. I also discovered they work well as crab mallets, office desk knick-knacks, gavels for calling […]

Mini Mallets



Burl on cherry tree with 1-gallon can for perspective 1
While out looking for wild blueberries, I came across a wooded grove containing a number of trees with unusual growths on them. I’ve seen such growths before but never this many in such a tight cluster. I felt like I was walking into an alien forest… As best I can tell, these growths are burls rather than […]

The Gall of Those Burls