Unique Woodworking Projects

Unique woodworking workshop
The shop for my unique woodworking. I built this with help from a friend and finishing by a local contractor.
From inside the door, the “machinery” section takes up most of the footprint. Behind the door at the far end is the shop office, where power tools are not permitted.

When Jayne and I bought our place in Horton Township, there was a single-car garage in the back yard. I gave it away on Kijiji (the young guy took it apart and reassembled it at his house) and built this workshop in 2012 for my unique woodworking.

Assembly Table
4′ x 8′ Assembly Table with built-in Vacuum Table for sanding and finishing.

It turns out that I seldom use it as a vacuum table, but constantly as a work surface, assembly, and finishing table.

4 LED Lamps
LED table lamps made with solid wood blocks and custom electronics.

I have been developing custom lighting for several decades. I still have an early florescent-tube pillar light I made almost 40 years ago. These LED lights are based on the same concept. I created a custom PWM circuit and had the circuit board made to order. These lights are in various family and friends’ houses. They are also available for purchase.

Four Floating Top Tables
Floating Top Side Table
Floating Top Table. The top floats on super magnets and will support a half-litre drink without bottoming out. This one is made with Roasted Maple legs, Tapped Sugar Maple shelf, and Quilted Maple top. It is finished with Livos Natural Oil.

These “floating top tables” are my response to the classic version beloved of woodworkers. Unlike those, these tops truly do float, on super-magnets.

Raven Desk
A desk for my shop office. All the joints were made on the CNC. Maple, Walnut, and Bloodwood are accented by an incised epoxy raven. Finishes are Livos Natural Oil for the drawers and bases, Rubio Monocoat for the top.

My shop office needed a desk, so I designed and made this one. I subsequently made the “Raven 2” desk featured on the “Items” page.

Shelving Unit and Raven Desk
Since I had some wood left over from this project, I made a set of matching shelves. The dark wood is Roasted Ash, which I had ended up not using for the desk.
Shop Office with shelving unit and Raven desk.

Since I completed my shop office I’ve had several cardboard boxes sitting next to the piano. This shelving unit eliminated that eyesore and provides an attractive storage area.

Puzzle Box 1
My first Maze Puzzle Box is fairly small. All 4 mazes must be solved for the top to release. This was my first iteration on the magnetic catch, and it was very finicky to get working properly.

My venture into maze puzzles was triggered by the requirement of making two gifts: one for a life-long friend, and one for Jayne. I’ve since found that they offer open-ended possibilities for interesting boxes, puzzles, and related mechanisms.

Round Tuits on CNC machine
A fun project in response to a comment on the VCarve Forum. I have also made smaller ones as give-aways.

Custom versions of these are available for purchase.

Custom Jewellery box for Pamela

In late 2019 I got a call from Pamela, who had seen my work at the Valley Artisans’ Co-op. She asked if I could make a jewellery box to her specifications, a present for her daughter and grand-daughters. I agreed, and have since made several copies and variations.

COVID-19 Tray

Last week I took all my odds and ends of leftover wood from the past year and laid it all out on my assembly table. The small sections of boards became 62 Round Tuits of 3 different sizes. I will give them away as promos. The very short and odd pieces went back on the wood rack. The long thin pieces got glued up into 5 panels.

After planing them flat, each was about 5mm thick. I also had a few longer pieces of Walnut. The flat pieces became trays, the Walnut, the handles. This afternoon I took one of the common representational images of a virus and turned it into a vector file, which I cut into the smallest tray with the CNC. Hopefully we will look at it years from now and say something positive about our current experiences.

Please visit my Online Shop page to purchase one of these unique items!