When was the last time you showed somebody how to do their first woodworking project? The holidays are a great time to share the gift of woodworking with a relative, friend, child or neighbor. For a lot of us, woodworking is a solitary thing and we spend most of our shop time alone. Try inviting someone into your shop over the holidays and help them make their first project.
This evening I taught my 11 year old daughter how to use the scroll saw to make a simple Christmas ornament. Of all my tools, I feel most comfortable starting a child out on the scroll saw. We searched Google Images and she picked out this Christmas Tree. This was a great choice because she got to drill a hole and learn to cut curves, plus there were no interior cuts to complicate matters. She was able to cut out the whole project and sand it herself in about 30 minutes.
So take the time this holiday season to share your love of woodworking with someone. As always, use good judgement and make sure to teach good safety practices, especially when working with children and newbies. Happy Holidays and Happy Woodworking!
I was not looking forward to dragging our 20-year-old artificial Christmas tree out from under the stairs again this year. Every year I have to do some sort of MacGyvering to get it to stand up and not lean to one side. So, I wanted to make a new one out of wood...from a tree. LOL
My initial plan for this project was to make a full size wooden tree. But as usual, I didn't think about it far enough in advance to give me enough time to make it. So, I ended up putting up our old tree and making this wooden table top Twisted Christmas Tree.
It's made from old cedar fence boards that my father-in-law replaced, so I had to work around nail holes. I planed them down to expose the fresh wood underneath the gray weathering. Then I cut the boards into 14-1/8" lengths. I ripped those into 3/4" strips and cut them in pairs from 1" to 14" in 1/4" increments. Each piece yielded two pieces of the tree. The extra 1/8" in length compensated for the saw blade kerf.
I cut half-lap dadoes in each pair of tree branches so they would overlap in the middle and drilled a 3/8" hole in the middle. I mounted a 3/8" dowel rod into a base and slid the branches on from largest to smallest. I cut out a star and drilled a hole to mount it on top.
I used no glue or fasteners on this project so that I could disassemble it for storage. I left this project unfinished because I liked the smell of the cedar - like a real Christmas tree. This was an easy project with lots of repeatable cuts that go a lot faster than you would expect, so give it a shot. I had extra pieces left over so I made a smaller one for my favorite mother-in-law!
One of my father's old Craftsman toolboxes from the 1970's was just too far gone to save. The piano type hinge on it had rusted together and deteriorated so bad it was unusable. I thought the logo looked cool, so I drilled out the rivets that were holding it on and kept the logo in a drawer, then I scrapped the toolbox. I had forgotten about it until I saw a picture that Joe Ness of Ness Customs Wood Work posted of a Powermatic logo he mounted on a wooden stand. Thanks for the great idea Joe!
I went to Harbor Freight today to use a 25% Off Super Coupon and a coupon for a free LED flashlight. Something about that Harbor Freight smell makes you feel like you're a man in the right place.
My guess would be that the smell comes from the tires or oil coating on tools in the store, but I have a theory that they purposely pump the store with that mechanical aroma to make you feel like you should buy more tools, like popcorn in a theater. I'm not sure if the right word is smell, aroma, scent, or bouquet, but no other place smells quite like it.
With my coupon, I purchased a Sanding Belt Cleaner and it works like a charm. I thought it might double as a Harbor Freight scented air freshener chunk, but it doesn't. It has a 5-star rating and I highly recommend it.
I felt like I wasted a perfectly good Super Coupon on a $6.99 item, but I was happy to find this little woodworking gem and walk away with a free flashlight and a little Eau de Harbor Freight on my clothes. When I arrived home, another Super Coupon was waiting for me in the mail. Score!
I've been wanting to build a tongue drum for a while now, but I kept putting it off because I knew I would get totally immersed in the music theory details of these little wooden boxes with slits cut in the top. I saw Steve Ramsey build one and I followed Marc Bublitz's keeks about his experiences with building them, and watching them just fueled my desire to build one. So I took some time to research, design, and build a few myself and I was right...I did get totally obsessed with these things.
While gathering information about these drums, I noticed a lot of comments in woodworking forum threads like "I would build one but I don't know how to tune it." or "Where is a plan for the tongues?" So, I set out to produce a video that explains everything you need to know about building tongue drums.
My goals were to make these drums less mysterious and to answer all the questions that were preventing people from getting into the shop and making that first cut. I hope this video encourages you to get into the shop and make one of these drums. They are quick and easy to build, fun to play, and they are only as complicated as you want to make them. No matter what type of wood you use, or whether you tune it or not, you will end up with a nice fun-to-play drum. If you build one, please contact me and let me know...I'd love to hear about it!
One thing I've always enjoyed about woodworking is being able to make unique gifts for people. I try to keep an eye out for opportunities to use my woodworking skills to do something nice for others. I like to call these projects "Random Acts of Woodworking". It's kind of like paying for the person's order behind you at the drive-thru, but woodworking style.
Step 1 is to identify someone whose day could be brightened a little by a random act of woodworking. Facebook makes this really easy (lol). Whether someone is celebrating or struggling, giving them a personalized handmade gift can be a very powerful thing.
Step 2 is to do a little research (aka snooping) and come up with an idea for something the person may like. Look for something in their photos, likes, comments, hobbies, hometown, etc. that will trigger an idea.
Step 3 is to make something thoughtful out of wood and give it to them. For someone who achieved something great, it could be a plaque, a picture frame, or something else to honor the achievement. For someone who is going through a struggle, it could be as simple as cutting an inspirational word out of wood, like Hope, Strength, Courage, etc. Using wood from a special location or object can personalize the project.
Try doing a random act of woodworking for someone. I think you will find that no matter what you make for them, it will turn out to be one of your most enjoyable and memorable projects. Here is one of mine, so please comment and let me know one of yours.
I had the day off today and it's Halloween, so I decided to do a quick and easy Halloween project. This Wooden Halloween Pumpkin is a great woodworking project for kids. It's made from a 1"x6" pine board that is cut into six pieces and just glued together. The tricky part is to cut a 60 degree pointed angle on one side of each board. Check out the video of this project to see how I did it and try it yourself! Stain it, paint it, or decorate it how you wish and have fun! Happy Halloween!
Last weekend, I ventured out of the shop and set up my first woodworking booth at a Fall festival to try to sell some projects. This was the first year of the festival so no one knew what to expect. I had a great time, showed off my woodwork, met lots of great people, did some networking, ate some delicious food, hung out with my woodworking neighbor Rob, and promoted my YouTube channel, but I did not sell very many projects...and that was actually ok by me.
For my first festival, I had a great experience and I do plan to do it again sometime. Here's a video showing some of the projects I made in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the festival, along with some tips for others who might like to venture out of the shop and "do" the festival or craft fair thing.
The Woodworking Shows just posted this video about the upcoming shows. I'm looking forward to the show in Atlanta in March of 2014. I'm sure our Gwinnett Woodworkers Association will have a booth again and I had a blast helping out in the booth last time. As if the last show wasn't fun enough, they are making some more changes to improve the show.
It's especially exciting to see increased focus on getting children involved in woodworking. The project showcase is being changed to organize projects into different categories instead of lumping them all together which will be a nice touch. If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend checking out The Woodworking Shows!
Here are some highlights I captured at the last woodworking show in Atlanta. If you attend the Atlanta show, be sure to look for me and say hello!
I love entering woodworking contests because they challenge me to get creative and come up with something new and different. I built this Rolling Stones birdhouse for a contest hosted by Summers Woodworking. Whenever I come up with an idea for a contest project, I will Google it to see if it's been done before. If not, then I know I may be onto something that no one has ever seen before. I find that exciting, and in this case, I could not find another Rolling Stones giant mouth logo birdhouse out there. Thanks to Summers Woodworking and all the sponsors for providing this opportunity to win cool prizes and to create something I probably never would have built otherwise!
Sometimes I see a woodworking project that I just have to make. This is one of those projects. This bandsaw bowl is great for people who have limited shop time, and for those who like to start and finish a project in one visit to the shop. You could even use a scroll saw or jig saw to build one.
This bowl is made up of a set of octagon-shaped rings that are stacked up on top of a center base. All the parts can be cut from one square piece of 1x12 board, or from two 1x6 boards and glued together. Get creative and use two different colors of wood. Use thicker wood to make the bowl taller. I think the hardest part of this project is deciding whether to call it a bowl or a basket. Click here to download my FREE PDF template!
I snapped this picture of my father's scrap bins the last time I visited his unfinished cabin. This explains a lot when I look at my own growing scrap collection. Indeed, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Most people would see trash cans waiting to be dumped in this picture, but I see bins full of inspiration.
When I look through dad's scrap, I always find pieces to bring home. Sometimes I recognize pieces, such as the two curvy cutoffs from his fireplace mantle supports. Sometimes I find historical artifacts with his sketches, measurements, and calculations written on them.
Scrap bins are packed full of future projects just waiting to be built. The possibilities are endless, and many times, the shape or wood grain will make it obvious to me what a piece is supposed to become. Sometimes I see a piece and know it's destined to be a bandsaw box, a plaque, a bookend or some sort of knick-knack.
So the next time you can't think of anything to build, raid your scrap bin (or better yet, a friend's scrap bin) with an open mind. You might discover a piece of history or find a future project.
I visited my mother recently and she gave me my father's old shoe shine box. I remember him using it to shine his shoes before going to work or church. I dust off my dress shoes maybe 5 times a year so I won't use it much, but I do cherish it since my dad made it. Do men still shine their shoes like they used to?
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make one just like it. So, I traced dad's curved details and the funny-looking foot rest on top, then built one of my own. It was a fun project, but now I just have to figure out what to do with TWO of them. I guess I could use one for left shoes and the other for right...5 days out of the year.
This is by far the easiest and fastest project I've built in a long time. Rockler sent me two sets of their 1x10 I-Semble Slip-On Shelf brackets for a project build video to display on their product page. I used the brackets to build a new shoe shelf to replace our old broken one.
The brackets were easy to use and project took less than an hour to cut the boards and assemble. Screws were included which was nice. Below are some things to keep in mind if you are considering using these brackets for one of your projects:
They slip onto a standard 1"x10", which is actually 3/4" x 9 1/4".
You will need a pair of brackets for each shelf, so calculate the total cost to decide if it's worth the time-savings over other traditional joinery methods.
The brackets have a strong brawny look to them, which I like, but it may not match everyone's decor.
They do cover a lot of the wood, but I used this to my advantage to cover some unsightly defects.
I like that they can be disassembled easily for finishing, and even re-purposed for a different project in the future.
Overall, this project was quick, fun, and turned out well, plus my wife likes it too! The brackets are great for beginner woodworkers or people with limited tools, because they pretty much guarantee a successful project.
When I'm not woodworking, I love to play drums in my cover band. I go through a lot of drumsticks, and since I'm a woodworker too, I am always looking for new uses for them. In case you don't know, most drumsticks are made from hard maple or hickory, which is good for woodworking projects. I've used drumsticks for dowels, axel rods, and CD/DVD spindles before, and now I've found yet another good way to upcycle them...Pens!
I recently delved into the world of pen turning and here are some pictures of some pens I've made from old drumsticks. Drumsticks come in many different sizes and the challenge here is drilling a hole down the center without the bit exiting the side or cracking the wood. I use size 5A drumsticks and the standard 7mm drill bit that is used for slimline pens fits within the drumstick quite nicely.
I usually like to put a clear finish on the pens to maintain the natural beauty of the wood and keep it looking somewhat like it came from a drumstick. I decided to experiment with using green food coloring and really like the results of the green pen.
If you do woodworking, keep an eye out for alternate sources for wood and you might be surprised at what you can find...for FREE!
I was commissioned to build this sign as a gift for a Ford Mustang fan. The backboard is made from 3/4 oak plywood and painted Ford Blue. The mustang intarsia logo is cut from Southern Yellow Pine using a bandsaw and scroll saw. This was a fun project that required lots of patience!
I made this Footlong Sub Sandwich for the Gwinnett Woodworkers Association's annual 2x4 contest. All the ingredients were cut from a standard construction grade 2x4, and I used various stains and food coloring to make it look more realistic. I also made the tray it rests on out of the 2x4. It was a fun project and I won an awesome gift card from Peachtree Woodworking Supply. Are you hungry now?
I made this cedar keepsake box for a charity auction that benefits veterans after they return home from protecting our country. It's made from a 1x6 cedar board that had some pink coloring in it. The inside is lined with black felt. It's an original design and you can download my drawing here. I hope someone bids a lot of money on it.
My mother-in-law needed a sign for the annual Quilt Show at her church. I recycled some old boards to make this rustic sign. The uprights slide out of the two feet so it can be disassembled and stored away. The small board hanging at the bottom has sheet protectors where she can slide in a printout of the date. I just hope they don't change it to Sunday.
Rockler sent me one of their Glue Bottle Applicator Kits to try out in my shop. In this video, I demonstrate the contents of the kit and share my first impressions. Check it out then decide if the kit might be something you can use in your shop. Here's a quick rundown of what I think:
Pointed Nozzle - Feeds glue accurately into dowel holes, cracks and tight spaces. Includes cap.
Wide Nozzle - Good for getting glue into wide holes, slots, dadoes and grooves. Includes cap.
Glue Guide - Centers a bead of glue on board edges every time. Friction fit on pointed nozzle.
Funnel - Useful for people who make a mess when filling bottles. Screws onto bottle.
Brush Attachment - Spreads the right amount of glue where you want it on small boards.
Roller Attachment - Covers large boards fast. Includes an attached plug to seal the bottle.
Cleaning Brush - Useful for cleaning crevices in attachments.
Overall, I think this will be a nice addition to my shop and will make glue ups easier. I like that the attachments fit both Rockler and Titebond bottles. Plus, as with the other Rockler glue products, the cleanup is easy either before or after the glue has dried.
OSB (oriented strand board) is not the most popular wood to use for woodworking projects. Most woodworkers would probably balk at even calling it "wood", but this piece of OSB was different.
My daughter went for a walk with her grandmother and found this piece of OSB that someone was throwing out, so she brought it home so I could make something out of it. This OSB is special because: (1) She thinks it's special; (2) She thought I would think it's special; (3) She wanted to recycle it; and (4) She believed that I would make something cool out of it.
I could not disappoint her, so I stepped up to the challenge made this handsaw picture frame for her. Turns out that the OSB was fun to work with and it gave this handsaw picture frame a cool construction look.
While on vacation at the beach recently, I picked up a small piece of driftwood and made an ink pen out of it. I love making a project out of wood that has a story behind it. This is one of those projects.
Did you know? Collecting driftwood can be prohibited in some areas, so make sure you check the rules in your area before collecting any driftwood.
I made this decorative Georgia wall hanging as a video response to the California one made by Steve Ramsey of Woodworking for Mere Mortals. It's an end-grain topography of Georgia made from southern yellow pine. To see Steve's original video along with all the video responses, click here!
Underground Woodworking and WorkshopAddict.com are putting on a Clown Candy Dispenser contest. This is a fun way to get the kids involved in the shop. My daughter and I made this one and submitted it for the contest. The contest ends July 4th, 2013, so visit WorkshopAddict.com for the contest details and winners!
Clown candy dispenser design inspired by Underground Woodworking.
My neighbor Rob Austin and I are both members of the Gwinnett Woodworkers Association. Rob shot some photos and video clips of his awesome woodworking shop and he asked me to put them together in this video tour of his workshop. I think I need to start visiting Rob a little more often.
Am I the only one who likes to swing my hammer in perfect time at just the right tempo? I love accenting that last note when sinking the head of the nail into the wood. Woodworking is a very percussive craft. Check out how I used a variety of woodworking tools as percussion instruments to create a woodworking percussion ensemble. It's a pretty good beat and you can dance to it!
My mother-in-law asked me to update her old weather station. I removed the gauges and used those, but scrapped the original frame. I built a new frame out of oak. The gauges are mounted in three square pieces of oak that are attached to the outer frame with small dowel rods. The key to this project was careful measurement of the dowel hole locations, dowel length, and the open gaps around the three squares. Look around your home for something that could use a little updating and go for it!
My son needed more leverage to tune his marching snare drum, so I embedded the small metal drum key into a wooden handle. It's made from German Beech and works great!
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware is featuring my 1950's Record Player Stand video on their website's Hairpin Table Legs product page, as well as on their YouTube channel. I hope to do another video for another one of their products again very soon. Stay tuned!
I made this Record Player Stand for my 1950’s Westinghouse portable
record player. My 8-track and cassette players fit on it too. It’s
made from a single 2’x4’ sheet of 3/4” Sandeply plywood and 5/8” pine
dowel rods from Home Depot and assembled with just wood glue.
The legs
are the 16” Hairpin Table Legs from Rockler. I painted the dowel rods
and plywood edges black for a sleek look. I was afraid it might wobble
or sway because of the dowel rods and legs, but it is really rigid and
barely moves. I think the 12 album divider rods give it lots of
strength.
I built this Garden Potting Bench for free using just two pallets. This project was inspired by Steve over at Woodworking for Mere Mortals. It was a fun project and my wife loves it!
Do you live in a state or country that does not require an official license plate on the front of your vehicle? If you do, then check out my video and create your own cool custom license plate! If you don't, then check out my video and make one anyway! A wooden license plate would make a great gift and these are easy to make with limited tools and experience.
Last year's grand prize win was an awesome experience for me. I had been out of woodworking for a few years and decided to get back into it after inheriting my father's bigger and better tools. That's when I ran across the whirligig contest and thought that would be a great project to get me back into woodworking for fun. Around that same time, I joined my local Gwinnett Woodworker's Association and one of the first meetings was a seminar on whirligigs from craftsman Wayne Martin, just in time for the Whirligig Wars contest.
So, I built the KISS Whirligig within 3 days of the contest deadline and ended up winning the grand prize, a Laguna Tools Driftmaster Fence System. Below is my winning Kiss Whirligig contest entry video. Winning this contest was the inspiration for me to begin making woodworking videos for my own YouTube channel, The Carmichael Workshop. Thanks to Laney and Steve for hosting the contest, which turned out to be an unexpected life changing event for me last summer. Now, I have to come up with something to top KISS this year! Click here for more information on the Whirligig Wars 2013!
This is an easy DIY Safety Station that you can build for your
woodworking shop using just a drill, a saw, scrap wood and some
containers. Marc Spagnuolo of The Wood Whisperer sponsors Woodworking Safety Day
on May 1st of every year, and this video is my show of support for
2013. Customize your own Safety Station to fit your needs and make sure
you always have your safety gear nearby. Remember to be safe in the
workshop and have fun!
Check out my new video showing how I made some wooden spanking paddles. These are quick and easy projects that anyone can make with limited tools and some scrap wood. Be creative and have fun! Don't forget to name them too!
Here is a follow-up to my Saloon Bird Feeder video. It includes great suggestions from viewers as well as answers to some of the questions I received. I also captured some footage of birds on the bird feeder. (If you missed the original video, you can watch it here.)
I'm now on Keek if anyone would like to follow me. I will be posting video updates occasionally on projects I'm working on and just general nonsense. LOL Here's a link to my Keek profile. Happy woodworking everybody!
Here's a saloon-style bird feeder that is sure to attract attention from all the night owls out there. It's made from two inexpensive 6-foot untreated fence boards from the local home center (since pressure-treated boards might be harmful to our feathered friends). It has three bar stools and wooden bottles on the bar. Birds are sure to flock to this saloon for the best wings in town! You will find a materials list and cut list in the YouTube video description! Tweet Tweet!
Check out the results of the 2x4 contest I entered. I submitted my 4-foot bandsaw box. All of the entries were amazing and I can't believe what everyone created from a standard 2x4. It just goes to show that you don't have to spend lots of money or use exotic lumber to have fun woodworking. Now go buy a 2x4 and use whatever tools you have to make something unique. Thanks to Summers Woodworking for hosting the contest and thanks to all the sponsors who provided the cool prizes!
The next time a kid says "I'm bored and have nothing to do.", cut their name out of wood and I bet they will watch! Just use MS Word to print out their name in really big letters, then stick it onto a piece of wood and cut it out. I cut most of this one with the bandsaw, except I used a scroll saw for the interior cut on the "N". It's made of red cedar and glued to a pine base. I left it unfinished because the cedar smells so good.
I spent the weekend at The Woodworking Show in Atlanta March 22-24, 2013. I was helping out with our Gwinnett Woodworkers Association's booth. In case you missed it or the show did not come to your town, here are some video clips I captured. There were lots of great demonstrations, tools for sale, and amazing projects on display. I got a lot of great ideas for future projects. Stick around until the end to see the Project Showcase winners. I recommend going to The Woodworking Show next season if it comes to a town near you. Visit The Woodworking Shows!
I had a great day at The Woodworking Show in Atlanta today! I got to hang out with my woodworking buddies all day and try out new tools. Lots of people stopped by our booth to check out our projects and we got lots of great compliments. My Kiss Whirligig was featured on The Woodworking Shows Facebook page which was really cool. Now it's time to get some rest and do it all over again tomorrow.
I won a FastCap SuperMount in a logo contest over at SummersWoodworking.com. It's a spring-tension clamp that holds phones, mp3 players and cameras. I drilled a couple of holes in a piece of beechwood to mount it onto my cymbal stand. I used a 1/4" carriage bolt to fasten the clamp to the wood. Now I have a secure place to put my phone when I'm playing drums. It's also great to have my phone right in front of me when playing along to the metronome or music on my phone. My band played a 2-hour show and the phone did not move at all.
I made a wood sign for my workshop using a scroll saw. The pieces are cut from a single 1/2" pine board and glued onto a backer board with Titebond II wood glue. The backer board is a regular piece of 1/4" plywood that is painted with flat black spray paint. I used blue tape to mask off a border around the edge of the sign. I applied a protective coat of spray lacquer to finish it off. Drums by Steve Carmichael ;)
I posted earlier about remembering some of the first woodworking projects I made early on in my woodworking journey. I visited my mom today and looked in my old room and found one of them. It's the log cabin I made probably when I was around 10 or so years old. I think I could make a much better one now. This one looks like a delicious chocolate and marshmallow layered s'more! lol
The Woodworking Show is coming to Atlanta on March 22-24 at the Gwinnett Center. I'll be helping out in our Gwinnett Woodworkers Association booth. We will have scroll saw and lathe demonstrations, as well as lots of cool member projects on display. If you come to the show, stop by the GWA booth and say hi!
I started woodworking when I was a kid in the 1970's and I was trying to remember my first woodworking projects today. These are some of the ones I can remember.
I built a birdhouse with my father from a kit with pre-cut boards.
I cut a dowel rod into short pieces and stacked them together with glue to make a small log cabin.
I built a coat rack using pieces of a 2x4 as the base and a 2x2 as a post. I attached 4 brass coat hooks at the top.
I'll have to look for those the next time I visit my mom. I did find the Handy Andy tool kit that my dad gave me and the little blue saw is the only tool left. I wore that thing out. Now I keep my soldering iron and supplies in the box.
This 4-foot bandsaw box is my entry for a 2x4 contest over at Summers Woodworking. It's made from a single 2x4 stud from Home Depot. Check out all the contest entry videos here. Download my PDF template here.
Ok, I finally decided to jump in and create a new website for my workshop. Stay tuned to keep up with what I'm doing on my wife's side of the garage. I'm looking forward to sharing more content here and also selling some of my custom projects at my online store (as soon as I make some more lol). Thanks, Steve...
This evening I taught my 11 year old daughter how to use the scroll saw to make a simple Christmas ornament. Of all my tools, I feel most comfortable starting a child out on the scroll saw. We searched Google Images and she picked out this Christmas Tree. This was a great choice because she got to drill a hole and learn to cut curves, plus there were no interior cuts to complicate matters. She was able to cut out the whole project and sand it herself in about 30 minutes.
