Plan Ideas

Last weekend I was watching the movie Atlas Shrugged which features a metal bracelet. I love the angular and geometric simplicity of it and decided to make one out of wood.

Ive made a few wood jewelry projects in the past and have discovered that no matter how simple the project appears to be, it always seems to come with its own set of challenges, mostly due to the small scale. If, when building a three-foot wide storage cabinet, a measurement is off by a 1/8", I dont get too worried. On a one-inch wide bracelet link, an eight of an inch is unacceptable.

This bracelet and earring set can be made with just a hand saw, a hand drill, and a plane. As with any jewelry project, you want the wood to be thin and lightweight. If you happen to have wood that is already 1/8" thick or less, you are good to go.

I used a piece of Yucatan Rosewood for my bracelet. Its got a beautiful reddish color and a dark grain. The nice thing about making wood jewelry is that is requires very little wood, so its a great opportunity to use some scraps youve been saving. It can also be a good excuse to splurge on some exotic lumber. Just make sure the wood is hard. Soft woods such as pine are likely to break.



The biggest problem I ran into with this was that it simply didnt look right when I first assembled it. The rings I bought were just too big. It was a case of something that could only be discovered in the "real world". On paper, the rings looked good. I made another trip to the craft store and bought some 10mm rings, which worked out perfectly.

If you would like to experiment with this design, here is the cutting template I made for the earrings and the bracelet.

• WWMM wood bracelet (pdf)

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If you have recently added a router to your workshop, it is a great addition and lets you advance to a higher level in the projects you can do now that you have purchased this tool. However, without a proper router table, your new tool will not be nearly as efficient or effective. Since you already possess woodworking skills, you can now easily build your own table using router table plans.

What About Free Plans?

One thing to keep in mind is routers are very taxing on the tables that hold your projects. It is not wise to use a set of free plans which are unstable and in the end you could end up endangering yourself. Routers are a powerful tool to have and can become dangerous when not used properly.

In short, building a router table is not the project to start trying free plans. You will need a good set of professional plans that are guaranteed. The guarantee will help you to feel confident in the quality and stability of the plans. A good set of professional plans are worth the cost as you will be able to build a solid and secure area for your router to work.

What To Look For In Router Table Plans

The first thing you should look for in your plans is a design that is appealing to you and that will give you plenty of storage. Storage will give you a great place to store all of the bits for your router, while keeping them within easy reach while you are working on a project.

 Recommendations and/or lists of the wood and hardware needed to make a sturdy table and storage space.

 Plans that allow for good air circulation.

Your router will be mounted under the counter top so it must have good air circulation in order to keep the motor cool. Router table plans designed by a professional will take this all into consideration as they know how important each of these aspects is to the success of a project.

Can you find many different router table plans on the internet?

Sure, but with your new powerful tool, do you want to trust your safety along with the performance of your router to just anyone?

Professionally designed plans are the way to go as anyone with their name and reputation attached knows they have liability attached to their name. The types of plans they design will be well thought out and take both safety and performance into consideration.

Getting a good set of router table plans is essential to the success of your project. This is not the time to trust free plans, choose your plans very carefully to be able to build yourself the finest router table possible.

Find Here Great Woodworking Plans

People who love flowering plants will alchoices opt to landscaping a rose garden into their garden, lawn, or back yard. In fact, a lot of households, especially those that are situated on back country roads or even suburban, will almost surely go for it. Rose landscapes are also very prominent to American houses, even the white house got one. Most often than not, it is for the basic reason that this type of landscaping is cheaper and easily complement any house or neighborhood type.

Also, it is very useful and beautiful inside and outside the house. It also gives out very nice to the nose scent. Boys can simply cut one from her mother’s planter or garden, and he now has something to give her girlfriend for a present. And it grows almost anywhere with the right sunlight and water amounts.

Landscaping a rose garden is never a difficult task but you have to make sure that what you choose from a variety of choices to accentuate your home will be the right one to really compensate it. Among the very many varieties of roses to grow n your garden, lawn, planters, or back yard are as follows:

- Tea Rose. This type of flowering rose is characterized with long stems and grows really tall. It also nods when it starts to bloom. So if you have an archchoice or patio, it will be a great accessory to soften its edges and conceal the details of the bricks, stones, concrete, or wood used in the said structure. Not to forget of course the fresh sweet scent it brings.

- Climbing rose. This is the rose you want to have in your landscape if you want to conceal a wall or something that will look awkward in your yard. Grow it and never worry again with the brick or concrete walls or fence in your home.

- Floribunda rose. Large blooms of different splashes of colors are what make Floribunda roses a great choice in landscaping a rose garden. It can be grown in a lot of color varieties so you can surely find one to compensate your household theme.

- Rugosa rose. For hedging or ground cover purposes, the Rugosa rose is the right choice. This is also available n a variety of colors so you can use it to accentuate a plant or tree by placing it right in front of any of these greeneries.

The class of roses you grow will have impact in the overall appearance of your home. But mainly, it is the color that provides whatever goal you have in landscaping a rose garden into your backyard or lawn. Therefore, before you start growing a rose garden, make sure that you have already picture out how it will impact in the overall appearance of the house.

At most, you will need to check your color palette to end up with the best appearance you want to have. Also, it is important to check your soil structure as well as the prevalent climate in the area. Some of these roses may not grow in some soil characteristic so it is best that you are sure of which will grow and which will not to avoid failures when you are already in the task of landscaping a rose garden.

its been a busy, busy couple of weeks!!  were hoping to wrap up three good ones by the end of this week.  the table above is white oak, and there are pullouts underneath that support two leaves on the ends.  hopefully, tomorrow the finish will come and it will turn white and be ready to ship to connecticutt on friday.  optimistic? hmmm, yeah, for sure.  well see.  click the photos to enlarge them.
here it is, upside down, earlier in the construction process.  you can see the leaf support mechanisms and the skeleton of the bracing support structure. 
here it is with one of the leaves on the closer end.  the leaves are 21" wide, expanding the 90" main table to 11, room for 12, or even 14, good friends.  i like the thin top and delicate, but rigid understructure.  it was a collaborative design with my friend liz of elizabeth bauer designs in downtown new york city.
 looks just like the drawing.
the table will have a whitish, distressed, cerused finish, something like one of the samples above. were not sure exactly which one yet, because weve never done a finish like it before.  it should be fun ... well see.
and then we have this one in its final stages.  a new pool table design in steel and claro walnut.  it will be headed to chicago next week sometime.  gray felt playing surface, figured claro walnut rails, and the steel base will have a dark rainbow finish.  it should look pretty much like the model in the photo above.
the short ends and one of the long ends are welded and ready to finish.  i hope to test assemble the whole thing, steel base, slate, rails, and all either late tomorrow or friday.  off to chicago next week.
 last bit of welding tomorrow.
its got a steel and claro cue rack with it.  the steel has the dark patina on it now, and the wood pieces are at the finishers.  we should have them back tomorrow, and well assemble that too.  its been an eventful week and its only wednesday ... more later ...
 last but not least, the matched cherry dining tables have all their finish now and will be ready to go on friday too.   all for now.

Happy Monday! Today I have the insanely talented Anneke from This, That & Life answering a little Q+A! Anneke really has an eye for finding dated pieces on Craigslist and transforming them into stunning modern pieces. I want to take so many of them home with me!! She recently started selling her gorgeous furniture makeovers at Roots of Gratitude, in Snohomish, WA - so if youre local, make sure to check it out!

Anneke just moved into a beach house and I LOVE all of her coastal touches, it is just SO pretty! Make sure to take a look! Can I move in!? Please? :)


Heres a little more about Anneke.

With the top trim running to the back of the desk, I need to neatly terminate it before it intersects with the face frame on the back of the desk. To do this, I use the same method I use when doing chair rail (see posts from the Northville, MI trim project). I cut a 45 on the top trim, then cut a tiny piece of opposing trim to return it neatly back, making a totally finished end!