Curly Maple Knife Strip

Curly maple, sometimes called "tiger," "flame," or "fiddleback" maple, is nothing more than maple with an irregular figure. It's not common, and because of its relative scarcity (and the fact that it looks really cool) it commands a premium price. I laid hands on a piece of highly figured curly maple that was just perfect for a couple magnetic knife strips. One sold the other day and here are a couple pictures of it.

One's still available (just in case you're interested) on the Etsy store.

Elongated Octagonal Dice Tray - Maple with Cork Lining

Maple with cork lining

Another dice tray went out, this one maple with a cork lining. Finished with Formby 30063 Tung Oil, 16-Ounce, which is an easy-to-use, fast-drying, wiping varnish. It turned out nicely.

As always, they are available on Etsy.

Elongated Octagon

Octagon (domestic hardwoods)

Octagon (exotic hardwoods)

Small Rectangle

Large Square

Bookcase

No doubt you will all be judging me as to the content (or lack) of my shelves.

So a while back (long enough ago that I actually am not 100% sure what year) I decided that I needed a bookcase of some quality. Honestly, it was probably around senior year in college, but I'm not sure. In any case, I built this maple and walnut bookcase. Details and pics after the jump.

12" Birdseye Maple Magnetic Knife Strips

Not Designed To Be Used As Pictured

Since I've posted a few of these before I'm pretty much just going to post a bunch of pictures these two 12" magnetic knife strips that I made for someone.

Wine Rack 4.0 - Mahogany and Maple

I've made them for friends; I've made them for family; this time, I made one for myself.

Picture-palooza after the jump...

Cutting Board 2.2 - Maple, Large

Maple cutting board

Merry Christmas, one maple edge-grain cutting board found its way under a tree this year.

Maple and Walnut Bamboo Skewer Knife Block 1.0

Now I just need a real katana

The thing about magnetic knife strips is that there are plenty of reasons why you wouldn't want one in their kitchen. You might have kids and not want the blades exposed. You might have overhead cabinets that make the strip impractical to hang on a wall, or maybe a ceramic backsplash that you don't want to drill through to mount the strip.

With that in mind, I figured I'd make a variant on a traditional knife block. Instead of the traditional cut out slots for your knives, I put together a more versatile take on a knife block that uses bamboo skewers to hold the knives.

Oh, I suppose you want to actually see it. I guess you'll just have to read on...

Cutting Board 2.0

Yes those jalapenos were grown in the garden,

Congratulations Jessica and Tom, to many many happy years!

Since it's kinda my thing, I gave them a cutting board for their wedding. Details after the jump...

Maple

Maple - unfinished

Maple - it's a stalwart wood in America. It's abundant, cheap, hard, strong, stable, and versatile in design. 

Flame Ghost Maple - finished with polyurethane

It comes in plain form, as well as highly figured varieties. "Ghost" maple, is just one variety.

More info and pictures after the jump...

Janka Hardness

The Janka Hardness Test is a method of quantitatively measuring and comparing how hard different wood species are. It works by firing a steel ball into the face of a board and measuring how much force is necessary to sink that ball deep enough that half of it penetrated the wood. You end up with a measure of force in foot-pounds, (it's also listed in Newtons b). This allows us to say "Wood A is twice as hard as Wood B," and to say that with the weight of real measurable lab results. (I know, this is the internet and you all want arguments to be decided by who can type with the most visible anger and rage-destroyed thought processes... deal with it).

After the jump I'll put a list of woods and their Janka Hardness rating. I'll update it periodically and link back to this post as a reference point.

Chopping Block 1.0: Wedding Gift Edition

Congratulations Sergio and Jonathon (though honor compels me to suggest you swap that "o" for an "a"). Until the day comes that your wedding is just a "wedding" I get to say "happy gay wedding" (and see if I get a spike in google traffic from angry people searching for "happy gay weddings"). In anticipation, I have stocked an ample amount of Xanax for Gay Summer Weddings. Can't wait for those tickets to Italy!

But, in all seriousness, I'm thrilled for the two of you, and am very grateful that I made the cut and received an invitation. I made a chopping block for you guys. For Sergio and Jonathon, after the jump is some care stuff. For other people, more pictures and more info about the chopping block itself.

Rye Barrel Aged Rye Strong Ale... and Coasters

Besides carpentry, I also dabble in home brewing. Have been since I was 13. Yep, 13. Anyway, for a few years my family and I had kicked around the idea of barrel aging a beer. The problem with barrel aging beer is that barrels tend to be big... really big... like 250 gallons big. I was at a beer and art show in Chicago with my girlfriend (everyone drank the beer, a few people looked at the art, let's just call it a beer show), and got to talking about the barrels are too damn big problem with one of the brewers there. He tipped me off to a company that distills small batch single barrel whiskeys and sells their barrels. Woodinville Whiskey Co., thank you for aging whiskey 8 glorious gallons at a time.

Art Deco Floating Coffee Table and End Table Set

This is a set of two end tables and a coffee table that I just finished. The table top is Honduran mahogany and the legs and rails are made of maple. Nothing was stained. I used a gloss polyurethane finish (Pratt and Lambert's Varmor, which you can't get anymore thanks to the meddling of dirt worshiping hippies). The design features a distinctive "floating" top, and the effect is heavily influenced by the art deco style, because art deco is awesome, obviously.

The coffee table is 17 and 1/2" tall with a top that is 16" wide by 44" long. The end tables are 26" tall with tops that are 16" by 16".

Wine Rack 3.0

I sort of stumbled into developing wine racks as a s specialty. When I was in high school I decided to make a wine rack to give my brother and sister-in-law for their wedding. That was wine rack 1.0. This... this is wine rack 3.0, the sum of lessons learned from prior versions.