A WoodWork in Progress

As I flip through Facebook, the woodworking forums are very active with people making cutting boards, particularly in the months leading up to Christmas. Handmade cutting boards are a great, attractive gift that can be tailored to the wood you have available and the size of board you want to give. I had a thought to make one, and if it was successful, I would give it as a gift to my in-laws. After all, it was my father-in-law that gave me the router that I have been using. It would be my first attempt at using hardwoods and making anything attractive like that, so I needed a backup plan - if the result was ugly, I would keep it in my own kitchen and the in-laws would get a gift card or a candle! This would require a lot of everything. I needed lessons on how to make cutting boards. I needed some hardwood from the specialty wood shop. I needed a way to level-out the boards once they were glued, and a way to make a juice-groove around the board. I also needed the right kind of wood glue ...

After doing so many projects, I had accumulated quite a collection of scraps, cut-off and spare pieces. They were basically piled up along the side of the garage, and laid over my stack of fire wood. This wasn't sustainable, and it really sucked when something tumbled behind the boards. It was also not a good way to keep the boards clean on their edges. I needed a storage solution. As with many of my projects, I had seen posts on woodworking Facebook groups showing the lumber carts others had made. Most were fixed to the wall, or were mobile but quite large. I needed something mobile, and smaller. My organization of the garage is different in the summer and winter, which is why mobility was important. I found the plans for one I liked, which I thought I could customize for my dimensions. https://youtu.be/rRL5KEqTteE I needed that cart to be a bit shorter, so instead of 4 vertical sections, I would have only 3. The initial challenge for me was the size of the plywood board...

When I was working downtown, my wife would usually be the one responsible for cleaning the kitchen. I would leave early in the morning and return around 6pm. During that time, she had taken care of most of the dishes. The onset of covid-19 in the Spring of 2020, and my employer instilling a work-from-home policy meant I wasn't spending 8hrs at the office, plus another 2hrs on transportation each day. I was home, and I was able to help out around the house more. I was doing the dishes more, and dealing with the poor organization of the cupboard space. When I would put the dishes away, I would always struggle with finding a way to stack the pots, cookie sheets, mixing bowls and the waffle maker - all of which went into the same messy space. My wife had been dealing with it, but not complaining. I forgot to take a 'Before' picture, so this is the neighbouring cupboard, with the contents intended for the drawers. This is missing all the pot lids, cookie sheets, muffin tins, sev...

Once I finished the side table from Steve Ramsey's course, I moved on to the next project on his list, the Harmony Bench. All of the pictures on the website of this bench had shown it being used as a true bench, sometimes placed in the garden, or in an entryway with a boot shelf nearby. I had another plan for it. It would be a long window-side table in the kitchen. The original course plan design was for the bench to be about 36 inches long. My window space is 70" wide, so I needed really straight pieces. I would also add some horizontal support in the middle, so the boards wouldn't bend. My version would need to be higher also so that it would be flush with the side of the window. The original design from the Weekend Woodworker course The lower shelf would be installed much lower than in the plans, so that it could actually be used as a shelf, rather than just a structural support. My wife decided on the finish that would be used. Because the wood I bought was simple pin...