Recently I visited the folks and my Uncle had made my Dad this game.  My family loved so much that they requested I make one.  Except for the numbers and felt, the rest came from scrap red oak in the shop.  It is a simple project and an easy game to play.  Even young children can practice their math skills here.  Here is a video of me making the game.

Last weekend I made a Quarto game board.  I picked up a HD 1 1/4  oak baluster and oak dowel.  About $10.  I cut the long pieces at 3” and the  short ones at 2”.  I used Minwax gunstock stain on half and General Finishes  Java gel stain on the other, leftover from previous projects.  The board was  scrap 1/8” ply glued on top of 1/4” hardboard.  Then framed with oak scraps. The  entire set was sprayed with clear laquer.  Easy and simple game to make, very  fun to play.

For the last year or so I have been collecting hand tools for my shop, both old
and new.  As I grew weary of pulling them from their cardboard boxes I knew it
was time for a cabinet.  I made this after being inspired by the one made by
Marc Spagnoulo, The Wood Whisperer.  I made mine from red oak, dovetail corners,
brass piano hinges and all the tool holders are made from red oak scraps.  A few
magnets were added to help secure the tools,  I finished the cabinet with a
mixture of shellac, denatured alocohol and BLO.  I then put 2 coats of straight
shellac.  I pulled the peg board off, used concrete screws to attach a 2×6 and
then returned the pegboard.  Then I used the French cleat system to hang the
cabinet into the 2×6.  I have left room for a few items on my wish list.  I have
a 3 part video series of the cabinet build on you tube.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:

For a couple of years my coworker Vanishree Rao wanted me to make her this rack like her Mom has in India.  This summer she finally took a picture of it.  It is made from 2 1/2 inch wide red oak from Home Depot.  Coated with gunstock stain and shellac.  It is 4 foot high by 4 foot wide.  There are 6 brass hooks to hand things on.  From what I gather they use it like we would a wall hanging coat rack.  I have a video of the process here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMgEqUN38L4&feature=plcp  The one picture shows her with her son Amit along with the rack. 

I remember as a child watching my Great Uncle Walter make hickory axe handles on his shaving horse.  Several years ago my Dad gave me his Uncle Grady's draw knife.  Ever since I have been wanting to make a shaving horse of my own.  I would like to use it for chair making, rounding spindles for the lathe, and try my hand at coopering.  A week ago I had the house to myself and wanted to finish some bowls that had been drying.  After 3 were done, I had a chinese chestnut bowl explode on me.  Then an ash bowl that went horribly bad.  I put the rest of the bowls on the shelf and pulled out some old 2x11 scraps Dad had given me.  I envisioned a shaving horse and set out to make one. I looked at a few pictures, had no plans and came up with this.  It's very sturdy and holds the wood well.  I have 2 videos of me making it.
 Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31tSmIcWB1A 
 Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev8XtoHddXc

Several weeks ago our new Boss (and old friend) made a comment at the end of the staff meeting that he couldn't  close the meeting because I hadn't made him a gavel.  So last weekend I took some of the black locust scraps from my stool project and turned him a gavel.  I made the striker plate from black walnut. The plate was finished with BLO/alocohol/shellac mix and the gavel has a coat of gunstock stain.  Then both pieces were sprayed with shellac. 

I finally finished my red oak DVD cabinet.  Part 6 of the video series is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2E-65FDORg    There is a coat of shellac/BLO/alcohol mixture for a basecoat, then a coat of gun stock stain followed by 3 coats of wiping varnish.  This is the first time I have used my router table to make raised panel doors. 

Check out my latest video in the DVD Cabinet series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa_dI_Q9JE8

We woodworkers are really into our wood.  A few weeks ago my wife and I were at at pub enjoying a few cold beers and enjoying a most excellant 80's cover band.  I was really interested in the guitarist tiger maple guitar.  Yeasterday I am grilling our 4th of July ribs.  I give them a nice rub of seasonings and a coat of brown sugar on top.  Then they go onto the grill and cook for 4 hours with indirect heat.  I use a tin cup from our camping days to hold chunks of apple wood leftover from my bowls I turn ed awhile back.  The whole back yard around the pool  had the best smell imagineable yesterday.  After the smoking comes the sauce for another hour.  Culinary perfection at it's finest folks. 

This weekend I made the raised panel doors for the DVD Cabinet I am building.    Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUVTA-JX2Ss
Also I restored an old Miller Falls Eggbeater style hand drill.  The chuck was pretty rusty but I soaked it in CLR and it cleaned up nicely.  It has a nice ocat of Camilla oil now.