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In 2001, long after the standard wood shop class in middle school, and a few projects with my Dad, I began getting into woodworking. I shared a 2 car garage
with 2 cars, and had to go the portable tool route. I was able to manage a few projects with MDF, pine & paint. In 2004 we bought a house with a 3rd garage
bay. At that point the big tools started coming in, as did the more elaborate projects using different woods. Below are some of the projects I've built.
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Built in 2000/2001, this is probably my first real woodworking project. My Dad and I built this after my wife (Krystal) found a picture of a similar table in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. The table was built prior to my son's (Davis) birth for use in his room. When completed it sat next to the glider in his room and has been used to hold books ever since. It's made of Red Oak with approximate dimensions of 22"H x 18"W x 14"D. It utilizes mortise and tenon joinery and is finished with multiple coats of high gloss polyurethane. The shelf is angled up slightly to keep the books from falling out.
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In 2002, Davis was beginning to collect a lot of toys. We needed a table for him play on that was his height and was large enough to hold his Little People toys. I knew it was going to be painted, and we didn't want to spend a lot of money one it, so MDF was the material of choice. The tabletop is a full 4'x8' sheet of 5/8" MDF (with a small rectangle cut out) dadoed and nailed into the side rails. The bins were added a few months later when the need for storage space became evident. Both the table and the storage bins are on casters making it mobile. Given the nature of MDF, it's way too heavy for a child to move, but adults can move it without too much effort. Krystal finished off the bins with the decorative paint job.
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I built two of these cedar planters in 2003. It was my first outdoor project and it showed. At that time I didn't know there was waterproof wood glue, so needless to say, they didn't last long. They were 2'x2'x2', with mortise and tenon joinery. The panels were assembled with glue and biscuits. I may re-build them some day now that I have more experience and better tools, not to mention waterproof glue.
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A friend of mine was getting married in early 2004. A few months before the wedding, he asked me if I could build a box to store and display a cake cutting knife that was given to him by his parents. I made the box out of Honduran Mahogany and put three coats of satin polyurethane on it. The box is assembled with box joints and the inside is lined with velvet. I recently saw it and it had visibly darkened after one full year. This was my first project using a nice expensive wood. It was a lot of fun to make.
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In early 2004, we had moved out of our house and were building another one. I wanted to build some furniture for the new house, and Krystal had found this tray table at Pottery Barn. Their version was not very high quality, so I figured I'd build it myself. The table is made of Alder and stained with 2 coats of Cherry stain. The tray section is assembled using box joints.
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