This week, we have another set of “themed” posts. I recently created the Popular Woodworking knife block as a Guild project, and I received a few emails from folks who either made knife blocks before or were inspired by the project. This particular one was submitted by Devin.

I originally learned of this style of knife block from this site. While reading the comments on his page I stumbled across this site (there are some nice pieces in there) and that was when I decided I needed to make one of these myself.I used Sketchup to get some ideas down and then made a quick prototype to ensure that the knives would stay in place with a 45 degree angle and to ensure that the size looked right in the kitchen.

I’ve used Maple and Walnut on this piece, finished with a couple coats of Watco’s Danish Oil, I’ll be applying two coats of poly or varathane in a couple days. There are over 1800 skewers in the main section alone. The bottom section is for steak knives and as a last minute addition I decided to add the slot for a pair of scissors.
I had grossly underestimated the amount of fiddling around that walnut trim was going to cause. If I were to make another one of these I think I would simplify the design, maybe use nicer wood rather than try to design interesting elements into it. I really struggled with all the miters, cutting them accurately was easy enough but getting them to stay in place while clamping was a real challenge (and I really don’t like challenges or surprises after I’ve applied glue to wood).

Pictures show my biggest home project. Floor is Cherry. Cabinets are Birch, finished with a 7 step process including conditioning, 3 gel stain combos-Minwax and Old Masters, then wipe-on-poly top coats. Drawers and lower china cabinet all have full extension slides. Granite was contracted. The stained glass was my first attempt, but worth the effort. Good note – when I decided to design and make the stained glass, I visited a local supplier/window maker and he said I could ask questions, watch him work and get some pointers, for a reasonable time, but asked if I decided to make a window, to please purchase supplies and material from him. A great trade off!

This project comes to us from Kevin. When he’s not begging me to live in my shop, he’s plugging away building projects in Girard, PA. He’s a part-time woodworker and hopes that some day he can make the leap to full time. Like many of us, he is self taught and learned most of what he knows from books, David Marks, and Norm. He’s been woodworking now for about 6 years. Let’s take a look at Kevin’s Table.

In Kevin’s own words:

I was approached by a friend to build a tall kitchen side table to act as a work surface, and to accommodate the occasional use of bar stools. The base was to be painted white with tapered legs. I chose poplar construction for the legs and aprons because it takes paint beautifully. The table top was to be red oak to match the existing cabinetry, but I wanted something special in the design. I went through some books and found a frame and panel design I liked. I changed it a bit to suit my needs and it came out great! The top was finished with a color-matched stain and 4 coats of durable polyurethane. Project payment included the best apple pie I’ve had yet made on the newly completed table.

Personally I have never tried a natural wood and painted project like this. Very cool! I am sure many of you will have the same questions I do about finish and construction specifics. So spill the beans Kevin!