Got inspired by watching the progress of others on the Festool Owners Group Forums and by watching Shannon’s podcast build. I have been woodworking on and off most of my life, but mostly just small stuff. Always wanted to build a real woodworking bench, and when I saw the Benchcrafted plan, well, the rest just fell into place. I had a hard time finding enough Hard Maple for the bench (very limited supply in Santa Fe at the time), but eventually it all came together. It ended up taking over two months, working nights and weekends. It made me feel good to know that something I made with my own two hands will actually out last me and maybe even my two sons. Maybe my grandson might even get it…who knows?

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From: Earl Wojciechowski

Location: Laurel, MD

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Finish Used: I used a spray finish (Earlex 5000) to spray General Finish. I started with two coats of Seal-A-Cell and finished with four coats of Arm-R-Seal. I sanded between each coat, starting with 200 grit and finishing with 600 before the final coat.

Wood Species: Frames are African Rosewood, Panels are Soft Maple

Project Description:
I have been wanting to make a blanket chest for our bedroom for many years. I finally felt that my skills were up to the task. The design is based largely on an article from Fine Woodworking (#129) with customizations. I added a curve on the bottom rails to break up the hard horiztonal lines. I also added a center piece on the front/back panels to break up the large piece of maple and prevent the maple from dominating the entire piece. I also added some aromatic cedar to the inside of the chest.

For the hinges, I used four (4) brass hinges and then added three (3) CPSC approved hinges to prevent the lid from slamming down.

The joinery is mortise and tenon. The panels float in between the stiles and rails. I added a cove bead to the ends of the panels to create a bit of a shadow line and to soften the piece a bit.

The project took almost 5 months elasped time and probably around 240 hours of actual work. I made a few mistakes, but also learned how to correct them by watching the videos from Marc.

It was a great project. I had fun doing it and have greatly increased my confidence in my woodworking skills. I have had several family members ask me to make one for them.

From: Stephen Scharbrough

Website: IndyTuner.com

Location: Fishers, IN

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: The maple slab was sanded down to bare wood, a dark walnut stain was added. Still cant decide how to seal or finish. I am an amateur, wanting to learn and willing to take any suggestion or guidance from pros.

Wood Species: Maple

Project Description:
The slab was an old Florsheim display table. It was Maple, rectangular, with round edges. The legs were scrapped. I sculpted the edges with a belt sander to have an asymmetrical wave to them. The cast iron wheels and other parts were salvaged from an old rotting hay cart under a semi trailer in a salvage yard outside of Indianapolis. They were cleaned up and painted glossy black. There is also a salvaged barn pulley from a barn in Southern Indiana hanging from a notch feature I added. It was stained a dark walnut. I am taking suggestions on whether to coat with a poly, a lacquer, or tung oil. I like the matte look, but want to protect it.

Name: Ger Tysk
Location: Boston, MA

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: The drummer who I made this for didn’t want any staining but wanted to keep the natural look of the maple to contrast with the dark wood of the drum body, so I simply finished it with a few coats of clear satin polyurethane wiped on with a clean cloth.

Wood Species: Maple

Project Description:
This is a low stand for a small taiko drum (Japanese drum) made for one of my friends who is just starting out opening her own studio. She had a drum that needed a custom stand, but this type of drum is unusual, so she contacted me to see if I could make one for her. This is my first stand and my first woodworking project in which I extensively used a router .

I made a mock-up out of pine for her to test out, and after we discussed the pros and cons, I cut the stand out of maple. It is 2′ tall and supports the drum via leather straps (hand-sewed) that connect through the rings on the sides of the drum. The curved pieces were cut out with a jigsaw and sanded using a mouse sander. Then I ran all of the pieces through the router using a round-over bit to round each side.

The legs fit into a rabbet on each side of the bottom supports and are reinforced with one screw each. The stand folds closed for storage. I also cut and fitted the brass pieces individually.

Although I made some small mistakes with this stand, I’m proud of it since it’s my first major project and I have to thank The Wood Whisperer for all your router tips and making me more confident to use my router and router table during the construction of this stand.

I’ve been watching/following your show for some time and enjoy all the information that you provide. I’m also a fan of David Marks and sure enjoy the interviews you’ve conducted with him. Here are a few pics of a recent project that I completed for my wife for a present. The wood has a bit of a story. It came from a Big Leaf Maple tree that was taken down due to the owner’s perceived risk that it might someday fall on the house, as if. At any rate, I was offered the trunk section that measured about 6.5′ in diameter by 13′ long. A massive chunk of wood to say the least. I had to fend off the fire wood mongers who were attempting to carve it up like some kind of fresh kill on a mountain hunting expedition. So after working the logistics of moving it, I had it slabbed and then dried. I know have had most of it in my wood shed waiting for the right projects to come along. I recently retired from the US Navy and live on Whidbey Island WA. I have been woodworking in my spare time for about 5 years.

Outtro music provided by El Saxofonista! Thanks Horacio.

Continuing our viewer project collection series, we have some beautiful boxes for you to check out today. Here’s are a few projects submitted by Anthony:

I would love it if you could show a few of my recently made boxes. I am quite proud of them and I would like to see what some real woodworkers think about them. Either way negative or positive responses are always appreciated. The first box is Oak with dovetails. I used Dark Walnut Danish Oil and I left it without a top coat. The second box is Oak as well with miters and splines. I used Medium Walnut Danish Oil and top coated it wish paste wax. The third box is Maple with a 9/16 box joint. This one also has the Medium Walnut and a wipe on poly.

And here are some unique inlayed boxes submitted by Larry. I love the way the handle was incorporated into the design. Check them out:

I just wanted to show you the end result of the gift boxes I had made. I had asked you a few questions regarding their constructing/finishing, to which I thank you for your insight. I basically built them from a guide in Woodsmith magazine. I used my own ideas on materials though. I made the inlay first. I used black walnut and maple glued up to form a “blank” that I cut the inlay strips from. The cool part is, I got the black walnut from a pallet about 2 years ago. I had never seen black walnut used on a pallet before and have not seen it since either. The maple came from some old warped flooring that was being discarded from the school system I work for. The basic box is made from cherry as that has always been a favorite of mine. The top and bottom is plywood. I’m pretty sure it was a birch veneered plywood but I’ve had it laying around so long I don’t remember. I used the plywood because I wanted to be able to glue the tops and bottoms securely as I flocked the inside. By the way I also followed your advice by making up a “mock” box to practice flocking. It was one of the easiest things I ever did. All you have to do is follow the instructions they give you and the results are excellent. After the inlay was done I used the remaining inlay stock to make the handles.
Thanks again for your website and taking the time to do what you do. It is greatly appreciated!!!

I have been constructing Stephanie’s gift, a hope chest. It is a frame and panel construction with 6/4″ purple heart as rails and stiles and a laminated raised panel with purple heart and maple checker board, line the inside with some aromatic and a curly maple lid biscuited together with purple heart bread board ends. Now where I need your experience and expertise. What the heck should I finish this thing with? I regret using the purple heart now because of the color change. I got it because Stef loves purple, so much that the name of our reception venue is the Plum Bush Inn. But i am really concerned about this thing turning brown in a couple of years. I have everything cut and soaking up the air to get some good color. I was thinking about popping the grain a bit on the figured top I intend on building, but it probably will be a contrast between the lid and panels, right? If I use the same mix you used on the “pop goes the Maple” video, would that color dye affect the purple heart on the checker board panels? I appreciate some criticism and advise

My response:

Hey Chris, first off, congrats. Marriage can be a wonderful thing (for some people), lol. I feel bad for the ones who don’t communicate and aren’t happy. Fortunately my wife is my best friend so things work out rather nicely. And if you have the right lady in your life, marriage is the ticket to MORE tools, not less. :)

If purple is her favorite color, then you have certainly nailed it with this one buddy! You can definitely use the grain popping mix I did on the show, and the dye shouldn’t affect the purple heart much at all. Now when in doubt, I default to the wiping varnish finish. Its simple, its durable, and its beautiful. And because its oil based, you’ll have a good amount of grain pop and iridescence automatically. You may not need to do the dye mixture at all. Arm-R-Seal would be the varnish of choice.

Now I don’t normally push product on people, but this is the exact finish I cover in my Simple Varnish Finish DVD. So if you are unsure about it in any way, I would suggest picking it up. But a nice semi-gloss will make that thing look gorgeous. And the purple heart will change a bit over time, but if this piece will live in your bedroom (I assume it will), it probably won’t have a huge amount of direct sunlight. So you can expect it to be “purply” for a good long time.

Now before I go, you did mention criticism. This is something I don’t usually give until requested. Nothing worse than unsolicited criticism! But please keep in mind this is just my opinion. I will start by saying there is indeed such a thing as “too much of a good thing”. The piece you’ve created is amazing in both design and proportion. Very well executed. What I am concerned about is that it is a little too “busy”. Those checker boards are fantastic. But with a purpleheart frame and with so many panels, it can be difficult on the eyes. When selecting wood grains and colors, I like to try to balance things out. If I have a simple frame of maple, I like the idea of a busier panel. By busy, I mean something with good color or lots of figure, or possibly something like what you’ve done here with the checkerboard. And if I have a busy or colorful frame, I would lean toward simplicity in the panels using only one color wood with a little to no figure. Now you’ve already gone through all the work of creating those amazing checkerboard panels, so please feel free to throw this advice right out the window. But its something to keep in mind in the future.

My fear, and this is from personal experience of making these mistakes, is that in 5 years when the novelty of purpleheart wood wears off, this piece will start to look a little busy and might not suit your tastes as you get older. But being that this is a sentimental piece, you will always feel obligated to keep it out and in use. Don’t ask me how I know about this!

So if you are looking to lighten the piece visually, you could possibly make a few solid maple panels, and only use the checkerboards as accents. Consider putting the checkerboards only on the sides, with the solid maple in the front three. Adding a few solid maple panels will not only lighten it visually, it will tie in the top as well. And it will make those checker board panels something to really focus on, as opposed to something that you can’t avoid looking at. And if you don’t want those checkerboard panels to go to waste, cut off the edges and give them away as thank you gifts after the wedding.

A few months passed and Chris got back in touch with the finished hope chest.

Well Dude, I am happy to say that I finished the hope chest in my last days as a single and free man! I am now married and nothing changed but the number on my tax forms. You gave me such good advice towards design and finishing techniques, it would be selfish of me not to share the finish product. There are quite the number of “could of” and “should of’s” and some mistakes that I didn’t try to hide.

I was able to turn a couple of mistakes (accidentally cut off haunches, blown out hinge mortises, poor grain popping etc.etc.etc) into a “sappy” line to Stef, that connected human beings, mistakes, marriage and not having anything to hide (honesty). Pretty slick huh??? But it worked good! REALLY good! In fact, it made her like it even more!

It is pretty crazy to think, myself being so obsessed with perfection and complexity can be missing the whole essence of whats really going on cause i am so caught up with my own self manifested standards. One detail of the chest which was drawn out of complete mistake was the checker board lid. It was supposed to be just laminated maple, there were some whips in the maple when I took it out of clamps. My planer is only 13″ and not having the patience to flat the board by hand…I couldn’t wait to run it through the router table with the raised panel.. I didn’t think to take the back cutter off, so when I was running it, it mauled..(correction=I mauled) the whole piece up! My 3.25 HP Bosch ate that big box store Maple for breakfast!!

So you know those extra checkerboard panels that you suggested cutting the ends off and giving them away as presents? I cut the ends off and kinda inlayed it into the lid to get back what I lost to my hungry router. I used biscuits with no glue just to keep me aligned. So that’s it bro, Thanks again for your suggestions and replies.

Some might find this piece compelling and interesting, while others might find it difficult to look at. I believe there is a certain point in woodworking where we cross the line from “rules of good design” to simply “opinion and taste”. What do you think about that concept? Not Chris’s hope chest, so much as using wood color in general. People paint their walls all kinds of wacky colors, but if they like it, who cares? Is it the same for woodworking or should we abide by some general rules of thumb when it comes to color?

This project was submitted by Mathew and comes in two parts, first a question and then the finished project. For a first project, it is awesome. I don’t think I even attempted raised panels until my tenth project or so!

Mathew first asks:

This is my first ever project and your video on raised panels and many of the others have helped me a ton. I have one problem though. I have this chest made of maple and cherry, and I want a warm finish but donâ??t want to dye or stain the wood. Iâ??ve been told to use shellac diluted, just deft finish and Danish oil. Any help would be so awesome. I would love to share the finished project that you have helped me make with the time you spend on the videos. Thank you very much.

And here’s my response: There are a number of things you can do with the finish. All depends on what you are comfortable applying and what kind of look you are going for. All the finishes that were recommended to you will work just fine.

Personally, I have two suggestions for you. And both will make use of shellac as a sealer coat. Both maple and cherry exhibit blotching when hit with oil-based stains and finishes. So the shellac sealer coat prevents that to some extent. And if you use an orange or garnet shellac, you could add a good bit of color that will have the effect of a very light stain. If you topcoat with something like Danish oil, you have to be careful not to put too much shellac on the surface. If its sealed off, the Danish oil will have trouble curing. So I recommend a single coat of 1lb cut shellac. Sand it smooth afterward, and then rub in a couple coats of Danish oil for a nice hand-rubbed look. But be sure to practice on scrap because you need to find the balance between the shellac concentration, the danish oil, and the amount of blotching that appears.

Now if you want some more protection, I recommend using a simple varnish. Wiping varnishes like Arm-R-Seal or Minwax Wiping Varnish are both good options. Another advantage of using a varnish with no oil in it is that you don’t have to worry too much about how much the shellac seals the surface. The varnish will dry either way. So you can seal the surface as much as you want, avoiding blotching completely.

You mentioned Deft finish, and I am assuming that is Deft lacquer. This is also an acceptable topcoat if you are comfortable applying lacquer. The project looks great so far and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above finishes. Good luck!

And here is Mathew’s finished project:

I finished the project a couple of weeks ago for my cousin’s wedding gift. It is a chest made of maple and cherry. When it came down to the finish, I used a mix of 50/50 bullseye shellac as a base layer. Once it dried I lightly sanded the entire piece. I then used some Danish oil and rubbed in one coat. I then used one coat of DEFT clear wood finish in a semi-gloss. I sanded with 300 grit paper after and then sprayed another layer of the DEFT. I sanded that with 800 grit paper and then sprayed another layer. I sanded that very lightly and then sprayed one last layer. I then buffed it out and that was it. Took about a week. I donâ??t know if it was the best way to go about it, but it came out nice and smooth. I couldnâ??t complain for my first project. I have always wanted to start doing this on my own so I bought a few tools and this is what came out. I spent several hours on The Wood Whisperer website watching videos and talking with other members in the chat room. I canâ??t begin to tell you how much everybody helped me out. Thank you everyone for all the advice and thank you Marc for the help and inspiration to try something new.

This project was submitted by Aaron. Let’s see what he has to say:

I should preface any description of my block with my credentials. This is the first project I have ever done that involved some form of joinery without screws or nails. I started out with every intention to build the block just as “The Schwarz” had. My first mistake was in the layout. Maybe a carpenter’s pencil was not the best marking instrument (joking). I also did not use a marking knife on the first pass, and I experienced a great deal of tearout. I used the jigsaw blade recommended and a fence, but this was not adequate. I experienced a huge amount of deflection from the blade, which led to unsightly joints. Then I tried to figure a way to salvage the project and dadoes were my solution. A live Guild session a while back helped me finish my router table which I had not used yet. I picked up some curly maple from Bell Forest for the body of the block (utilizing my Guild discount of course). I figured it was a good time to try it out. I did not like the look of the finished piece so I decided to add the base. It was a scrap piece of paduak with a slight chamfer on the edge. I had an extra bag of bamboo skewers so I decried to add some reinforcement to the dadoes. I simply dropped some skewers in a small cup with some old dark mahogany Minwax for a day then pulled them out to dry. So that is where the dark colored dowels came from. I finished the piece by popping the grain as shown in “Pop Goes the Maple” with SealCoat and Dark Maple Transtint. Followed up with four coats of Arm-R-Seal. The block did not end up like I originally planned, but I enjoyed the process. Thanks again for all of the help and late night emails.