Craftsman Mailbox

I still haven't finished the Railroad Clock. It's still waiting for it's finish and assembly. Maybe soon...

In the meantime I've picked up a new project. As I was staining the front of the house on the weekend, I removed the mailbox and decided not to put it back up. Instead I searched around and found a nice mailbox to build to replace it. Above you can see what the final product should look like.

I'm building this out of Red Oak because that's what I've got laying around. It should be built out of Quartersawn White Oak but I don't have any of that laying around. Maybe next mailbox.

To start with I made up a design plan in Google Sketchup 7. I'll use 3/4 material for the box, and 3/8 for a floating bottom. I'll likely get the hinges at Home Depot and we've got a friend that does laser engraving to cut the letters in the top for me.


I found a 9 1/2" x 8' 4/4 board on the shelf and planed it down to 3/4". Next I cut it in half and ran both halves through the jointer to get one square edge. Lastly, over to the tablesaw to square up the opposite side at about 9". A bit of time spent squaring up the lumber results in this :


Now with the tablesaw and mitre saw I cut out the pieces for the top, sides, bottom and back. I'll add the angled cuts to the top and sides later and plane down the bottom to 3/8" after I cut the mortises. Here's what I ended up with after 45 minutes. I found a piece of scrap to add to the back to get it to the 9 1/2" required.


Next up will be the front.

Railroad Clock Kit

I ordered the plan and parts for a Railroad Clock Kit from Lee Valley in December 2007.

The plans and parts sat on my shelf for the next year while I waited for the building mood to strike. When I stocked up on lumber in August 2008, I picked up a few pieces of walnut that I had in mind for this clock.

Finally in November 2008 while I was taking time off for running I had time to do a bit of woodworking. The only change I made to the plans were to remove the bead detail on the door and to use solid wood instead of plywood for the back and behind the clock face. My local suppliers do not have any walnut plywood and since I was able to get the walnut at a very good price I had no problem resawing and using it instead of plywood.

I probably have 4-5 hours into the clock and it is almost complete. The next steps are to do a final hand sanding, then apply the finish and mount the hardware. I'll also have to bring the door down to the local Home Hardware to get them to cut the glass for me.

Probably 20 minutes sanding and 20 minutes x 3 or 4 for the finishing. I should really just finish this thing off and get it on the wall!

Completed Coat Rack

I finished up this coat rack a long time ago, but never did post a photo of it here. We have put it to great use over the past year, it is normally overflowing with coats and 'stuff'.

Two coats of Minwax Provincial, then two more coats of Minwax satin wipe-on poly.

Over the next few days I'll post pictures of my current pile of unfinished projects. I really need to find some time to 'finish' these things!

Small Project

I'll have to finish up with another couple of workshop updates, but for now I'll just say the workshop is up and running.

Yesterday I took the day off work to relax at home and do a little bit of woodworking. In my last Lee Valley order, I picked up a set of five coat hooks on clearance. I paid $15 for 5 hooks like these bungalow hooks, the ones I got were a satin nickel finish.

A quick google search found this example of a mission coat rack :

I spend a bit of time in Sketchup and came up with a plan for my five hooks :

Then yesterday I put it together :

From my pile of Red Oak I found a really nice Quartersawn piece for the top shelf and a nicely curved grained piece for the back that has some curl on one end.

I'll finish it up with some Minwax Provincial Stain and wipe-on poly this weekend.

Hardwood Urn

My grandfather passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago. The funeral services took place a few days later and in between I went out to the workshop and put together this box to hold his ashes.

The sides are red oak, the front and back are walnut. The top is a 5/8" piece of walnut capped a walnut 'cross' and cherry. I'm not sure if the top will stay together as the vertical walnut piece is cross grain with everything else.

A few simple brass hinges secure the top with no catch to hold it closed. I considered a magnet to hold it closed but decided to keep it simple.

A friend of ours does engraving and I had him laser engrave a brass plate that sits on a lip inside the box, held in place with some oak strips.

The corners are all at 45 degrees with biscuits to increase the available glue surface. A few coats of wipe-on poly to finish it off.