Various Projects Vol. 1

These are a few of my projects built within the last two years. The pics from left to right top to bottom are:

#1 – 1 of 2 Beer bottle cap displays boxes.
Inspired by FaTToaD (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/35669) I decided to make a display for bottle caps since I don’t drink much wine…beer on the other hand…well… I built two of these, one for myself and one for a buddy who was recently commisioned as a Naval LDO.

#2 – Flat Screen TV Frame
I could not find/make a TV stand that my wife and I liked so I made this after looking around online for ideas. My wife wanted me to stain it with Ebony…after the first coat she said stain it again…after the second coat she said stain it again and after the third coat she said…stain it again and I said we should have painted it black if she wanted it that dark. It turned out very good and we’re both happy.

#3 – “Renewed” Grandpa’s Camp Table
My grandpa built this table about 50-60 years ago and originally it was stained. Years later it was used as a camp table and had been painted white several times. I remembering using it when I was in the Boy Scouts when he was the Assistant Scout Master. After he passed away, it was languishing in the basement so I brought it home with me to repair it. After removing the foldout sides I completely dissasembled it and had it down to bare wood. The top was severely warped so I built a subframe and jointed and planed the top pieces. Between those. I inserted two pieces of hardboard (didn’t have any real hardwood at the time) and then glued and clamped up the top. For finishing I filled the old nail/screws holes and used a natural stain and then topcoated it with polyurethane.

#4 – Twin Pirate Chests
For my two younger boys (9 & 12) I made these matching Pirate Chests and hid them in the woods behind our house. They had to find them using a well crafted map and official pirate letter that they “found”.

#5 & #6 – Twin Size Bunk Bed with underbed storage
My neightbor asked me to build her son a twin bed with some underbed storage. I decided to use a design inspired by Ana White with a few twists of my own. Each of the shelf units and the top remain separated for ease of moving and future use. Basically the pieces are arranged in the shape of a U and the top is placed on top. The top is plywood boarded by trim the keeps it and the mattress in place. The top can be slid off to reveal the unused recess underneath (inside the U) and provide an area to hide stuff. This bed is definitely unconventional and was my first bed that I have completed. The neighbor and her son were pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for looking as well as any and all comments!

-- Bennie Woods, US Navy, GUAM