DIY Garment Rack

My girlfriend, Naz, has been needing some additional storage for clothes recently, so I made some time over the long weekend to try making her a garment rack.  I’ve seen a bunch of different ones on Pinterest and other sites over the past year, particularly ones which utilize galvanized steel pipe.  After reviewing 2-3 of my favorites and the materials used, I went out to buy what I needed: 1/2″ steel rods, 1/2″ elbows, 1/2″ casters, small wheels and some flat black spray paint.  Luckily I already had a few African Padauk boards that I bought back in 2016, so I was all set for which wood to use.

Following an afternoon of assembling and spraying the steel pipes and sanding the boards, most of the preliminary work was completed – Only the finish and assembly remained.  I used my favorite cocktail of wipe-on poly, boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits that I learned about from the Drunken Woodworker (David Picciuto) to finish the boards.  I didn’t feel the need to go through the typical 3-4 rounds of finish since the wood looked so brilliant after the initial few – The orange-red boards transformed into a gorgeous crimson red, so I figured I’d stop while I was ahead.  From that point, it was fairly simple to assemble and finish – measuring, drilling and sinking some screws.

I’m quite pleased with the final product, and most importantly, so is Naz!  Here’s how it turned out:

Cutting Board #2

As I mentioned in my last post, I made a few cutting boards in a class I took back in May.  I finally got around to finishing this one right before my recent trip, all it took was some rasp work on the edges, finishing work with the orbital sander and cutting board oil/finish.  Sometimes it’s difficult to gauge how a project will look before finish is applied, however, I really love how the woods I chose (purple heart, ambrosia maple & walnut) mesh together now that it’s completed.  Unfortunately I’m not very experienced with routers just yet, so there’s no drip inlay or any features besides its looks.  Maybe next time!

Cutting Board #1

I took a cutting board class back in May at the RCC in which I created 2-3 boards.  It was a fun experience, however, I never did get around to finishing any of them until now.  This is the first and best cutting board of the bunch that I made out of beautiful pieces of domestic walnut and ambrosia maple.  The cool cleaver design was borrowed from a similar one that I saw on Etsy, I just tweaked the dimensions a bit.  Now that it’s done I think I’ll start putting it to good use 🙂

Bandsaw Box #4

Finally!  After a long while since I did the bulk of the work, I was finally able to finish this box for my mother.  This box utilizes the Drunken Woodworker’s “St. Louis” design and was probably the most challenging box that I’ve made thus far.

The primary wood is purple heart from South America with some zebrawood from Africa for the layers in between.  Purple heart is definitely one of my favorite exotic woods because of its vibrant, deep purple color, although it is tougher to work with because of its density.  I did have to make an adjustment using padding because I sanded a bit too much off of the drawer, but luckily the flocking hides that from being noticeable.  Another box done, now onto the next one!

Bandsaw Box #3

Another box!  I ended up working on this one and #2 simultaneously due to all of the latter’s rework.  The oval design is one of the free templates provided by the Carmichael Workshop on their website.  It’s another fairly simple box, however, leaving the drawer slightly exposed on the bottom is a sleek feature that also eliminates making an incision.  I definitely love the shape, and seeing as how this one was given to my father as a birthday present, I’ve already planned on making another one with some different woods.

The primary wood on the front and back is bocote, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite woods to work with.  The natural color and contrast are absolutely amazing and it’s priced similarly to black walnut or mahogany.  I actually received an email update from Woodcraft about a new shipment of highly-figured bocote and within a few hours I had bought 3 boards.  I decided to pair it with zebrawood, but unfortunately the contrast of the two wood types was diminished a bit due to the finishing process (zebrawood turns from a sand color to golden brown).  I ended up crafting a drawer pull from an ebony pen blank in order to compliment the various black streaks.  Aside from a few very minor things, this box really did turn out beautifully 🙂

Bandsaw Box #2

After lots of work and rework, box number two is finally finished!  This is the first box I’ve completed since taking my class in January and I’m very happy with the final results.  The design is the Drunken Woodworker’s ‘Omaha’ template, which is fairly simple but still has a really nice style to it.  I decided to pair zebrawood with walnut which resulted in a really stunning combination.

Since this was my second attempt, I’ve refined little things like widening the opening of the drawer and waiting longer before removing the beeswax coating.  I initially tried to finish the box using Shellac, which is a favorite of nearly every woodworker, but I wasn’t able to get a look that I was satisfied with.  After trying that and sanding it off twice, I decided to revert back to the 4-day boiled linseed oil process that I used to finish my first box.  More to come soon!

 

Bandsaw Box #1

It certainly has its flaws, but all in all I am quite proud of my first bandsaw box.  The primary wood is mahogany with 1/4″ cherry to serve as accent layers.  It took me a while to get around to finishing it, but it’s finally done and the insides have been nicely flocked.

Boba Fett

One of the first multis I made:

Original:

Batman

Quick stencil adapted from a Batman: Arkham Origins promo:

Original:

Robb Stark

The King in the North, or rather, the King Who Lost the North:

Original: