Correction

My mother informed me she had a photo of the desk from before we began refinishing it.

Work.

Spent the last couple weeks refinishing this desk.



My mom stripped the desk then left it for me to stain, shellac, and put back together. In the mean time she painted this room and bought those curtains that i would later hang.







Inspired by the Costa Rican cart we were given a number of years ago, and by the skin colour variance in my family, i stained the wood 3 different colours. I also hand-sanded all the original screws to remove all the nicks and the old yellow stain (unfortunately we do not have a photo of the desk before it was refinished).



All that's missing is a little girl drawing little pictures at this little desk.

My Other Job

What i was working on before i left:


It's a two-sided picture frame, took me a few months (ideas come quick, real work is tough) but finished it before i left. The outside is a simple red oak with an inside groove wide enough to hold a piece of glass, white matte board, newspaper, black matte board, and the cut wood (also red oak veneer). The Japanese girls i met while traveling in Kenya said the characters were indeed very legible.


What i'm working on now:


Yes that's me, and from the length of the hair, the Cass beer in my hand and the dry, rocky plains surounding me, you can tell i'm in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Figured it was time i went through some of those old travel photos, not to mention i have a Plan for some of them.

(so the French guy we were travelling with says to me, "Why do you Americans feel the need to wear shirts and caps proclaiming where you're from?" I look at his Quechua brand jacket and bag and respond, "Why do you feel the need to advertise a native language from my home country?")

Would of liked to...

Lest you think i have no life outside of work, i finished this piece yesterday:



Here are some other wood projects i finished recently. Note the identical composition in all the photos - a sure sign i haven't been getting enough sleep.

For those of you who haven't been following along... i started practicing wood working shortly after i bought a house (approximately 6 months ago) - my mother bought me a few power tools to help with house repairs and i was off. I'd never worked with wood before, but i read as much as i could find on the internet and that makes anyone an expert.

Since then i've tried to make the time to practice, but my creativity in this realm far exceeds my skill - i've many sketches of what i'd like to do, but not enough time to practice my way through them all. Instead i am only able to complete smallish projects like the above.

I'll try to get some better shots of these projects.

Joints

Finished my first joint a few minutes ago - first mortise and tenon joint, that is. It isn't pretty, but it is fairly square, and i made it using only hand tools (with a brief use of a power drill). It was just a test joint - not for an actual product - my first test to learn what can't be read. Took an hour to make this silly little thing - the ones i'll be making for my bench will be 3 times the size. From what i've read, these joints (and all others) can be made using power tools, but i have neither the space for the tools nor the money to buy everything, nor the time to learn how to use all those. Instead, i'll try my hand at making all my bench joints by hand. Should be fun! (in an Amish sorta way)