Yearly Archives: 2015

All season Adirondack chair made from cypress — What could be better on a hot summer day than a cold drink, a good book, and a quiet, shady spot to read? How about a comfortable Adirondack chair? Exactly. After mulling it over for a number of years, I finally got around to building some Adirondack chairs this past Fall. Yes, a bit late […]

Adirondack Chairs

This entry was posted in Projects on December 22, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Dryer Booster Fan

This entry was posted in Projects on November 27, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Entertainment center housing a 1980's era TV and stereo system — Most of the furniture from my early woodworking ventures had a red oak theme to it and this entertainment center was no exception. It was made in the late 1980’s and is fairly representative of entertainment centers of that time: an opening to house a nice sized TV (32″ was large back then), a series […]

Oak Entertainment Center

This entry was posted in Projects on October 21, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Oversized oak bookshelf — When I made this bookcase some years back, I built it to fit a specific area of an office wall. However, if I were to do it again, I would have made two narrower bookcases rather than one wide unit. At the time, my thinking was that a single wide unit would be the most […]

Over-sized Oak Bookcase

This entry was posted in Projects on October 16, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

While building an Adirondack chair, I needed to create a curved support piece that would attach to the rear side of the back slats. I made the chair from a set of plans that provided templates for all of the other pieces but this particular curved piece was a refinement that I decided to add […]

Chair Curve Layout Tip

This entry was posted in Jigs Techniques on September 27, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Chip the beagle lazing the day away in his well-worn doghouse — From the back of the rack… I made this dog house for our family beagle Chip (aka, Chipper) way back in the 70’s. It was one of my earliest woodworking projects. At the time this photo was taken, the dog house had seen several years of service – it was starting to fray a bit at the […]

Chip’s Dog House

This entry was posted in Projects on September 10, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Oak Walnut Floor Lamp

This entry was posted in Joinery Projects on August 31, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Coat Rack

This entry was posted in Projects on August 20, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Jig consists of a curved template and adjustable end clamps — After embarking on a mission to create a box load of mini-mallets, I realized a handle forming jig was called for to make each handle the same shape and to keep me from going crazy (no way was I cutting every single handle on the band saw). I came up with the simple router jig […]

Mini Mallet Handle Jig

This entry was posted in Jigs on August 12, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

A mini-mallet makes a great tree ornament! — Having made several full-size mallets for general purpose shop use, I decided to make some mini-mallets. My initial thinking was that they could be used as tree ornaments, and that’s exactly what I did with a couple mallets in our home. I also discovered they work well as crab mallets, office desk knick-knacks, gavels for calling […]

Mini Mallets

This entry was posted in Projects on August 11, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Burl on cherry tree with 1-gallon can for perspective — While out looking for wild blueberries, I came across a wooded grove containing a number of trees with unusual growths on them. I’ve seen such growths before but never this many in such a tight cluster. I felt like I was walking into an alien forest… As best I can tell, these growths are burls rather than […]

The Gall of Those Burls

This entry was posted in Wood on August 4, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

My carved owl with a bald eagle friend — After completing my first carved owl masterpiece, I decided to give it another shot. This time I opted for another owl but larger and more intricate than the first. Here’s what I ended up with: The basic design for the owl came from an image I found online. I converted the image to a black and white […]

Carved Owl Version 2

This entry was posted in Projects on July 23, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

When confronted with dilapidated shed doors, one can opt to either repair or replace. In the case of the doors shown below, I opted for replacement. These doors were probably 20 to 30 years old and in dire need of TLC. They were made from T1-11 plywood and painted a garish, ugly primer red that contrasted […]

New Shed Doors

This entry was posted in Projects Restoration on July 17, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Could American chestnut be the wood of choice for future generations of woodworkers? Well, I’m not quite ready to make that prediction but there is reason for optimism. As some of you may know, chestnut was one of the dominant tree species in the eastern forests of North America a hundred years ago. It’s estimated that in the early […]

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