Woodworking

Hi all,

Today I'm going to talk about my woodworking projects.
About two years ago, I started to make two nightstands for our bedroom.
Many years ago I made a poster bed for us and since the top of the mattress
is about 30 inches high, ready made nightstands at that height are not so easy to find.  But even if I could find them, what is the fun in that?
So I started to think about building my own.  Some years back, I built
a nice nightstand for my sister and I thought I would do something like that
for us too.  I built a prototype right away to get it straight in my head.
I wanted the nightstands to have a drawer at the top with a nice
space for storage under the drawer.  The doors would be flush with
the cabinet face and I wanted to do some sort of art work on the door fronts.
The prototype had a abstract winter tree design which was cut using a router with an 1/8 inch bit in set in about 1/8 inch.  Then the routed part was
stained a bit darker.  It turned out nice.  So I started the other two.

But life got busy and I was delayed almost 18 months.  I just started
them this October and I finished the first nightstand
which is made of ash and has a woodburning/ painting of a giant squid
being watched by a scuba diver (me) with a kelp forest off to the right.
It is in the house now.  The second one will have a sea foam/ sand scene
on the doors which is a relief carving/ woodburning.  It is almost
ready to tint with color and then my wife can do the varnish coats.
My wife usually does the finishing while I tackle the construction.
The two nightstands will be on either side of the poster bed I built
years ago. I think its looks kind of cool.

I also started the sleigh bed for my daughter Qait.  It is also out of ash.
I am using a design from a woodworking magazine which I am modifying
for my purposes.  I made the patterns today for the front and back legs which are nicely curved.  It took all day to get the patterns right.
Next I'll cut out the legs.  This is lots of fun for me.

I am also thinking about computer code too of course while
I work on the wood stuff.  I read a lot about some new stuff
I want to do for about 1 1/2 months, practiced and then it was time
to do something else while the code stuff gestated.
That should become active again in late December.

I am also working on Volume 3 of my massive notes on how to build
cognitive models -- a few of my students read the notes but that is it.
It is kind of like a wood working project.  I do it for me and no one
else really knows about it!

As soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off my cell phone into
my laptop, I'll add pictures of the wood working I am doing.