Here's a followup to a couple of interesting requests!

A very sweet young woman wrote to me the other day, asking if I could save some plane shavings. 

You know - the kind of thing shavings that come from hand planing wood.

 So Denny and I grabbed a couple of planes and some a few pine boards, and went to work. She picked up a box full of shavings that afternoon, and lo and behold! She 

sent this picture of her handiwork a few weeks later. I love the creativity that people possess!

 Another wildly creative (and ambitious!) fellow wandered in, asking if I would straighten out some boards that he'd recycled from various shipping pallets. Honestly, when he brought the boards in (and there were a TON of them!) - I thought he'd gone off the deep end! 

But - a job is a job, right? 

We ripped them into parallel strips, trimmed the ends,  and gave them a thorough sanding. A few weeks later, he sent us this shot - a wall in his den, paneled with the reclaimed lumber. He still needs to fill in a few gaps he has, but what a terrific job he did!

Seeing this almost makes me want to rip apart some pallets and get started....

Well, almost. I'm not that motivated!

The Summer of Chair Making

 Chair making seems to be the benchmark by which all woodworkers are judged: if you can build sturdy, comfortable (and attractive!) chairs, you can call yourself a woodworker in its truest sense. 

Seems like I've passed that test, as I've been on a chair making tear lately. Here are some examples of the latest work coming out of my shop - a set of six walnut chairs that I call - cowboy inspired. 

The clients requested rustic elegance - live edges and knots to be included, with pegged joinery and rusty upholstery tacks. (Notice the diamond shaped pegs I used - yes, every joint was reinforced with 1/4" white oak pegs.

 I built four side chairs, and these two arm chairs. They chose a gorgeous leather from Tandy (I didn't even know they still existed!) and the upholsterer did an amazing job putting it all together. 

Meet one of my favorite buddies....

Did you ever meet someone and think to yourself - he is such a nice guy, I just wish him all the luck in the world? Like - you're just rooting for someone's success?

That's how I feel about my buddy Braxton. 

He started off as a student a few years ago, but as I've gotten to know him, he's just blossomed into a full-blown friend as well. Stay at home dad, bicycler-extraordinaire, and kick-ass woodworker. Maybe even better - a hysterical yet informative videographer. 



Add them all together and I'm really proud to call him a pal.

His company is Timber Manufacturing, here's a link. 

He builds some amazing pieces, like that slab bench above, and this bench below. 

Check out this cash register counter for a U-Bottle-It store in Henderson. Braxton was recently featured in an online profile by Lane Brothers Woodshop, and it's a pretty interesting scoop on his life. Here's a link.

(Thanks for the plug in the article, B!)

Check out this wall unit and 13' long steel-framed white oak bar top that he built for Khoury's Fine Wine and Spirits. 

Our woodworking community here never fails to amaze me, and over the years, we've forged some really great friendships here. About a year ago, Braxton met Zac Higgins at one of our Sin City Woodworker meetings - and a solid friendship was cemented. The two of them both have very informative YouTube channels, and an awesome following. In fact, they recently  collaborated on two videos - you need to check these out! 

Here's Braxton's side of the story - 

and flipping it over - here's Zac's take. 

Their YouTube channels dedicated to both quality woodworking, but they also add a fun element embedded in their work. C'mon, who else uses elbow macaroni or Captain Crunch in their castings, to produce cool stuff on the lathe?  

I hope you'll subscribe to both of their channels, and maybe even drop them a line if you have some cool stuff to share. Seriously, you couldn't meet two more awesome guys sharing their passions. 

My first garden

If you get sick of reading about my garden, you may want to quit reading this post! 

The funny thing is - I didn't realize I was a gardener for a long time, but then my mom reminded me of this school project when I was nine years old. 

It was Catholic school, in Inglewood - we had to start a plant from a seed. My teacher ended up calling my mom, begging her to take the plant that I had started home. It had gotten too big. 

I guess that was the start of my gardening career. 

This zucchini was bigger than me!

Well that was then, and this is now.

The gardening club that I started this past spring was such a success, I can't wait to do it next year. In fact, a few people have asked me to add their name to the list. For just a few dollars to buy some packs of seeds, we all started plants. And then traded with each other. It was amazing to see all the plants that showed up from everyone's labors, we had hundreds and hundreds of them. 

Alas, my 2015 garden has reached the end of its life. Once the squash bugs and horn worms show up, it's all over. I pulled everything out last weekend. 

So the squash bed went from this 

to this.

 When these bitches show up, you're done. 

Oh, don't worry, the fall vegetables are going in soon. 

Here's a slideshow recap of the 2015 garden... Enjoy!