The year in review... and a big thanks to everyone!

First of all - thanks for reading this blog. I just checked the yearly stats and this blog had over 100,000 hits this year - thanks to you!

This has been a really busy year, one I approached with one thing in mind - teaching. I put my head down (not like the photo below!) and made teaching classes my main ambition this past year. 

I made goals, sought a mentor for some key decisions, expanded the shop, took on a co-worker, and welcomed anyone who was willing to learn. And you know what– it worked!  The school had a great year, with many thanks to students, friends, family, business associates, suppliers, and other various supporters. We got some good press during the year, in local and international magazines, newspapers and even some TV attention.

This coming year will have a slightly different focus for me: I've gotten away from building as much furniture as I used to, so this year - I hope to get back into the studio, creating again. I have about a dozen commissions lined up right now, and am feeling very excited about working on them. 

Last year at this time - a friend of mine on Facebook suggested for people to start a daily photo gratitude journal, in which you commemorate every day of the year with a photo that depicts something special it took place on that day.  (Thank God for iPhones!)  My 2014 gratitude photo journal has 365 photos and captured my year perfectly. Here are the best of them, separated by different categories. 

I want to thank everyone who made 2014 such a terrific year - I can't wait to see what we accomplish next year!

Garden Photos

 It's amazing to see what grows in my yard!

 This might be the perfect tomato photo - can't you almost taste it? 

Biking

 Whenever I bike, I always visit my friend, Mr. Owl. I know just where he lives, and we eyeball each other, and then move on with our day. Once in a while - he let's me shoot a photo of him. He blends in so well, it's easy to miss him - check out the lower left corner for his departure.  

 I got back home just as this storm was approaching. 

 Biking up in St. George.

 Someone buried their pup on the trail.  :(

 This might be my favorite photo of the year - a storm in the distance. 

 Sunset on the trails.

Stella and Friends

 In need of a bath and some serious grooming. 

 Before and after!

 We had a visitor for a few weeks, Stella's sister - Ruthie. 

 This was my attempt at a haircut, when the groomer went MIA.

Friends and Family

 Lest you think it's all about work - I spent some quality time with family and  good friends  - like these two old friends from high school.

 Elvis and Lupe!

 Birthdays and weddings! 

Students Work

It's almost impossible to tell you how proud I am of the work that was produced in my shop. 

Like the rocking chair that John made for his daughter.

And Donna's dining room table. 

And Marty's dice table.

And John's innovative Adirondac chair base.

And John M's surfboard/cutting board.

And Brandie's lamps.

Let's not forget Ann's chairs, with spindles she turned. 

Or Lupe's awesome sewing table, with matched grain and dovetailed drawers. 

Meredith works in a different medium - here's her "Baked Pug-tato, complete with tin foil and melting butter. 

I love John's Pizza Peel Guitar with inlaid brass and turquoise around the sound hole. 

Kate's brass and copper nameplate that she mounted on the rocking chair she made for her nephew - Keaton. Her metal work is simply gorgeous!

Beth's work amazes me. She's only been working with wood for 1.5 years.

And - finally - I was the very lucky recipient of this gorgeous Ash bench - another one of Beth's pieces. It's not often that I put someone else's furniture in my home. In fact - I've built all of the pieces in my home, except for a pair of Thomas Moser stools that I bought 30 years ago. Beth's bench is the first I've ever truly wanted in my home - I couldn't be more proud of what she's doing.   Mark my words - expect big things from her in the coming years. 

Misc. Woodshop Shots

These are some of my favorite shots taken over the year - 

Denny modeling the new Wood It Is! tee-shirts. 

Group assembly! 

Two of my favorite repair sculpture jobs! 

More great projects, like this bookstand.

We made tons of sawdust this year!

A few of my woodshop mishaps...

This splinter was so big, I needed pliers to pull it out!

Here is the worst accident of the entire year - I can live with that! (Not my hand, BTW!)

We had woodworking parties, 

and lots of cool graphic shots around the shop. 

Can you spot the repair below? I drilled a hole in the wrong place....

The new expansion - the hand tool room. 

A lucky day for me - I lost my diamond earring in the shop, and found it in the sawdust, a week later!

A sign from beyond - double rainbows on the day my aunt Dena passed away.

(RIP -  7/7/07)

So - thanks to all that contributed and created - we had a hell of a year!

Shut your mouth and start $%&ing building stuff!

Framework

My friend Sandi sent me a note, telling me about this new reality show that's starting on SPIKE TV at the beginning of January. 

Thirteen furniture makers tested on design principles - let's see how this goes! The winner gets an opportunity to launch their furniture nationally and $100,000. 

I'm SO watching this... premiers January 6th!

Feel like cooking?

Holy crap! 

I can only wish to be this creative someday!

Pick up a penknife and make ten cuts...

Here's a cool little video that challenges you to pick up a penknife and make ten cuts...

 I've been to the Warther Museum in Dover Ohio, a couple of times!  If you're a woodworker and you're in the area - you won't regret it. I'd forgotten all about these pliers. 

I'd like to challenge all my buddies to make one of these. Grab your knife and a box of band-aids! 

Knowing when to pick your battles...

You know that line about the cobbler's children having no shoes? Or the tailor without clothes? I've been without a proper dresser in my bedroom for a few years. Long story, I won't bore you. But I'm getting tired of being without one.  

It's not like I've been sitting around, doing nothing. I started building one about a year ago and all I have to show for it is the carcase. 

And the longer it sits around the shop, the more likely it is to have stuff piled on top of it. Or to get damaged. So I made up my mind that I would try to get it finished this year. I have ten days left to accomplish that, and a chest cold that is probably going to preclude my efforts. 

There isn't a lot to do - finish up the drawers and doors and oil it. In a perfect world, I would have all the time I need to carve something cool on the back piece - hopefully to match the headboard I made a few years back. 

But I can do without the carving for now - I just want the dresser, dammit! My socks need a home!

That's when I remembered Cimarron Drawer, a local company that makes fantastic drawers. Don't call me a cheater or corner cutter - I just have to pick and choose my battles, and frankly - I don't have anything to prove by making my own drawers. If the quality is there, I can live with someone else's drawers. 

I met Lana and Scott about eight years ago at the AWFS show - they had a booth with some samples on display. I was impressed. That's all they do - drawers. You need something different, like a scooped face, or predrilled fronts, or even a notch for undercount slides - no problem. 

So I filled out their form for a quote - and as my friend Nikki says - BAM! I had a quote and a delivery date.

Now here's the thing - I mentioned quality - and their drawers are fantastic! Dovetailed, lacquered and ready to hang. Sign me up. They actually bought their own building this year, and recently moved - good for them!  I took the opportunity to visit their new production center and get a tour. 

The material comes in the back door and gets loaded on pallet racking, until it's processed. 

It's automated and optimized, by the time they're done with it, all that's left is little strips. 

It moves through a variety of machinery - planing, thickness sanding if necessary, cutting to length - 

until it ends up at the dovetailer. 

Sheer perfection!

If they're using melamine panel stock for drawers, the edge-bander comes into play, 

and the corners joints are doweled. 

All of the bottom panel material is then cut to size 

on their giant panel saw. They really have this down to a science. 

I'm not sure how many drawers can be glued up at once on their glue rack, but it's a lot. 

These drawers were notched for undermount slides, which will save someone a hell of a lot of time! 

Next up – the spray booth, for some lacquer. Their spray booth is bigger than my living room! 

And I'm pretty sure I could slide down their exhaust duct. Once the boxes leave the spray booth, they're ready to be picked up.

  Here is Scott bundling my order up - he makes it look effortless, but they put their heart and soul into each drawer order.

And all that's left is a stack of finished drawers  and a pile of sawdust... lots of sawdust. 

Their giant dust collector sucks out the waste right into their trash bin - once again - automating their process from board to finished drawer to dust. It's remarkably efficient. 

So that next time you are 80% of the way through a project that you can't seem to get the motivation to complete  - I highly recommend calling Lana to give you a quote. 

Honestly, they're one of the best kept woodworking secrets in Las Vegas!

Crazy Cat Furniture and an Etsy recommendation!

There are two kinds of people in the world - dog people and cat people. 

I won't make any social commentary about either, but I will say that I never had cats until I was in college. And the very first one I had was funny and friendly and got me hooked on them for many years. 

Of course - when I saw this article on "Incredible Cat-Friendly Furniture - I had to check it out.  Amazing pieces here!

I could totally see building a platform bed for your cat if it meant that you got your pillow to yourself each night. 

This grass table is pretty great, but you know you'd find little lies of grass vomit around the house, right? Probably on your pillow.

Love this one!

What a clever idea for a cat hammock!

Another hammock - but looking at this reminds me of my cat who would climb under the upholstered pieces and rip out the fabric from below. You know that's what's going to happen here. 

An Indiana Jones bed - how awesome!

Anything that keeps a cat from destroying the leather couch is a plus in my mind! This scratch board table is very cool!

Check out this variation of a Tansu chest - I love this!

This Cat'Burger bed reminds me of Meridith's work on Etsy.

Here's Meredith's PugTato - part Pug, part potato, complete with tin foil and dripping butter.  I seriously love artists with a sense of humor! If you do too, buy something from her Etsy shop! 

 A lovely double rocking chair! 

 What a terrific way to hide the litter box!

 Another one - although you know your cat would climb up and knock over all of the plants.

These two are my favorite pieces - simple and yet really cool designs. This is supposed to hang over a radiator, but I could see this hanging off the back of a door. My cats always liked to climb up high, so this would make a great door bed. 

 And finally - the Couch Tunnel - what a terrific design, although - once again - my cats would have used the back of that tunnel to hide something dead in - thus making the room uninhabitable for humans.

 Wait - that's the idea of all this furniture, isn't it?

I'm not a "crazy cat lady" like many of my friends are, but at one time - I had four. 

That's about three too many in my mind. 

And finally - lest you think only cats bring bizarre oddity to life - here's a terrific video of a dog with some serious feelings about ... yes, a pineapple.  Poor Stella!