Woodworking or Woolgathering

[digitS']

TEG needs a woodworking thread. It can't be me. Do we have woodworkers who can start from the boards and go from there? Wannabes? I could be in that group but don't have much interest in furniture .

My problem is that the codes dissuade me from doing anything constructive in the yard ... that and I'm already in violation for having covered too much of it ... Anyway, that is my excuse. Okay, if you are really serious, Steve, you could start by tearing down your garage.

CoCo's thread got me interested in the armoire and how it might be different from a wardrobe. It isn't. But, there is something called an armoire desk that would be useful and attractive to me. Looks like I'd either have to order online or build it myself. Shoot.

Armoire desk, it's like the older cousin to the "entertainment center." Close the cabinet doors and it's all, nice and neat! Open the doors and slide out a desktop. Don't you wish you had something like that ?

Looking at cabinetmaking, I am reminded of the technique of "joinery." It's really how all modern cabinetmaking is done. Well, unless we just slap things together ... which might be all I'm capable of. Still, I might be able to slap things together in kind of a controlled fashion. Interior walls, I'm thinking. Joinery reminds me a little of building board fences.

Why has natural wood and wainscoting passed from interior design? Or, has it?

Not even a very good hijack to @coco25 's thread on furniture treasures. It's just that I'm a lazy dreamer, out of bed too early.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Steve no woodworker here, but the desk you describe has been around for centuries. They go by different names.

 

[Nyboy]

• very fancy one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mahogany-Bu...hash=item1a0853526e:m:m4v1c8BcDZtEZnVDXm6_WNw

 

[Smart Red]

Start from boards? Here much of Spouse's work was started from rough cut lumber and turned it into boards before building something.

Since I build houses for Habitat for Humanity, I qualify as a construction worker. Wood working is an art form and I have two artists in my wood world. Spouse who could do anything with wood and our son who is making his living building beautiful pieces of art for daily use, tables, beds, cabinets, desks, fireplace surounds, etc.

(Not the chairs)
Table and hutch

sleigh bed desk armoire

those table legs were tough. (not the chairs)

Simple things I have made. The chicken coop, a 'rustic' table, bird houses, and shelving. The rest I have left to my professionals, although, I rather expect I could do a passible job of building something nice with the array of tools in the shop. Oh, I've made window and door trim, too, but that's mostly the machine's efforts and Spouse's design.

My forte comes in finishing their work. I can stain, varnish, wax, and polish with the best of 'em.

 

[thistlebloom]

I would read a woodworking thread but have no skills in that direction. My husband does, he's the brains of this outfit.

I remember a funny story my sis told me about my grandpa when she visited one summer.
He was replacing a board on their old garage and it was about 6" too long.
Instead of getting a saw and making it the correct length, he hammered it in place, then took the hammer and whacked the long part off.

I believe that's where my woodworking genes came from.

 

[thistlebloom]

Those are beautiful pieces Red. Very fine craftsmanship.

 

[so lucky]

I have always loved wood---the smell of freshly cut lumber is the best. It smells like imagination and energy at work. But, alas, I have really never learned to use woodworking tools. I guess it may not be too late to learn. I think I love best the clean elegant lines of Shaker furniture.

 

[digitS']

We bought a "secretary desk" for DD when she was young. Little thing, unfinished ... I'd hoped she would be interested in finishing it at some time but she crammed it with stuff and now I just wish she would take it outta here! Twenty years, I guess not.

It wasn't what I was thinking of for my use and future. The desktop would have to be very sturdy. I'm not too sure that grand, $3,500 one on CL would fill the bill, either.

@Smart Red 's son looks like he has exactly the skills needed! What beautiful furniture.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

My father-in-law was a talented wood carver and a really good woodworker, he could do some really nice work. He had the tools, skills, and patience required. His son is pretty good at woodworking too. But I'm more like Red claims to be, a rough carpenter, certainly not a cabinetmaker. I can throw up a chicken coop, build a worktable for a workshop, build shelves that will hold up a ton, or make stools I can use but with 2x4 legs and an old piece of carpet to sit on when I'm breaking beans. Don't ask me to make anything pretty or with doors that fit just perfectly. I can build functional doors or drawers but there will be gaps.

 

[aftermidnight]

Not furniture like those beautiful pieces above but my hubby is a woodturner although arthritis has taken it's toll and he doesn't do much anymore. In the years he was turning he turned out some gorgeous pieces. One of our boys is a wood carver and has carved some lovely pieces also, he actually won the Canadian fish carving competition at the Brant Festival one year, alas while in the Navy he spent a good part of the time at sea so that was put on the back burner. Me, I just garden and do a lot of what I call constructive staring, this helped me come up with an idea or two .

Annette