Two for one

Two Builds, one post! It’s your lucky day! These two are definitely personal favorites. The coffee table, in my opinion, is my nicest build. I used two 8 foot oak slabs my grandfather had given my dad and then my dad gave them to me. Nothing like generations handing down wood lol. I have about 10 in my barn and decided it was time to put a few of them to use. They are rough-cut so I jointed them and put them through the planner to get them to proper thickness. This is the first time I made/used tapered legs and I think they turned out pretty awesome. I cut my legs and stretchers at 15 degrees to give it that mid-century look. (I think that is what mid-century looks like? I really have no idea, it just sounds like I know what I’m talking about.) With any wood there are going to be some flaws and knots, which there were, so I decided to cut out the knots and fill them with epoxy. This was a new skill/tool I used and it worked great. I guess that’s why I like this build so much. I wanted to build something new that challenged my skills. As a kid I use to have quotes all over my bedroom wall. One of them said “Practice without improvement is meaningless”. Maybe that implies to woodworking too!

(Check out pics below)

My next build was for the dreaded In-laws! Kidding, I love my in-laws. I hired my father-in-law as an intern for one of my first builds but he was drinking too many of my beers so I had to let him go. They are renovating a house they recently bought and asked me to build them a kitchen table. They picked up some old barn boards from Reclaimed, PEI.  Once I got all the lumber (they had to go back twice), I had to run it through the jointer to square up the faces so when I glued it up it would be a seamless fit (It wasn’t lol). We put some cool hair-pin legs on it to give it that modern look and after 8 coats of polyurethane, Bobs your uncle (or in my case, father)! I think the table turned out awesome. The color and contrast of the wood makes it look super cool!

I also have something pretty cool in the works. It’s too good not to share with my avid readers. I’ll give you the spark notes version. I often visit websites for cool projects, inspiration and ideas for building things. One particular site had an add up saying they were hiring a contributor/blogger for their website. I didn’t really think much of it. I sent off a quick email saying I was interested along with my website and Instagram page. They got back to me saying they were interested and that I made it to the next stage of the process. So I pitched them three ideas of what I would be interested to write about. They got back to me saying they really liked them! In my head, I’m like “Shit. Could I really do this?” I would love to do this! I’m basically doing something similar, even if it is sporadic. I would love to write about other things I’m interested in. So now, I am currently on the final stage of the interview process. They asked me to write a sample article of my choice. I was in the middle of a build so I choose to do a ‘How to Build’ article.  I have a couple of weeks to complete it, so I likely won’t hear back till Christmas. Who would have thought?! I’m sure I won’t get the job, but why not? It’s important to believe in yourself; to challenged yourself! Either way, it’s a great story! I will definitely keep everyone posted. I probably just jinxed it. Shit!