Author Archives: jpiaseck

I spent two hours installing the caning and finishing up the coffee table tonight.  The caning on the shelf was pretty straight forward and it seems to have turned out pretty nice.  I think my father would approve.  I hope my sister likes it. Time to kick back, drink a scotch, and think about myContinue reading “End Table – Finished!”

I was able to match the stain exactly to the original finish.  The picture below shows the table with the stain and one coat of urethane.  I plan on a minimum of five coats of urethane.  This will take me all week.  I expect the canning material to show up right about the time IContinue reading “End Table – Stain and Finish”

Here is the coffee table almost ready for finish.  A little more sanding and cleaning and it will be ready for staining I found out from my mother that my father built this table when they lived in their first apartment.  I was less than one year old at the time.  That makes this tableContinue reading “End Table – Almost Ready for the Finish”

I went to the mill and purchased a 4/4 rough cut piece of walnut.  $8.95 per board feet…Whew!!!! Making a new shelf is much faster than digging out the old canning and refinishing the wood.

I decided to maintain the original look of the coffee table.  The canning needs to be replaced.  It is old and dirty and I cannot refinish the shelf without removing the canning. I tried to remove the canning.  No luck.  It will be easier to replace the wood rather than dig out the canning.

My father built this coffee table when I lived in Racine, Wisconsin.  My mother told me that I was less than one years old.  This makes the table over 50 years old.  When my father passed away, my older sister inherited the table and it has been in her living room ever since. Recently, she askedContinue reading “End Table”

I finished the cedar chest quit a while ago, however, I did not post the completed project because Amy is going to get surprised Christmas morning! I decided on a satin urethane finish.  I just could not bring myself to put a glossy coat of shellac on the walnut veneer.  It just did not seemContinue reading “Cedar Chest Complete”

Here is what it looks like with the first coat of stain.  The picture does not do it justice.  The stain is called Candlelight and it really brings out the depth of the grain in the walnut veneer. I am still debating between shellac and a satin urethane finish.

I am back sooner than I expected. I had the opportunity to glue up some white oak and spin the legs on my lathe.  Again the idea is to match the style of the details on the front of the cedar chest.  They look pretty good and the height of the cedar chest is now aroundContinue reading “Almost Ready for Finish”

No one, including myself, like the first leg (shown in the last post).  The square block on the top of the leg did not seem to look correct against the square bottom where the leg mounts. This morning, I machined off the square block.  It only took about 5 minutes and it eliminated the mostContinue reading “Decision”

As I stated in my previous post, the pictures I found of the cedar chests manufactured by the Lakeside Craft Shops showed fancy turned spindles that act as feet.  I did not see any designs that I liked so I decided I would replicate the details on the front of the chest. I made two of theseContinue reading “Legs for the Cedar Chest”

Here is a quick update on the cedar chest. The old finish has been almost completely removed.  I have a little work to do to clean up the bottom. Additionally, after researching the manufacturer, we decided that I would replace the missing legs.  Quite frankly, some of the pictures of cedar cabinets I found on theContinue reading “Cedar Chest Update”

My sister, Amy, Asked me to refinish a cedar chest that has been in the family for some time.  As usual, it looked pretty rough coming into the woodshop.  Somebody has obviously put on a coat of glossy urethane on what probably should be a shellac finish.  The bottom feet were a little rough and later,Continue reading “Amy’ Cedar Chest”

It seems like someone is always bringing in broken chairs to my woodshop with the hope that it can be repaired.  Here is the latest piece: Chair that usually come in are badly worn on the finish, loose at the joints and sometimes split at the seams.  This one was all of the above. Fortunately,Continue reading “Chairs”

This is another restoration that turned out really nice.  Again, my wife came home and asked if I could repair her friend antique table.  What she brought home was a beautiful round table with incredible hand carved pieces.  The only problem was it was covered with layers and layers of old paint.   You can seeContinue reading “Flint’s Fine Furniture”

Several years ago my wife approached me and asked if I could repair our neighbor’s mother’s dinning room chair.  I told here I would give it a try.  The next thing I knew I was turning a new leg for a broken chair.  When I was done, the chair looked like new and my neighbor’s motherContinue reading “Restorations”

For those of you who have read my blog from the beginning, you know that I started this as a requirement of my Information Technology class in the UCONN Executive Masters of Business Administration program.  I am happy to report that on April 9, 2011, I graduated, with honors, from the program!  SCHOOL’S OUT FORContinue reading “Graduation”

My mom called me up and asked me if I could make and Urn for Grandma.  I was flattered when she asked; however, I asked why didn’t she just buy one ( I was hoping she would tell me that my Grandma said she would be honored to be buried in an Urn built byContinue reading “GrandMa’s Urn”

Every woodworker who owns a computer dreams of building his own desk.  This is mine.  It is actually part of a grand project to redo the library in my house. I looked for a design for some time.  I finally found this one in a woodworking site.  I think it cost me $10. The materialContinue reading “My Computer Room Desk”

Once the garage was done, I started building cabinets to store all my woodoworking gear.  All the cabinets are similar to the one in the picture.  I like to use maple because it is tough.  I like the look of raised panel doors.  Once you make a few (hundred) they are really easy to do.Continue reading “Garage Cabinets”