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I was so happy with the nightstand that I made for my sister-in-law that I wanted to use that plan again, but minus the part where I had to put a log through the band saw. Oh, and minus the part where I put it on skinny little legs. I had gone with the Central Jersey Woodworking Association (http://cjwa.org/) to visit the D.C.C. Inc. sawmill. Dane Enright operates this mobile log milling operation, and obtains very interesting logs. He kindly gave me a block of black locust. I had wondered about this stuff. It’s traditionally used for fence posts and boat knees because it’s hard and doesn’t rot. It’s color, when it’s newly cut, is a startling greenish yellow. Those are not great recommendations for furniture wood. But I wanted to know more. So…

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I rounded the edges, and set the sides back about half an inch. This is a forgiving pattern. It doesn’t need to be exact. I drilled the finger holes and then cut across to create the dividers and spacers.When it came to cutting the drawers, I had to hold a cylindrical piece as I put it through the saw. The saw wants to spin a piece like this and knock it out of my hands, so I held it in a clamp. This was so handy that I now hold the square pieces like that as well.

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Everything was machine cut and sanded so far on this piece. The wood is much too stringy and tough to carve, but I wanted some handwork, so I textured the edges with a gouge. You can just barely see it in this photo, on the side pieces. You can also see the awesome streaks of color in the wood, which is great in a piece like this but would be difficult for traditional furniture manufacture.

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Here it is, with four drawers. I would certainly use this wood again, but only for simple machined shapes like this. This piece will be for sale as soon as there’s an opportunity, and I’m cutting a smaller one out of black walnut. I’ll be looking for new things to do with variations on this pattern.

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Who wouldn’t?

I was asked to make a sign to signify that a butterfly garden within the local dog park was planted in memory of Skip, who graced our town with his succession of tiny sweet dogs. People would meet him in town, sit down for a cup of coffee, and hold a poodle until their blood pressure went down.

I chose the butterfly shape for the sign, and roughed it out to have slightly lifted wings. I cut the big angles on the band saw to save work.

I had the presence of mind to plan the mounting before I carved. This old dog can learn new tricks; I left the butterfly’s body very chunky so I could sink two screws into it. I mounted it to waste wood. Later, I used the holes in the waste wood to mark the holes in a three-foot post.

That block allowed me to clamp the work into the bench vise while I carved. I signed the raw wood although I knew that paint would cover it.

I modeled it on the Northern Metalmark because of it’s shape and colors. It’s a mostly dark butterfly, so the sign won’t compete with the flowers in the garden. The flowers are the point, not the sign. I left the top of the wings unpatterned for the lettering. My lettering was awkward. Next time, I’ll make a light-colored band, and write the lettering in sharpie, not paint.

I added a coat of acrylic varnish for shine and protection. I don’t expect this to last forever outdoors, being only basswood, but it should be alright for quite a while. It will be mounted in the dog park before it opens.

Yes, it seemed like The Project That Would Not Die, but I finished it off and delivered it. Stupidest Project Ever. I had no plan to mount it or how to attach a top surface, and I used the lopsided surface as the bottom, so it wouldn’t stand straight. And it had no real purpose. Although the log was hollow, the opening was too small for me to get my hand in there with a power tool. But it looked so promising!

And, at the same time, I delivered a custom nightstand. You’ve seen this in a prior blog, and now it’s done. But while I was cutting up that log, I thought, why not cut out a coordinating piece? So, here’s the nightstand, custom built to fit a 7″ wide space, and a dubiously useful … place to keep your extra eyeglasses.

Both are cut from Bartlet pear, except for the legs on the nightstand which are ipe. Yes, that’s a kind of wood and not a typo. The color is pretty, the wood is hard, and now I have fewer logs lying around. Both have two drawers. The little round drawers are large enough for eyeglasses. The top of the nightstand is cut out to hold a cup and some keys or pencils.

I’m pleased with the curves in the design, and I liked the patterns in the spalted wood of the dead trees, but I think I’ll give myself a break and not feed any more logs through the saw for a while.

My neighbor took down her old flowering pear. Here’s a big chunk. I had despaired of using it for anything, but then I got a request for a side table, no wider than 7″, 24″ high, and about a foot deep. With a drawer. Aha! You can see from the square foot tiles under it that it’s not 2 feet long, but it’s chunky enough to give me the solid 7″ and most of the 12″.

Squaring up on the band saw is scary when the piece is heavy, but with each cut it gets lighter. It’s grain pattern is dull because I’m only cutting into the new wood, and by rounding the front, I lose visual interest, but the worm hole adds character.

With carpentry, you usually need straight lines so that the pieces match up. But with a bandsaw, no matter what shapes you cut from a single block, they fit together. Within the next few days, I’ll glue up the two drawers and the case. Then I’ll figure out how to attach legs and a top. Stay tuned!