Spiecies of Wood that we carry

Ash

African Mahogany

Basswood

Beechwood

Bloodwood

Bubinga

Aeromatic Cedar

Appalachian Cherry

Cypress

Eastern White Pine

Yellow Pine

Magnolia

Maple Ambrosia

Maple Hard

Maple Soft

Oak Appalachian

Oak Turkey

Oak White

Oak White 1/4 Sawn

Padauk

Poplar

Purple Heart

Red Grandis

Sapele

Spansih Cedar

Teak

Walnut

Wenge 1/4 Sawn

Zebra Wood

Graded, Kiln Dried, Most is 4/4 stock, Random Width,       8/4 available in most.

Surfacing and Straight lining available.

A 

THE BIG ONE

 Well just a while back I had a returning customer stop by the shop, and we discussed the fabrication of a dinning table, using his wood which came from a Water Oak tree that was in his yard.

He came with a good sketch rendering of what he would like the top to look like, as well as what he thought how he would like the legs attached.

Upon instantly seeing his leg attachment sketch, I said that's not gonna happen.

Here's why. He wanted a 48" X 96" table, and the wood he brought to the shop was 2" thick.

I immediately said you wont be able to carry the table, or carry it thru a doorway.

He had designed it with the legs being mortised into tenons of the parameter apron,

which means the legs would be permanently attached.

Typical construction techniques was necessary for the design and weight,

where hanger bolts would secure the legs into the corners.

So all of that said, I estimate the table weight to be about 300-325 pounds when assembled.

He also asked for a couple of drawers to be added, so I built and installed one on each end and incorporated 24" full extension ball bearing guides to carry them.

You will see in the photos where I used my overhead hoist, to lift the table, which is on a track that runs from the back of the shop, where the assembly bench is to the shop doors, as I have built other projects that I wasn't able to lift once complete.

The table was sanded and ready for the customer to apply there finish.

Because I Wanted to.

 I've been wanting to try my hand at this phase of woodworking for some time now.

Which is of course incorporating logs of various sizes on the front of the shop as well as hand railing and all the in between parts.

In order to remove the bark from the logs I needed a way to securely hold the pieces while using a draw knife to scrape away the bark, and shape the pieces somewhat.

Thus I built a Shaving horse.

I sit at one end, I can adjust the lower clamping jaw table by moving a block shim in or out to fit the size of the work piece.

My feet rest on the clamp arm pegs below, and as I push forward, the top jaw will clamp solidly on my work piece while I shape and clean it up.

I could cover a lot more in the use of the shaving horse but the main purpose was for cleaning up the necessary parts logs,  for the porch project.

                       Now just a few photos of the shop porch.

Now there were two other tools that had to be made once the bark was removed from the smaller log pieces.

Tenons had to be cut on the ends of the logs, { tenons are the profiling of wood for insertion into another } so one tool was built to do that in conjunction with the use of the table saw. Now because some log pieces were curved or crooked if the tenons were just cut on the ends, the tenons would be pointing off in different directions, and would not insert into the mortise { mortise is a hole or recess cut into wood to receive the corresponding piece= a tenon }

So in order to to take a log with curve and make the ends point at each other, I built a line boring tool, which in conjunction with a drill, I could drill a pilot hole at each end, and the pilot holes would be pointing at each other, which the above mentioned tool would work with for the tenons.

Enough said.

GOT CEDAR

 All right. An opportunity had come up where Robin and I could acquire some cedar logs, which in turn we would mill into lumber of various dimensions.

This customer had bought a peninsula lot in Crystal River which had to many Cedar trees on it and in the wrong places.

So it was agreed that we would drop the trees, delimb the trunk's cut up the canopy's and haul away the logs.

I have proven time and time again that a tree is a lot bigger on the ground then it is standing in the air.

So a LOT of work, and numerous trips to Crystal River we have acquired a small mountain of Cedar.

Country Style Set Of Tables

 O.K. I had a customer approach me on doing a set of tables.

She said she would like a coffee table about 54" X 54" square,

I said that's big, she said I got a  horse farm and the house has room for it.

Soafter a bit of discussion, and a photo that she texted to me, it was decided that 2" thick yellow pine was the wood of choice for this large country style coffee table.

She also needed 2 end tables to match.

Now what is different on these tables is the legs had to be a bit beefy, and that the end grain of the legs needed to be part of the show of the table top.

                                     The end tables of course smaller.

A CYPRESS FRONT ENTRY DOOR

A while back I had a Customer who was a Nurse up in Gainesville

approach me about building a new door for her house.

It had been a while since I built an entry door, so this was a nice challenge I was willing to take on.

The door is built of cypress. 

The main frame is tongue and grooved with the T&G being 3/4" thick, which adds quite a bit of glue surface area, making for a strong joint and door.

With the cypress panel insert, I did a V joint tongue and groove on multiple pieces, then glued them up as one large piece, then cut it to fit the top section and the lower section, keeping the wood grain pattern running together from the top to the bottom.

The customer is beginning to apply there clear coat to there new door.

The door from the front porch.

Nicely installed too, with new hardware.

And of course from the inside too.

Be sure and click on the picture to enlarge.

THIS TINY HOUSE

This one has been a long time coming.

A couple a years ago, I was recruited to head up the interior fabrication and design of this

 Tiny House.

Much of the fabrication I did but I also hired out some of the necessary 

work like the electrical wiring, Sheetrock and drywall, this was done because I can't be absent from my shop during the normal business week.

This Tiny House started out as a 12' x 30'  shed with an entry door only,

the interior was just studs. it has a 4' X 10' porch incorporated into it's lay-out.

There in the shed was a 12' loft on one end and a 10' loft on the other. I built and added an 8' wall and ceiling kind of inline with the porch layout on the left which connected the two lofts with a crawl way , but also created an area for the bathroom layout.
Be sure and click on the photos to enlarge.

I built all of the kitchen and note the base cabinets are 16" deep not 24' like your standered due to space constraints

Every thing was built and designed to scale, the sinks were little galvanized bucket's I found at Walmart. The 2 burner cook top worked out perfect and is recessed flush with the counter top. Of course I used reclaimed wood for the cabinetry fabrication.

All of the drawers have full extension guides except for the front under the sink.

All the doors have touch release mechanisms'

I built the stairs of old growth pine with a live natural edge on the bottom of the stringers.

Notice the 2 stairs come together with a common landing and a pull-out 1st tread or step.

In the one picture of the loft you can see the crawl-way that goes over the bathroom and connects the 2 lofts. Note the caged ceiling fan so little fingers can't get in, AC in both lofts.

You can eat at the bar which is a slab of oak with natural edge,looking out the picture window.

And of course the bathroom end wall is featured with reclaimed wood and a sliding barn door.

And here is a peek into the bathroom, a full 36" shower, cobble stone tiled floor,

a small but in proportion porcelain sink.

All the lighting in this little cottage is recessed L E D lights.

This project was a lot of work but rewarding with the final product.

There is much more to mention, but I'm done typing.

A CEDAR BENCH

Alright,  had a customer come in and had several printer pictures

of benches in hand and wanted me to pick a design.

Well I usually don't stick to printed design and never really build anything by plans. 

Now I may incorporate certain ideas but most of the  I get on a roll and do my own thing.

This customer is building a water garden with water falls so ta speak where they can sit and relax.

 They wanted a bench about 8' long, well it's hard to get a finished 8' product out of 8' stock,

 however I did manage to get the bench to clean up nice at 7'

Be sure and click on the picture to enlarge.

 I don't know what happened here but I got the camera tilted on the one below

 The customer will be doing the finishing on the bench,

when it was picked up they mentioned they would like a coffee table and 2 end tables.

Will see.

CEDAR TABLE

O.K. Here is a lil project that went out several weeks ago.

An older gentleman stopped in and was intrested in a table

 something not of the ordenary, so after a bit of talking over ideas, it was decided on a cedar table.

 He was excited about it and new it would be a table he could leave to his kids.

Enough of that, here's the table, be sure and click on the image to enlarge, and there not great, took pictures with me cell phone. 

 

 

Lil Red Bridge

It,s been a while and time to update.

I had a returning customer come into the shop with his wore out bridge.

This old bridge was used at one end of there pool and the old bridge was made of cypress.

It was loose and rickety. After talking a bit we decided that Aromatic cedar was to be used.

I didn't have 2x12 stock for the main arch frame, so the customer  went to the local home center and acquired three 2x12x8's for the main arch frame.

Now the reason the 2x12's were used, he wanted to push it up higher, as he has a Lil troll he attaches to it underneath, because of the grand-kids excitement. 

 Now coated deck screws were used in securing the cedar boards to the frame as well as the railing. 

Stainless steel bolts and washers were used on the support post. A fun project to do.

 

GOVERNMENT STYLE PARK BENCH

Alright This customer stopped

by with this 

naked metal bench, badly in need of wood.

 Now the reason I call this a Government style bench 

is usually our money is no object for them to spend

and most people couldn't afford a bench of this nature.

This customer found it at a yard sale for a very good price

and wire brushed it and gave it a good coat of paint.

It was decided Southern Cherry was the wood of choice

and would go well with the bench frame color.

I cut and processed the 21 Cherry slats and he picked them up

for the clear coat, this was done to save money.

 when brought them back he also supplied the fasteners which was

 84 bolts washers and nuts, YIKES,

That was a lot of hole drilling.

Anyway it turned out well and become a bench anyone would be proud 

to own.

Don't forget to click on the photo to enlarge.

 TABLE FOR THE BIG GREEN EGG

All right It's been a while and time to update here.

Had a customer stop by the shop and told me he had bought a komoto cooker

 also known as the Big Green Egg, some time back But didn't want the table they offered with it an option, because of price. So after looking and studding the cooker a bit

 It was agreed I would build the table for him, but he would have to go shopping 

for the pressure treat wood and wheels etc.

I also decided I didn't need the lid to it as that would be just something else to handle at the shop.

 I gave him the list and soon the materials arrived and I got started.

As I built the table I decided to make sure all the fasteners {screws}

were on the bottom side

away from the weather as much as possible { no screws on top}.

This would help the wood as much as possible weather Florida's ever changing 

environment.

Well when it came time to install the wheels, I discovered they where gigantic.

 I had to cut and install a type of skirt around the base of the 3" legs to 

create the necessary  surface area for the castor plate to mount to

but it looked fine and will do the job. this is the only area where 

the fasteners are exposed to the weather. 

TURKEY OAK TABLE

Well it's been a while again sense I updated here.

Had a customer stop by and was interested in having a dinning room table made.
As we talked I learned they wanted sort of a rustic table with character
 and they would like it about 36" wide, no problem, and 10 feet long, Problem.
If the stock was available 10' in length,  that's doable, but the species of wood 
decided on was Turkey Oak, More on that in a second.
 The majority of hard woods in my shop are 8' in length, tho I do have longer in some species.
The Turkey Oak was 8' in length and random width, so I told them I could stretch it 
 to maybe 9' by doing a bread board end technique which they were happy with that.
  Now Turkey Oaks around here are mostly a scrawny/spindly Oak  that many people mistakenly call Blackjack, However Blackjacks tend to grow more from the panhandle north.
 The turkey Oaks tend to die out at around 6-8" in diameter or at an age of 30 - 50 years.
 I was able to acquire some Turkey oaks that were mill able which were 14" up to 18" and up to an age of around 125 years old. Oh and by the way, since they are so slow growing they have a very tight growth ring, and lots of character in the wood.
 Now all the joinery techniques were tongue and groove.
The legs were glued up to about 3" thick and then a slight taper cut on 2 sides
 to give them a bit of a splayed look.
 The table had a nice radius edge around the parameter and was sanded and ready for the customers finish.
Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge.