Wooden Record Player

I created this wooden record player after purchasing the original at a local Goodwill and discovering that it was not well suited for my apartment. The original was not only to large to fit in any places, but it was clearly outdated. I decided to strip the record player to its simplest form, and to create a simple mitered frame out of a scrap piece of hickory wood.

The Original

Pocket Humidor

I got the idea for this project from an article in Woodcraft Magazine. It is essentially a small sized Cigar Humidor hence the name...Pocket Humidor. It holds three Cigars comfortably and comes equipped with a cigar cutter holder. This one in particular was a gift for my Dad's birthday. I am in the midst of creating one more, and plan to incorporate a smaller cigar cutter, and magnets to help keep it closed.

Christmas Time is Here...

Christmas time WAS here, and I spent much of December finishing up gifts that I started back in September...not to mention trying to survive my last semester of College. Fortunately, I'm still around, all of the gifts were completed on time, and I am officially a College graduate!

That being said here is what my to do list looked like, along with the completed project.

Father Illig - Cigar Book/Box
After making my Dad the Pocket Humidor for his birthday I had to try to one up it for Christmas. I decided to try and carve out the middle of a book, and then frame it up, thus creating a 'Book Humidor.' To go along with it my girlfriend, once again, put her photoshop skills to the test and created a cover to go along with it. The end result turned out to be quite comical.










Mother Illig - Elvira's Quilting Services. (EQS) Elvirasquiltingservices.com
My Mom started her own Long Arm Quilting business at the start of 2010, and has recently turned my sisters room into her Quilt studio. I decided to try to make her a sign in order to make the move official.
What I came up with is this...

The quilt blocks took me a couple episodes of 'The Walking Dead' to complete. The different colored woods were purchased as a bundle at Woodcraft in Woodridge, IL.


The Oliver's - Whirligig
I had the idea for this whirligig last Christmas, but just didn't have the time to get too it. It was actually an episode of 'The New Yankee Workshop' where Norm makes a whirligig for his workshop, that got me excited to make this. It is essentially Mr. Oliver raking his leaves...My girlfriend was the one to paint the pieces...along with the grumpy smirk on his face. This is one project that I always tried doing as a kid, but was never quite able to make it work.
Here is a link of it in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp-cZaxAXyo


Fran - Wine Bottle Holder
For my sister I decided to make her a wine bottle holder out of a board of Zebrawood that I purchased earlier in the year. The one board ended up producing three holders. Quick and easy project that makes you look like you know what your doing. haha. Word of advice....Zebrawood may resemble the stripes of a Zebra, but I have a feeling it was named after the smell of Zebra instead...beware.

Bookshelf

I started this bookshelf back in February of 2010 as a birthday gift for my girlfriend. Needless to say it took me some time to get around to finishing it. None the less, it's done...sort of. Aside from screwing in the top shelf, the three other shelves need about 2 more coats of finish. This was my first attempt at trying to incorporate panels, into my piece. It isn't perfect, but I've learned quite a bit from it.

Summer Island Chair

Over 4th of July weekend my girlfriend and I were invited to join our good friend Emily and her family to their cabin, which happens to be on an island right outside of Door County, WI. The trip turned out to be a lot of fun...filled with great island food and of course...drinks. It was a nice escape from all the school work I had been swamped with.


While at the island I decided to take the time to build a quick chair out of some found driftwood. We patrolled the shore and rounded up a couple of boards that would become the back and arm rests. The seat itself was made out of firewood that i chopped in half and pieced together. Kudos to Mr. Grelck for putting up with the mess that I created, and for letting my use his tools.



The Final Product.

Salvaged Wood Project

Over the summer I discovered a couple of old fence boards in our shed, which had to have been in there for over 15 years. I decided to put them to use and in the end managed to make a birdhouse along with three picture frames.

The Birdhouse ended up becoming a Mothers Day gift for my sweet ol' Ma. My girlfriend was kind enough to paint it for me using old paint found around the garage.




One of the frames I made specifically for a picture that was given to me on New Years Day 2010. While at a local McDonalds, New Years morning, an elderly lady sketched a picture of me, which turned out to be a quite an interesting way to start the New Years.

Tiled Coffee Table

I designed this Coffee Table in the fall of 2009 with the intent to match the scheme of the new apartment my girlfriend and I were moving into. It is mostly made of Aspen wood, due to my little to no income, with the exception of the legs, which is made of Oak. Also, to help match the apartment I ended up using a cherry stain. Lastly, I decided to give the coffee table two 14" x 14" square areas which would later be filled with matching glass tiles purchased from Great Western Flooring in Geneva, IL.

Being one of the first major woodworking projects I am fairly happy with its outcome. I've learned quite a bit from my mistakes...

Pre-Stain/ Disassembled Pre-Stain/ Assembled

Complete Table Table Top w/Tile

Living Room of our new Apartment!

- John I.