Category Archives: Furniture

Take that, Ikea.

What to Do with an Old Treadle Sewing Machine

Posted on June 19, 2020 by literaryworkshop

My wife and I were cleaning out one of our storage spaces, and she dragged out a very old treadle sewing machine.  A decade in the heat and humidity had not been kind to its wooden parts, which hadn’t been … Continue reading →

Posted in Furniture, Sewing, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Trash –> Treasure, or New Spoons from Old Furniture

Posted on February 10, 2018 by literaryworkshop

When I sell my spoons and spatulas at craft markets, people always ask me, “Where do you get the wood?”  I often laugh because, truth be told, practically ever piece of wood has a story behind it.  More often than … Continue reading →

Posted in Furniture, Wood and Woodwork, Woodenware | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Then Disaster Struck: Dining Table Repair

Posted on September 4, 2016 by literaryworkshop

We had been eating around our new dining table for about week.  Then one afternoon my oldest daughter and I were sitting in the living room when we heard a tremendous crash from the dining room.  We ran out to … Continue reading →

Posted in Furniture, repair, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , , | 45 Comments

Building a Dining Table, Part Three: Assembly and Inlay

Posted on August 7, 2016 by literaryworkshop

Each stage of building this table has had its unique challenges.  First it was cutting usable lumber out of some pretty seriously damaged boards.  Then it was surfacing everything by hand.  Now, after the final glue-up, I was faced with … Continue reading →

Posted in Build-Alongs, Furniture, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Building a Dining Table, Part 2: Clamps and Pegs

Posted on August 5, 2016 by literaryworkshop

The majority of my time on this project was spent surfacing the boards for the top.  I hand-planed all the boards from the rough-sawn stock, and I must have carried out four or five garbage bags of wood shavings in … Continue reading →

Posted in Build-Alongs, Furniture, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Build a Cedar Bench in an Hour

Posted on June 8, 2016 by literaryworkshop

One summer afternoon not long ago, my wife and oldest daughter had gone out, leaving me to mind the little ones.  We decided to make a fire in the fire pit and roast hot dogs for supper.  We lit the fire … Continue reading →

Posted in Build-Alongs, Furniture, Kids, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A New Door, a New Bed, a New Daughter

Posted on December 14, 2015 by literaryworkshop

My summer ended with big woodworking plans for the coming year.  (Most people’s year begins on January first, but being a professor, I think as much in school years as in calendar years, so my year effectively begins in mid-August.)  … Continue reading →

Posted in Furniture, Home Improvement, Kids, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Building Bunk Beds in Burma

Posted on May 21, 2014 by literaryworkshop

Not long ago, my brother led a small team of Americans as they completed a major woodworking project for an orphanage in Myanmar (formerly Burma), in Southeast Asia.  The orphanage, which houses approximately 120 children, had no proper beds for … Continue reading →

Posted in Furniture, Kids | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Timber Framed Bunk Beds, part 5: A Ladder

Posted on July 25, 2013 by literaryworkshop

A good bunk bed needs a good ladder. I’ve never made a proper ladder, but I’ve read up on wooden ladder construction.  Many traditional wooden ladders had threaded rod under top and bottom rungs to make sure everything didn’t come … Continue reading →

Posted in Build-Alongs, Furniture, Kids | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Timber Framed Bunk Beds, part 4: Mostly Finished

Posted on July 23, 2013 by literaryworkshop

The last bed frame I built, I learned a valuable lesson: always measure and re-measure the mattress before settling on exact frame dimensions.  Although there are “standard” mattress dimensions, individual specimens can vary by as much as an inch bigger … Continue reading →

Posted in Build-Alongs, Furniture, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment