Next Chapter Woodworking

05/16/2024

Great to see that the Miami Dolphins planters I made this week be highlighted on Matthew’s page today.

05/12/2024

Sold 10 planters this week, including two customer orders. It is always rewarding to give the customer what they want, even when it can lead late nights.

One fun takeaway was that while I was buying the wood for the six red planters, a gentleman stopped me and asked if I made planters. You never know where opportunity to grow your customer base may occur!

05/06/2024

One of the first furniture pieces I made was this farmhouse-style coffee table. It was a Christmas gift for my wife. The table is solid to the point that it can support my weight when I stand on it. 🙂

04/10/2024

As mentioned before, I am attempting to reorganize my workspace because it has become cluttered and inefficient due to the accumulation of unnecessary items and lack of effective storage solutions. Walking into the garage can make me feel overwhelmed sometimes; switch my energy from excitement into anxiety.

Like many others who have faced this challenge, including Adam Savage, it can be a difficult hurdle to overcome when you aren’t sure where to start or how to approach the task effectively. Take a moment and check out his video. His tips on where to start and how to envision your workspace can help you (and me) get organized.

Does Adam Savage have any tips on how to do a big reorganization of a workshop? How does Adam dig himself out of a messy, chaotic space? Adam answers these q...

04/07/2024

Saw a new take on planter boxes this week so I gave it ago. Instead of sticking with planer cedar, I gave it a cottage flair with some paint. I think the color combination really worked.

I already made one tweak to the plan, but I think it needs a piece of trim at the bottom of the box. Once I cut and paint the new pieces, I’ll post an update. (I need to touch up the white anyway after nailing everything together).

04/06/2024

Behind the scenes, I am (and have been for a few months) working on cleaning out my half of the garage and organizing my tools and supplies. While waiting for paint on some planters to dry, I finally tackled the French cleat for above the workbench. This will hold the power tools that I frequently use.

Progress, not matter how slow, is still progress!

04/01/2024

I made a gate threshold for one of my favorite customers recently. The gate they added to their house is 5’ wide (the maximum it could span). Because of the additional pieces added to make up the width as well as the tension screws being at their maximum extension, there was a lot of wiggle to the gate. Adding in the 2” tall bar running the width of the gate, there were stability and tripping hazards that needed addressing.

The threshold is designed to cradle the full length of the gate within a 2” x 6” to keep the fence in place, and 3” x 3” block was added to the half-wall to reduce the distance the tension screws needed to extend, and ramps on both sides of the gate to reduce the tripping hazard (non-skid strips were added to ensure there was no slipping when stepping on the ramps).

01/29/2024

Last summer, a customer approached me and asked if I would help him preserve his grandfather’s 48-star flag. It was an honor to do so. The only request was that the flag be displayed flat within a frame so he could display it at home for him and his family to enjoy.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year, everyone!

12/30/2023

The unplanned Christmas tradition is I build something for the house. For Christmas 2023, my “favorite customer” asked if I could replace the wire shelf in the garden window with a wooden one. Initially the plan was simple create a wooden shelf to lay on the wire rack to disguise it, but the plan grew to redoing the look of the whole garden window itself.

The materials are ambrosial Mable and Baltic birch ply.

Click on the individual photos to walk through the steps of the project.

11/28/2023

Auction update. The art piece sold for $350. ❤️🎉🎉🎉

11/07/2023