Lead A Quiet Life and Work With Your Hands

Finished and delivered this small walnut breakfast table today. It's always bitter sweet when furniture leaves the shop...this was definitely a fun build!

I finally delivered this table a few weeks ago and managed to snap a photo of sitting in the client's yard before we hauled it inside. All design credit goes to @chazcap. #mesquitetable #mesquite #thechazdiningtable #liveedgediningtable

I've been slacking on my social media lately, so here's what I've been up to over the past few weeks. I'm building this display case in quartersawn white oak, it will sit in a coffee table and has four drawers that display old fishing lures. It's been a real blast to build and I'm pushing hard to get it finished by tomorrow morning. We got the big 5hp Oneida dust collector hooked up and I'm more than pleased with how well it performs. Finally, I finished up my daughters bunk bed and will be posting a video on it very soon! #quartersawnoak #quartersawnwhiteoak #oneidaairsystems #leesamattress #leesa #bunkbed #bunkbeds

Sometimes this is how it feels to be a small business owner...especially one that builds furniture for a living.

I really enjoy making YouTube videos but it's also terribly difficult to fit them into a busy shop schedule. So here I am working late to build this supper cool bunk bed for my daughter. I'm partnering up with @leesasleep on this project and with any luck the video will go live end of the month! #bunkbed #bunkbeds #custombunkbeds #juneoliviasbunkbed

We've partnered up with @jonhartdesign to build display shelving for their men's line of products. The cases are made from reclaimed 2x4s and white oak. They're designed to hold rifle cases, pistol cases, and an assortment of really cool bags. I'm excited to be working with a company that values quality workmanship...they make all their products here in San Antonio with high quality materials. #jonhartdesign #jonhart #retaildisplay

I'm working on a small breakfast table in walnut. Here's a quick look at the dry fit assembly for the base. It's made up of 8 components all coming together with 10 joints. Everything fits together nicely, so now I'll add some shaping to a few parts, then smooth and sand all surfaces, then finally glue up. #joinery #finewoodworking #halflap #halflapjoint #walnuttable

One more coat of oil and these night stands are ready for delivery. Here's a detailed shot of the super fancy dovetails on the top. #dovetail #dovetails #halfblinddovetails #joinery #woodworking #texaspecan

We're replacing a broken rocker on an old oak rocking chair. The original rocker was steam bent which gave me a great excuse to dig out the old steambox. I used to do a bunch of steam bending back in my chair making days but it still took two attempts to get it right. You can see in the second photo where the wood failed, there was a small section of the wavy grain that caused the problem. The second rocker, which is in the jig, had much straighter grain and bent without failure. I've always enjoyed this process, wood selection is the key to getting it right! #steambending #steambendingwood #furniturerepair #woodworking

One issue I have with Texas Pecan is the contrasting colors. I've never been a big fan of the really light grain side by side with darker grain. I typically will even out the color by staining the lighter sapwood. You can see the before and after in these two photos. I'll apply two coats of GF arm-r-seal, sand to 400 grit, then stain the lighter sapwood. Because of the two coats of oil the stain really doesn't penetrate into the wood much, but instead gives it just enough color to blend nicely with the heartwood. Finally, I let the stain dry then apply several more coats of oil.

Ok this is the last post about the walnut basketball hoop! Here it is finished hanging in place...it's been getting plenty of use over the last few days. You might also notice it's adjustable in height! #minibasketballhoop #woodbasketballhoop #liveedgewalnut #texasflag #americanflag

When I haven't been throwing down rain drops on the new basketball hoop I've been working on the joinery for the two pecan night stands. Here's a quick video of a final dry fit for one of the four dovetails that will be featured on the top of the nightstand. #dovetail #joinery #woodworking #finefurniture #handcraftedfurniture

Well the new basketball hoop is turning out to be a real time waster! The video is up on YouTube if you want to see how it's made. #raindrops #letitrain #sandylyle #minibasketballhoop #woodbasketballhoop

Johnny and June just hanging out on a trestle table. My favorite part about this shot is June holding her bible! #trestletable #finefurniture #handcraftedfurniture

Getting closer! Spent the good part of the afternoon flattening the 14" wide backboard. #buildingalnutlivedgebasketballgoal

The basketball goal is coming together. Last night I laminated the rim together using walnut. You can see the jig to the right that I used to glue and clamp the laminations. Now I'm working on shaping and adding the small filler piece (made from pecan) that completes the rim. Then it's of to shaping and making the backboard!

Finishing out a run of very large paint grade barn doors this week. This one measures in at 8' 3" x 7'...it's built as two separate doors then glued together to make the single door. #barndoor #slidingdoors