Sultan of Sawdust

I made a wall display for my wife’s rock collection. Here’s what it looks like:

My wife likes to collect a small rock from various travels.  She’s always respectful of places that have a strict policy against it, but if there is no policy, she finds one that is characteristic or representative of the location, and for years now has been keeping them in a small tray on a coffee table.  That is okay for now, but in thinking long-term, she needed a bigger display.  

It started with a lumber run to a local sawmill, and I decided to use poplar.  I broke down the boards, then dimensioned them using a jointer, planer, and table saw.

For artistic reasons, I added a chamfer to the front side of all of the boards.

I wanted to use half-lap joinery like this:

So I made a jig that was similar to jigs used for making box/finger joints.

The “peg” slots are at 4 and 6 inches from the dado blade, because that was the height and width of my “cells” in the display.  So, to cut a board (once the height of the blade was dialed in), I placed the end of the board against the peg, made the cut, and then moved the board down so that the slot I just cut was now over the peg.  This ensured me that every notch was spaced exactly the same.

For the perpendicular boards, I moved the peg to the other position and repeated the process.  The dry fit was good, so I messed around with various stains/dyes, and then spent several hours sanding and finishing.

This needed to be REALLY secured into the wall.  I went with 8″ long 3/8″ lag screws.  I spray-painted them black.

These went into studs in the wall, protruding just enough so that the display rested on them and the hex head kept the display from sliding away from the wall.  This makes the display easily movable and adjustable.  They’re not too noticeable, but if you zoom in on the picture, you can see them.  For scale, that’s a 60″ TV it is hanging behind.  

A while ago, I wrote a post on how I made large candle holders.  Well, here’s the mini version for tealight candles!

The method I’ve found best for me is to start with blanks around 2″ x 2″ and around 4″ tall.  I’ve used both solid and laminated woods for this.

I’ve found it best to drill out the space for the tealight candle before turning.  So I mark centers and use a forstner bit.

The tip from the forstner bit provides a nice, centered indentation for the tailstock when putting the blank between centers.

After some trial and error, I’ve found (for me) it was best to turn a tenon.

Then, start marking your layout.

I had some fun!

It was time to try making my first turned Christmas ornament!  Here’s what I made:

And here’s how I made them - I began with the spalted maple.  It was around 2″ x 2″ and 7″ long.  I hoped to get all 3 “orbs” out it.

I put that one the lathe, marked my first section, and began shaping that orb.

I left a tenon on one side of the orb, and drilled a hole in the other.  The intent of this was to use them as a means to attach the top and bottom walnut pieces.  

For the walnut pieces, I took some scrap and cut them into 1″ x 1″ pieces that were about 4″ long.

It was time to practice making finials.

For the bottom piece, I needed to cut a tenon that would fit into the hole that I cut in the orb.  It was also important to undercut that part so that it matched the round shape of the orb.

The top piece is much smaller, and it begins with drilling the hole for the orb’s tenon, and undercutting that bit as well.

I tried a couple of different designs, and here’s my hand for scale.  All I have to do now is drill and mount a small eye hook to help hang it from a tree. 

Skip to the bottom of this long post to see my discussion on making the profit.

Meanwhile....

I love making boxes.  It’s what makes me happy.  I never got into making cutting boards because when I started woodworking, I didn’t have much use for them at home.  Then, as I started to accumulate boxes around the house, I started selling on Etsy to help fund my hobby.  Earlier this year, in the interest of having a variety of products, I brought a couple of cutting and serving boards to a Farmer’s Market, along with my boxes and turned items.  Long story short, I sold out of the boards, and came home with more money than I had ever made at a Farmer’s Market.  Clearly, there was a demand.  

So, I went down the rabbit hole.  This post will be my build process, thought process, and pricing process. 

It starts at the sawmill.  For transparency’s sake, here is my bill for this build, which came to $177.  

I then started cutting the slabs into approximately 20″ sections, with the intent of having a final product of 12″ x 18″.  I ended up with 25 initial “blanks” to help me make money on my $177 investment.

I like to keep as much of the grain intact as possible.  With a piece of walnut like the one below, why would you ever start cutting that into strips?  Let the grain speak for itself!

However, I needed a final width of 12″, so I needed to add about 1.5″ on either side.

So ripped some scrap maple to serve as borders for this board.  It looked okay, but I thought it was a bit boring. 

I then ripped those maple pieces in half, and replaced the kerf with pieces of spare walnut from those slabs.  This looked better (to me).

Other boards needed to cut in the middle for a variety of reasons, but grain continuity is very important to me.  I marked the boards (even the boards that would be cut into strips) so that as I reassembled them the grain would still be continuous.  Later, when I pointed this out to potential customers, they were very impressed.

The stack began to grow.  Each cutting board was its own problem-solving activity, so none of the boards were the same, which I enjoyed.  

I like putting feet on the bottom of the boards, and had been using some non-skid feet from Home Depot.  At $2.50 for a set of 4, this would have $62.50 for feet for 25 boards.  I wanted a better deal, so I went shopping on Amazon.  I found these in packs of 30 for about $13. So 90 feet was about $40, which amounts to enough feet for 22 boards, at a cost of $1.80 a board.  Not much better, but it adds up.  So, add $40 to my $177 lumber bill, and so far I’ve spent $217.  

I’ll cut to the chase.  Here is what I was able to bring to the next Farmer’s Market.

I had 15 of the 25 boards ready to go, with others still in the works.

By the next farmer’s market, I had the rest ready.

So, the crux of the matter - making money on cutting boards.  Not counting minor expenses (glue, sandpaper, electricity, wear and tear on tools, etc.) I needed to make money on my $217 investment.  I ended up with 23 boards (2 of my blanks had to be “sacrificed” in the process).  So, let’s do some math.

A lot of woodworkers will tell you to charge double your materials.  So let’s start there.  If you divide $217 by 23, my cost was $9.43 per cutting board.  If I double that, I should charge $18.87 a board, or about $20.  At this price, I would probably sell out very quickly, but my profit would only be $243.  

The thing to remember here is that this is my hobby, not my profession. If you are trying to make a living off of this, this probably won’t pay much of your bills (mortgage, groceries, utilities, etc.).

So let’s look at charging more.  If I charged $50 a board, which is comparable to some cutting board sellers on Etsy for a 12″ x 18″ board, $50 x 23 is $1,150.  Subtract the $217 investment, and the profit is now $933, or about 4.3 times (430%) your investment.  For a hobbyist like me, that’s pretty good.  If you’re making this a profession, you’re getting closer to paying some bills.  However, as your prices increases, your rate of sales most likely decreases.  

Some cutting board makers on Etsy are charging around $100 for a board the size of mine.  Well, after the same math, the profit is over $2,000.  That’s fantastic and a profit of 10 times your investment, but how long will it take to sell all of them?  I honestly don’t know.  I’d like to hear from some of them.  I guess if you’re willing to wait longer to sell all of them, it’s an amazing profit margin.

Where I live, the cost of living is low.  With that, people that come to my farmer’s market booth simply would walk away. Then my profit drops down to zero because I’m not selling any.  If I were in bigger towns like New York or Chicago where people are used to paying more for things, I could probably charge $50 a board quite easily.  I live in Cincinnati, where people will scoff at those prices.

So I turn to becoming an online seller, in particular Etsy.  This allows me to cast a bigger net as far as customers.  The downside, however, is that Etsy is FLOODED with cutting boards.  It’s ridiculous.  Getting discovered by a customer on Etsy will be difficult, especially with many sellers willing to make another investment to “boost” their products so that they appear earlier in searches.  

Also, many sellers on Etsy have the equipment to “customize” the cutting boards through the use of laser engravers, CNC machines, and carving. I don’t have that equipment, and honestly, don’t like it.  I make boards with interesting grain that speaks for itself, so I want that to be the main feature, not a laser-engraved name for cute picture.

So, every cutting/serving board maker has to find their niche and their own comfortablity in that profit and rate of sales relationship.  Do you accept a slower rate of sales in order to make the profit you desire, or lower your price to get immediate (but much less) money?  It’s a personal choice you have to make.  

Again, the biggest factor is if this is a profession or a hobby.  Do you have kids’ mouths to feed?  Or are you just doing this for fun/relaxation and are just trying to buy/upgrade some tools?

Last time - here’s what I made:

Here’s what got me here so far:

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071061409/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-1-stock

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071433059/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-2

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071955794/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-3-tenons

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163072570234/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-4-shaping

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163073146104/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-5-the-top

Again, here is what I had in mind to attach the top to the base, so that wood movement wouldn’t ruin my lovely new table later:

So I made them.  I dug out some scrap from this project, cleaned it up, gave it the dimensions I wanted, and with a couple of passes on the tablesaw I had them.

I cut that into pieces and got out my counter-sink bit.

That’s it.  I was ready to start applying finish!

For assembly, I moved the pieces from my shop to their destination and started assembling.

I made sure it was sturdy (it was actually ridiculously sturdy, I could breakdance on this thing).

All that was left to do was enjoy!

Final product preview:

For those of you would would like to catch up:

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071061409/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-1-stock

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071433059/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-2

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071955794/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-3-tenons

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163072570234/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-4-shaping

It begins with rough stock:

After some cleaning up and dimensioning, I had the necessary components.

I help with alignment during glue up, I used a homemade dowel jig.  I got the idea from David Picciuto.  Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epPHaxDCv48

Here is my version:

I cannot express enough how well this worked and how much time (and wood thickness) this saved me.  By the end of the day, I had a nice table top coming into form!

With a quick pass of the router and chamfer bit, I did another dry assembly of the base and placed on the table top.  Insert pure joy here.

Then...the joy went away.  It was time to sand.  I marked it up with a pencil and started at 80 grit.  When all the pencil lines were gone, I worked my way up to the grits. After sanding to 220, I gave it a wipedown with water to raise the grain. 

Later, when dry and fuzzy, I resanded with 220 and declared the top ready.

As usual, preview of where I’m going:

If you need to catch up:

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071061409/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-1-stock

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071433059/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-2

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071955794/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-3-tenons

That brings us to this point, the initial dry fit:

While I was happy it worked, it was far too blocky.  It was time to start shaping the feet and supports.  A simple jig allowed me to repeat the cut I needed.

I intended to attach the table top to the support with button fasteners, like this:

I used a rabbet bit on my router for that.  For the feet, I set up my dado stack and removed a small bit in the middle.  This would prevent rocking later, when the coffee table was assembled.

It was time to commit.  I connected the feet, vertical pieces, and supports.  When dried, I used the bandsaw to remove most of the waste, then sanded flush.

The last part of the base was the knockdown wedge.  I used a piece of walnut, with one edge cut at a 5 degree angle to match its mortise.  I initially had a small design flaw that I realized when I went to do another dry fit.  I cut about a half-inch of each end of the wedge and it fit just fine.

Yay!  It’s looking really cool now!

I gave all of these pieces a good sanding, and then started to approach the table top.

Final product preview:

Parts 1 and 2, if you need catching up:

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071061409/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-1-stock

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071433059/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-2

With my mortises cut, it was time to cut the matching tenons.  I just used a dado stack and took a few passes and a time, creeping up on final dimensions.

in the tenon of the horizontal piece, I needed to cut a mortise on each side.  The tricky bit was that it also needed a 5 degree bevel for the knockdown peg.

I used my mortising machine to get the vertical part first.

Then I set up a jig for registering my chisel at the necessary 5 degree angle.

The tenons on the vertical pieces would be wedged tenons, so I made those cuts on the bandsaw.  Because each tenon was a custom match for a mortise, I marked them for later.

On to shaping!

Again, I made this knockdown trestle coffee table for myself:

Here is Part 1, if you need to catch up:

https://sultanofsawdust.tumblr.com/post/163071061409/knockdown-trestle-coffee-table-part-1-stock

Let’s begin mortising the feet and supports!  I used painter’s tape to ensure I didn’t go beyond where I wanted.  I used my mortising machine to get me close.  I went about 2/3 of the way through, flipped the piece over, and finished the mortise.  I have learned in the past that is avoids blowout.

To clean up the edges, I used a chisel.  The make sure I was approaching the mortise square, I created a jig that would allow me to rest the flat bottom of the chisel against and start tapping with my mallet.

Repeat this process with the vertical pieces.

Part 3 is tenons!

I made this coffee table for myself:

Let’s show you how I did it!

It starts with the prep of stock.  I bought 5/4 hard white maple from the sawmill with the intent of cleaning it up and ending up with 4/4 stock, of which I would laminate.  I started with what would be the feet and table-top supports.

From there, I went to work on the horizontal beam that would connect the two vertical pieces, and also cleaning up and squaring up the feet and supports.

Next up, the mortising begins!

The 10-year-old cheap table saw died this week, so it was time to upgrade.  All of my old sleds don’t fit the new sled, and it is high time to improve them anyway.  I struggled with how to align the runners and fences to ensure square cuts, then it dawned on me.  I could use my dado stack to cut a shallow recess to help register the fences and runners in the correct position.  

I purchased a 4′ x 8′ sheet of double-sided melamine.  I liked the idea of a flat, smooth, low-friction surface.

After wrestling it into my basement, I cut two 2′ sections that were 2′ x 4′ for my first two sleds.  Then I cut four 5″ pieces that were also 4′ long; these would be my front and back braces/fences.  The piece in the very far back of the second picture is what I have left over for a third fence, which is coming soon.

Next came fussing with the dado stack to get the perfect width of cut.  I used scrap pieces to test it out.  I finally got it shimmed the correct width.

First up was the cut the two dados for the front and back braces/fences.  I only wanted a shallow cut, just enough for correct alignment.  By using the dado stack and fence on my table saw, these two grooves are guaranteed to be square to the blade!

Next, I turned the board over and 90 degrees so that I could cut the runners, which I made out of some scrap hard maple I dug out of my cutoffs bin.

I only did the one runner with the dado method.  I just didn’t want to risk creating wiggle room.  For the second runner, I placed the runner in the track, elevated by some pennies to ensure it didn’t hit the bottom, then screwed the runner to the sled from the top.  

In the end, I had two cross-cut sleds (one regular, one miter) that had zero wiggle and were perfectly square to the blade!

Old vs New

This is a great way to utilize some scrap wood.  Let’s get to it.  Glue up the main pin, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2″ x 2″ and 18″-24″ in length.

Next, create a terrible-looking but effective jig that will cut a consistent angle that you like.  It should have some sort of stop so that you are always cutting the same center point.  My stop is that notch in the walnut.

Start cutting.

Insert a thin piece of contrasting wood and glue it up.  This will be a pain, but try to get the pin pieces as aligned as possible.

Rotate the piece 90 degrees or 180 degrees, depending on what kind of knot you prefer.

Ideally, you should mark one end of the pin and ALWAYS put that end in the same end of the jig.  I didn’t, and the rings were off-center.  After pouting for a bit, I problem-solved by making this a double Celtic knot.  

Trim it up to prep it for the lathe and then start making it round.  Once round, mark your ends from center to create the classic tapered ends of a french rolling pin.

Meanwhile, admire how awesome the center of pin looks!

Sand it up and then apply some food-grade finish to it.  I used butcher block treatment that I use on cutting boards.

I’m new to woodturning, but thought I’d share with you how I made this:

It’s very easy, if you know at least a little about bowl-making on a lathe.  This is just a quick post to show you how I augmented the blank.

I started out with some scrap wood that I saved from my local sawmill’s “To Be Mulched” bin.  It was an offcut that they couldn’t sell, and were planning on turning it into mulch.  I asked if I could have it, and they were kind enough to give it to me for free.

I marked out a basic circle and offset a cross (not religious, I just liked the look and don’t know how else to describe it).

Then I used a miter saw to make the first cut.  I put in some scrap walnut that I dug out of my own cutoffs bin and glued/clamped it up.  I wasn’t thrilled about gluing end grain to long grain, but this was just an exercise in fun.

When that set up, I took it back to the miter saw and made the second cut, placed in the second piece of walnut, and glued/clamped it up again.  This time it was long grain to long grain, so I felt better about it.

Now I needed to find a new center for my circle/bowl, and used sharpie to clearly define where I needed to make my blank on the bandsaw.

I liked the cross being offset.  Okay, it was time to max out the swing capacity on my baby lathe!

After that, it was just another bowl to make.

The through-tenons were done, so it was on to working on the wedged part.  I drilled some holes to minimize stress and splitting, and then used my bandsaw to cut the kerf.

If I recall correctly, I set my miter saw to 2 degrees and cut some wedges.

With glue, clamps, and a mallet I dove into the “point of no return.”

The next day, I cut them flush and sanded them smooth.  My chisel work left a bit to be desired, but some sawdust and glue helped fill the mistakes.  There are definitely people better at this than me.  Still, it is a SUPER strong joint.

I needed to cut a rabbet in the back to house the picture and glass.  I used my rabbet bit on my router table, taking small passes at a time and gradually increasing the height.

With some quick chisel work I squared off the corners and gave it the dry fit.  Yay!

I needed glass.  I left that to the experts, and went to a local glass shop where they cut it to size for me.

Using a trick I saw from the Wood Whisperer and his picture frame, I placed in the glass and picture, then ran a pencil along the back to show me where I would need to drill pilot holes for whatever I was going to use to hold everything in while hanging on the wall.

Finally, I applied the finish, used some screws to hold in the glass and picture, and I was done!

It’s imperfect, but I learned a lot and it still looks pretty darned nice.

At the end of last year, I arranged a trade with another woodworker.  I sent him this keepsake box for a picture he drew.

So, it was time to build a frame for it.  Most of my work utilizes miter joints reinforced with splines/keys.  I wanted to get outside of my box a bit, and I really like wedged tenons.  

First, I made a full-scale drawing, just to help me visualize the joinery and dimensions.  I traced the picture so that I would know how big the backside rabbet would need to be.  Then I added the widths that I wanted for the wood.

Next, I did some math, made my marks, and starting using my benchtop mortiser.

I didn’t go all the way through, fearing blowout.  I hollowed out most of it, then flipped the board over and want at it from the other side to finish going all the way through.

Now it was time to cut the tenons.  I made my marks, and used my dado stack on my table saw.  Finally, shop cat came by to see what I was doing.

The premise was simple.  I had invited some friends over for a dinner party and wanted long, rectangular-shaped plates to serve appetizers and desserts.  I didn’t have any, and it turns out they were a bit expensive.  I decided to make them out of scrap wood for basically free.

There is nothing ingenious, creative, or outstanding about what I did, but I’m writing this to show you what can be done in one day’s time and for very little money.  

I began with scraps and cutoffs I had laying around.  I glued them up, like I was making a cutting board.  The order went: 2 inches of maple, 1/4 inch of walnut, 1/2 inch of maple, 1/4 inch walnut, and another 2 inches of maple, which adds up to a 5 inch wide board.  They were roughly 13 inches in length, so that I could get 12 inches after squaring them up.  I didn’t pay much attention to grain patterns, similar/contrasting colors of maple, etc.  I liked the randomness.

After planing to final thickness, somewhere around 3/4 inches, I squared them up on the cross-cutting sled:

I wanted to fancy up the edges a bit, so I used one of my miter sleds to knock off the corners a bit:

Next up, for final fancying, I used my router table and a chamfer bit:

After sanding to 220, I used a food-grade butcher block treatment to make them a bit resistant to food staining.  You can see the randomness of the maple coloring:

Later that weekend, they worked great for both the appetizer and dessert course!

Normally, when I do glue-ups, I like to give it a full 24 hours, but I was in a rush (this was a bit of a last-minute decision) so I followed the directions on the glue bottle, which indicated a clamping time of 30 minutes.  From start to finish, this was about 7 hours of straight work, so these CAN be done in one day, but most of you would agree this would probably be better as a 2-day project.  Still, I’m happy with how they turned out, and my dinner guests thought they were cool.