Things made of wood

Woodworking Projects 2016 - 2024

Since being young, I've enjoyed making things out of wood.

Usually aligning with trips to the sugar cane farm my Dad grew up on in Far North Queensland, these manifested as summer holiday projects.

Here, there was a workshop with tools, equipment, and ample free time to spend pottering.

A record of my woodworking projects thus far:

August 2016 – Headphone Stand

Partly out of necessity, I wanted to build a stand for my Audio Technica headphones.

finished headphone stand

I used an amalgamation of designs I'd seen from browsing the internet, but relied mostly on a prefigured concept.

Image generated with Open AI DALLE

After a wood shopping trip to

Bunnings

, I leaned into a 'two-tone' light/dark design as I'd got some rich walnut dowel that I liked the quality and texture of.

Seeing laminations in the plywood on the rounded top support was a bonus. A long time was spent sanding the top support radius and circular bottom radii smooth.

At the time, I was a little obsessed with trying a finishing oil (a result of watching lots of woodworking on YouTube). However, on my dad's recommendation, I opted to use multiple coats of plastic varnish.

In hindsight: I'm glad I took his advice and used this option as (many years later) it seems to have protected the wood well and the surface has aged really nicely (the porous dowel especially has seemed to "soak" up the plastic varnish and revealed details in the grain).

July/August 2018 – Chessboard

2 years on.

This is the largest object on the list. The process of inception was similar to the previous. I thought of a design (an object to solve or serve a purpose) then decided how it could be constructed.

The concept of a chessboard was simple (square blocks of two distinct colors, glued down in a grid to a thin piece of plywood). The effort and work came in repeating the cut in each square block, endeavoring to make each component similar in dimension so the resulting product was more accurate in fit and finish.

Sanding the large flat playing surface ascending up finer grits of sandpaper was extremely satisfying. It's rewarding getting to the point where the surface of the wood shines when it catches the light.

Work was finished with a classy green felt base.

May 2023 – Shaving Brush & Razor Stand

Image generated with Open AI DALLE

I bought a single-blade safety razor from Muehle (expensive, but cheaper to use long term as the single blades are far cheaper to replace than cartridges).

I adored the 'organic' carved handle grip design so wanted to build a sink stand for the razor and a shaving brush.

This is probably the most deeply documented project, with various timelapses showing me cutting down and sanding the wood (I had the vague plan of making a video after the fact).

A longer process of planning and prototyping (involving bits of cardboard cut stenciled to size) as I realised the shape and radius of the upper 'hold' was quite important given that it needed to support and fit the razor on one side, and the brush on the other.

I bought the beech dowel on Amazon, but scored the walnut-like hardwood free from a local carpenter (just an offcut in a pile of wood trimmings in his shop).

This piece was finished with some spare varnish (product like you'd use on floorboards). The location of use (in a bathroom) necessitated the waterproofing.

March 2024 – Apple Watch Charging Stand

Possibly the project I am proudest of: it involves much finer work and intricate shaping than previous.

The design is based on and heavily influenced by this stand. I loved the concept of the circular detachable 'container' that holds the MagSafe charger.

Annoyingly, I have fewer pictures of this build process. However, from the finished result, you can see lines in the wood where I stacked and glued 3 squares to get a black cube-shaped starting point.

The challenging aspects of this build were working out how to cut away that 'slice' of material from the center of the form. I used a Forstner-style drill bit.

After lots (and lots) of sanding, I rounded the form. It's satisfying revealing the shape you desire with careful and meticulous removal of material.

The coolest feature, one I didn't plan for, is the space for a tiny spherical neodymium magnet that secures the charger against the spherical plate. Without this, the charger drops out of the circular case.

August 2024 - Possible Future Projects

Single piece curved monitor stand
Midi Keyboard 'bay' with stand
Playing pieces for chess set (maybe whittled...)