Category: Frog Blog

I recently built this very large (total 60” x 48”) sewing table for my spouse. I used distressed oak that occurs from disease or insects and causes the dark streaks in the wood. In my opinion, it gives it a beautiful appearance compared to just basic oak. But because it was oak, it was definitely […]

It was a long November with lots of travel and family activities so no posts. From 1 – 21 Dec 2025 there is a special show for Christmas in the back room of the Jemez Spring Fine Arts Gallery, where I’m a member. In it, all the artist from the gallery have included items that […]

About 10 days ago, I started building two boxes. One is cherry with a maple and purple heart inlay, and the other is walnut with rosewood and walnut inlay (meant to be more subtle). The details on these projects are as perfect as I could make them. The level of precision on projects so small […]

Over the past couple of weeks, I built this perfectly-sized storage cabinet using knotty alder. It has tongue and groove sides with simple frame and panel doors and three sturdy drawers. It was an easy build using the same style as the other furniture in the bed room. It took me about two weeks to […]

Upcycled Pine Last week, a good friend asked if I could help her build a barn door-style door. I’ve built a few and knew it wouldn’t be too hard a job, so I agreed. She brought over 25 board feet of used Douglas Fir that came from an old house she had torn down. It […]

19/38 Drumsander and 8” Helicalhead Jointer During COVID, I got a drumsander. In the past when I’ve needed this resource, I’ve paid one of the cabinet shops in town to sand large panels for me. I finally bought one during COVID and it is by far one of the most used tools in my shop. […]

Hickory and Exotics  Several years ago, I started making picture frames for the cabin with a ½” inlay in the 1 ½” wide hickory frame. I created the inlay with maple, padauk, and wenge. Padauk is the orange color, wenge is the black, and maple is white. It created a classy look for a simple […]

In May, I retired with 37 years of service in the Air Force. It was an amazing career with 20 years of active duty service and 17 years as an Air Force civilian. Over the past ten years, we’ve been working on a cabin in the woods to retire to. One of the challenges was […]

I created another gift project! About three months ago, I retired from federal service, and I’ve been loving every minute in the shop. I’ve mostly been working on projects for the house– space-saving and organizational options (I’ll post some of those later on). Most recently, I built myself a laptop desk, and I decided to […]

I’ve been building wooden gift items for several years now, when I’m not working on a commission. Additionally, the excessive cost of wood due to COVID has caused me to limit large wood purchases, so instead of large furniture projects, I’ve created more gift items. I really enjoy the small projects, and I actually have […]