Son of a maker

Lucy, a tuxedo cat, on top of a walnut bench

Lucy, a tuxedo cat, in a woodworking shop

A dovetailed cherry box for Lucy the cat, 2016-2026, shown outdoors

Lucy, a tuxedo cat, relaxing on a walnut table

Bit of an emotional project in the shop this week. We recently had to say goodbye to our beloved cat Lucy, who you may have seen in photos of my work. I made her a small cherry box for the final part of her journey. #woodworking

Long time listener first time caller.

I’m a custom furniture maker up in Seattle and would be happy to work something out to make this for you, although freight would add to the expense (LA is a little far for my normal delivery)

I’m curious if forging a warrant and impersonating officers of the court expose these folks to heavier charges than if they were just scamming you for $8k some other way. If you sent their warrant to the actual judge they are impersonating, is there a chance that they get “special attention“?

We might not ever know who was persuaded, or inspired, by this protest. She knew what the consequences would be, and chose to follow her values in spite of those consequences, which I find courageous and inspiring.

I feel like they have long had a chip on their collective shoulders for not being seen as cool (like Apple), and valued subtly and refinement and looking good over maximizing usability to prove they are cool too

While there are exceptions (windows xp, windows phone), my general experience with Microsoft designers is that they have a strong aesthetic aversion to contrast. Lots of dark grey on light grey, blue on blue, etc.

One of the highlights visiting Mariners spring training is getting to see Ichiro casually wandering around. No baseball task is beneath him - shagging fly balls in bp? - no problem. Pitching BP? - got it. I half expect to see him raking the infield dirt, just to have an excuse to be out there

And if you can, buy decent tools as you go - crappy tools make things harder and more frustrating than they need to be. Doesn’t have to be top shelf, but stay away from the super cheap stuff

Find YouTube videos for that specific thing, get the tools you need for that specific thing, and dig in and do it. It will take you longer to do in the beginning, but over time you will build up skills, experience, and tools.

My best advice is to just start - pick a thing that annoys you around the house (this door sticks, this window sill is broken, this drain is slow …) and just start.

It depends a bit on your goals. There are good classes available for specific skills like woodworking and furniture making, but I’ve never found something that’s a “how to be handy around the house” in a more general way.

Screenshot from lesbar post on Bluesky, with a badly ai generated picture showing attractive women with 6 fingers on their hands in woodworking gloves, trying to pitch the same.

If Inigo Montoya’s fathers murderer is looking for woodworking gloves, I think I have found the company. #woodworking #badai

Behind The Piece: Figured Walnut Storage Bench — Tapered Grain Learn about how his beautiful figured walnut storage bench with upper splines came to be, including all the details on its design and construction.

If anyone is interested, I wrote a small blog post on the construction details of this piece. www.taperedgrain.com/blog/behind-...

Corner view of a long walnut storage bench with copper accents

Open view of a long walnut storage bench

Closed view of a long walnut storage bench

Frontal view of a walnut storage bench

Finally, my favorite project from 2024 was this figured walnut storage bench. It’s made from Oregon black walnut, features wrap-around grain, mitered corners with copper splines, and a maple lining for the interior. Definitely my 2024 masterpiece . #woodworking

Closeup of sapele table showing folding leg hinge.

Sapele table folded up against a wall

Sapele tabletop on small folding table

Sapele folding table in a small niche

2nd to last entry in this series. A client approached me looking for a small, folding table which could so in a small niche, acting as a homework station in use, and disappearing under a couch the rest of the time. This fun little sapele table was the result. #woodworking

Walnut entry table with a lamp on top, from an angle.

Walnut entry table, straight frontal view

I built this 3 drawer entry table for a client who had some very specific dimensions for the space they were looking to utilize, and I think the proportions came out nicely. I also went with quarter sawn walnut for the main components, to keep the grain quiet and elegant. #woodworking

3 figured maple tea boxes

Figured maple tea box with wenge accents

Figured maple tea box with wenge accents, showing interior compartments.

Figured maple tea box with walnut accents

Next up we have a very different project, a trio of tea boxes (inspired by a mike pekovich design) in figured maple, with a continuous grain match all around. The accents are wenge, walnut, and cherry on the various boxes, and the handles are hand carved. #woodworking

That’s really elegant, nice work on both the birdhouse and the photography.

5 panel sapele wood headboard

Bed with sapele headboard, with matching nightstands on either side.

Pair of sapele nightstands with an open shelf design.

The first entry is this sapele headboard and nightstand combo. The panels in the headboard and the drawer faces are veneered with some figured sapele I found The nightstands feature an open shelf to accommodate some medical devices the client needs, while still leaving a clear tabletop. #woodworking

I own a small custom furniture business in Seattle, WA called Tapered Grain, and I thought it might be fun to post some of my favorite projects from the past year in a thread here over the next couple of weeks. I hope the growing #woodworking community here on Bluesky enjoys.

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Maple shelf with hand cut dovetails and 5 drawers

Maple and walnut shelf and cabinet

I found myself thinking about this maple and walnut desktop shelf/cabinet today. Among other things, between the cases and the drawer, there were upwards of 120 hand cut dovetails. Lots of work, but still happy every time I visit the client’s house and see it. #woodworking #dovetails

Sapele box with dovetail joints, supporting a small statue along a fence

Here is a sapele box I made for my landlord so she can support this small statue on a fence in her garden. #woodworking #dovetails

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