Author: Kevin Fitzgerald

We received an heirloom crib that many family members used. In order to use it however, some work needed to be done to bring it up to safety standards.

First, it was originally a drop-side crib. These things are deathtraps to today’s standards. Additionally, the wall slat width was substantially larger than todays ~2″ standard. Those two things combined basically meant that new walls needed to be built from scratch. Also, my father-in-law spent some effort refurbishing and paining the crib before I took it over.

Continue reading “Rosalia Crib Redux”

Our office spice collection has been getting out of control, so I was commissioned to build a spice rack for the office. At the same time, a co-worker wanted one for themselves, so I built two.

Continue reading “Office Spice Rack”

With the new bandsaw in the garage, I felt like taking on a challenge. I’ve really wanted to be able to recline on the couch or in bed and still be able to use my computer, and ideally, a mouse. So I set out to do just that. Continue reading “Laptop Couch Stand”

I surprised Luciana with a phone stand for our anniversary. I like giving practical gifts, so why not build something to boot? Continue reading “Luciana Phone Stand”

The idea of turning the trees that fall down in the yard into lumber sounded really cool. I’m sure it’s much better for the environment than using it as firewood.

I recently acquired a 14″ Rikon bandsaw that I’ve been drooling over for a while, and it’s the perfect machine for resawing logs into lumber.

Conveniently, the winds knocked down a few trees in the yard, so I rounded up a few of the logs (box elder and willow) to run through the bandsaw.

Continue reading “Logs to Lumber”

Our company had a white elephant gift exchange where the gifts should be meaningful, not garbage. I opted to make a quick and dirty box to hold a bottle of special edition Captain Morgan 1671. The idea was to make a box that, when aged, might look like it could have held the old-timey bottle.

I made it out entirely out of scrap wood laying around the garage. Lathe strips, 1×2’s and some sort of 1″ stock on the face. Shot it together with staples and gave it a quick sand. Finished it in less than an hour, including Sketchup time.

Continue reading “White Elephant Rum Box”

With a kid, you run out of space to put things. We needed to clean out the garage and basement, so I built some quick garage selves like the ones I put in our laundry room last year. Nothing too fancy, but it can take plenty of weight.

Continue reading “Garage Storage Shelves”

Having seen various versions of toys a baby can play with when laying on their back, I decided to try to build my own version.

At the same time, I wanted to experiment with other hardwoods, so I got a 1×2 of hickory. To finish it, I used the beeswax and mineral oil cutting board conditioner I have, to make it hipster-organic approved.

Continue reading “Rosalia Dangling Toy Rack”

Our office kitchen lacked a cutting board, so I decided to make one out of oak and maple. I even burned in our company logo.

Continue reading “Office Cutting Board”

Continuing on the theme of baby room organization, I decided to make some shelves for the room. I wanted to experiment with wood finishing techniques that weren’t just painting or straight paste-wax.

For this build, I decided to try to use a nice dark stain and finish it with polyurethane. In keeping with the theme of the baby room (woodland creatures), I wanted to highlight the unique features of the boards. At the hardware store, I intentionally went out of my way to find nice low-grade boards that had a lot of character.

Continue reading “Baby Wall Shelves”