Custom Pirate Ship railing

Yes the title says Pirate ship. Every year in Bradenton Florida the HERNANDO DE SOTO HISTORICAL SOCIETY has a Parade which includes Pirate ships. They have events through out the year.

The pirate ships are converted buses or trucks used for parade purposes. During an inspection The FLDOT required a safety railing to be added or the ship could not be street legal.

The railings required were 14 feet long and not only curved to the shape of the bow but also had to curve upward. This is not the challenging part. These railings needed to be fabricated and installed in 14 days.

Railing installed at Bow
Upper Railing at Bow
Railing installed at Bow
1/8″ laminated strips

To make these I made a template out of 1/4″ plywood laid out on supports that were installed by the Crewe.

Due to the urgency we decided to use 2×6 lumber and ripped 1/8″ strips. We laid out 2 sheets of plywood to length and attached the template.

Clamps, clamps and more clamps were used to glue the strips together with the assistance of my brother. Large laminations require us to work fast due to the length of these railings. We glued up four pieces at first to form the basic shape and allowed the glue to dry. We had to make two templates and two different setups for this build as the ship was not symmetrical.

The railings were completed in under a week on the budget. The Crewe installed and stained them in time for the Parade. This was one of my favorite projects because it was unique and challenged my woodworking abilities.

Custom Bar Sink

Our client and friend was renovating his kitchen and was looking to add a custom sink that he had purchased for a bar he had designed. The bar sink was not going to be used very often but when entertaining would be indispensable.

I went to see what he had in mind and the location was in a wall unit style pantry cabinet giving us a depth of 15 inches to work with inside the cabinet. The idea being that it would be behind cabinet doors when not needed. The plumbing had already been installed and he was determined to make this work.

We used mahogany to match the color of his cabinets. We tried every stain imaginable to match and it turned out a simple clear coat was the way to go.

Laminating the top
Rough opening
First coat of clear
Front skirt added

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Display Case construction

The display case was designed to separate into 4 main pieces. Top, bottom and 2 halves of cabinet. This unit was made to fit into a service elevator for delivery to an eighth floor condo. Careful measurements were taken to ensure the finished dimensions were what the client wanted and to be able to deliver it.

Although this is not a deep cabinet it was visible from the sides so we had the opportunity to add raised panels giving this a more classy look. The back panel was stained black allowing the grain to show through and the cabinet was finished in a matte black as per our clients specification.

Lock miter joints were used to stiffen the end panels and eliminate the need for nails or screws. This is an extremely strong joint with a large surface area for glue. Once assembled the joint seam is at the corner. Light sanding and finished it is difficult to tell that the piece of wood is actually 2 pieces joined together.

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Farm Table Construction

Yet another rainy day here in NC. I decided to go through my pictures and share how we made our Farm table. Thanks to my brother in-law I was able to obtain the larger solid hardwood I was looking for to construct the table.

I wish I had taken pictures of the stock I used. It looked like firewood. Anyway after sizing my lumber the first pictures shows the first cuts for the tenon used to make the legs. These joints used hand cut Brazilian Cherry pins to attach the legs at the base. After making the legs for each end I set them in place to determine how long the table should be. I also wanted to maximize the lumber. It seemed a shame to have nice long beams only to cut them down.

First Joint
Holes for Cherry pins
Laying out dimensions

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2019 Project list.

New year new projects. We have created a busy schedule for this year. We still have some 2018 projects to close out but moving forward for 2019.

Rustic King bed for a Master bedroom.
Craftsman guest bathroom
Master bath remodel
Board and batten paneled guest room
Outdoor landscaping and pond renovation.
Custom built-ins for large dining room

Have not decided in what order we will be doing this but I’m sure we will overlap while waiting for glue, primer and finishes to cure.

We will have several photo galleries and possibly some how to’s during our projects.

Check back and feel free to comment