Woodworker's Journal

editor picks: greene & greene bedroom set

Architects Charles and Henry Greene were premier designers of homes and furniture. Their distinctive style was popular at the turn of the 20th century and remains so today. Here are three bedroom furniture pieces that are influenced by their designs. You can buy each as a single plan or all three in a combined plan. Originally built by senior editor Chris Marshall, they are elegant heirloom furniture projects. Purchase these plans at www.woodworkersjournal.com/wjfeaturedplans Greene & Greene Dresser This seven-drawer dresser (plus three hidden drawers!) will give you a woodworking workout. Quartersawn ribbon mahogany used here is consistent with Greene brothers’ wood preference. The drawers are assembled with wide box joints to add to the visual feast of this substantial build. Bed in the Greene Brothers’ Style Here’s a queen-sized bed suitable for royalty. Its…

from our readers

LOOK OUT, I AM SHIFTING GEARS! The last year or so I feel like I have been trying to play the game, but someone keeps changing the rules. But even with the pandemic jamming up the gears, I am not complaining. I have been extremely fortunate over the course of the pandemic and my family has done well. Compared to others, my path has been relatively easy. But at the same time, it seems as though I have been stuck in a traffic jam that just keeps creeping along. You can do this … oops, not that! Meeting with close family must be delayed to an undetermined future date. Sometimes it seems as if it might speed up a bit … and then there is a detour, for crying out loud!…

letters

Food-safe Epoxy Option In the October 2020 issue, page 10, Rob Johnstone mentions that the majority of epoxy manufacturers do not produce food-safe epoxy. I have found that Stone Coat Countertops (stonecoatcountertops.com) offers some terrific FDA food-safe epoxies. Anytime you introduce color additives to epoxy, it makes it no longer food safe. But Stone Coat’s clear epoxy is food safe, and they always suggest adding a clear flood coat. Their Ultimate Top Coat is also food safe and capable of being applied directly to a wood or hybrid wood/epoxy piece. Joseph B. via the Internet Should I Use Red Oak Now or Let It Sit First? I’ll be buying kiln-dried and surfaced red oak from my local big box store for a dry bar project I want to build. I don’t have a jointer or…

reader projects

Archival Dictionary Stand Plan Delivers I’ve been a Woodworker’s Journal subscriber since the 1980s, and I save every issue. So when my 1929 Webster’s dictionary needed a stand, I built one using a plan I found in the July/August 1986 issue. I constructed it from lumber I harvested from a walnut tree in our yard that had died of natural causes. My sincere thanks. Your plans never let me down! Ted Waller Durham, North Carolina Reader’s Version of Sandry’s Ginkgo Leaf Table in Cherry Willie Sandry’s talent for design really came through in his “Ginkgo Leaf Table” project [October 2020]. I built my iteration of it using black cherry with ornamental cherry from a friend’s yard for the legs. The finish is polyurethane with no stain in order to let the beautiful natural cherry colors…

survey

WE ASKED OUR SURVEY GROUP ABOUT VENEER Veneering has been around since ancient Egypt and is a way to add detail and variety to your work. Here’s what we learned about its popularity. Have you ever completed what you would consider a significant veneering project (tabletop, cabinet carcass, etc.)? Yes 32.02% No 67.98% If you do not use veneer in your woodworking, why not? I do use veneer regularly 16.06% I don’t know how to apply it 3.92% I don’t like how it looks 4.7% I don’t know where to buy it 1.83% I don’t do that sort of woodworking 20.5% Never really considered it 26.37% Other 14.1% Is veneering something you would like to learn more about? Yes 47.45% No 52.55%…

stumpers

Your Trains of Thought About It Pat Graeser, who purchased February’s mystery tool, will have a fair amount of information about its former uses, thanks to your guesses and even direct experience with wrenches of this sort. There were a couple of farther-flung hunches at what this unusual wrench might be for. “It looks like a jar lid opener,” offers Jim Thompson. “This is a faucet wrench,” said Kenneth Salsman, “and it’s for removing the top nut to replace the faucet washer.” Well, nice guesses, guys, but your fellow sleuthers will beg to differ with you here. The general verdict that rose from the murky swamp of history is that this wrench’s jaw style points to its purpose. You’ll recall that the jaws open like a “V,” and only one of them is toothed. “It’s…