Garden Bridge

This bridge was built for a neighbor. He has a small koi pond in his back yard and wanted a garden bridge for added decoration. He didn't want to spring for cedar since he plans on painting it next year to match his fence, so it is made of pressure treated pine.

The planks are made of 1x6 and the spindles are 1x1 with a standard railing from the home improvement store.

The Canoe Stand

A friend got a canoe from his father-in-law and needed a way to store it off of the ground and high enough so that it wouldn't become a home for rodents. This is what I came up with.




There are a few things that I did -not normal - on this project. The first was that the only tool that I used that required electricity was the cordless drill. Everything else was done by hand. Because this is only going to be used to hold a canoe - and will be outdoors - none of the wood was squared. Just standard pressure treated 2x4's with a 2x6 for the base.

All of the wood was cut by hand by my wonderful daughter. Since she always wants to help me, I figured this was a safe project for her to help with.


The through tenons were cut by hand - Adrienne cut them, and did the rough shaping with a chisel. I finished the shaping and cut the mortises with the drill and a Forstner bit. The tenons are screwed in from the underside with a 2" deck screw.


For the legs, I cut small mortises for them to sit in as well. They are bolted from underneath with a couple of 1/4 lag screws. On the stretchers, this was the one place that I lacked the creativity to hide the fastener.





My son, Matt went with me to set it up. We delivered it in 4 pieces and set it up on site. The two end frames and the two stretchers so it was just a matter of bolting the stretchers back onto the frames. This was the only way that it was fitting in the mini-van. The unit when put together was just short of 7 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The canoe sits 18 inches off the ground.

The #7 Bailey and a Picnic Table

I had to build a picnic table for a customer. A couple of things have happened.

#1 I blew up my miter saw last weekend, so the job became instantly more difficult.

#2 I still don't have a thickness planer.

I used the circular saw for the cross cuts and my #7 Bailey for leveling out the boards on the top of the table.


The #7 was properly tuned and very sharp. I needed every bit of sharpness.





Hand planing a 6 1/2 foot picnic table is/was quite a workout.

So a shower and 4 Advil later, I am done in the shop for the day.

Cedar Grill Station

After many years of hunching over a grill and ruining many a TV trays I decided to build this grill station.

It is made completely of cedar.

The table top is 36 inches deep and 5 feet long. Plenty of room to set the steaks & spices next to the grill. The top was made using cedar deck boards that have finished dimensions of 5 1/2 inches wide x 1 inch thick

The legs are made of 4x4 cedar posts that are 36 inches tall. The stretchers are 2x4s

The grill is a standard 22 1/2 Weber Kettle Grill. Underneath the table is a frame and spacer bolts holding the grill. Although you can't see it very well, there is an 1 1/2 inch gap around the grill to prevent the cedar from heat & fire

The sub frame holding the grill is strong enough to easily hold the weight of the grill and an 18 pound turkey.

I built a small table under the grill and bought a metal pan to act as an ash catcher. In future versions of this table the ash catcher was hung from the pegs of the grill that used to house the legs and the table is gone.


I have also added medium size hooks on the front and side (not pictured) to hang cooking and grilling utensils.


The unit it self ways about 150 pounds. Enough to withstand Wisconsin's thunderstorms and some pretty heinous wind storms.