Laser Engraving

We have been playing with our new large format laser engraver to breathe new life into outdated tables, desks, etc. We bought the engraver primarily to use on new construction items, but have found it works great on older pieces too. This 90’s era blonde oak table was one of our first projects but we are now working on several new pieces. You can see more of our Engraving projects on our new business page at http://cmcwayne.com.

UpCycled Night Stand

This night stand was a recent weekend project.  I picked up the very out dated piece for $10 off a local Facebook post.  The trick is to make sure the bones are good (no structural issues), and work some magic with a little paint and some new drawer pulls.  Keep reading to see the full process with pics.

Box/Finger Joints

Long before the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig made right angle joints fast and easy, crafty wood workers used box joints/finger joints to create fast, strong right angle joints for boxes, drawers, etc.  I love the look when using re-cycled lumber such as the serving tray pictured above left.

Re-Purposed old chair into hall tree with shelf and key rack

I wanted to start with this project because there just aren’t a lot of good ideas circulating for this style of old chair.  It isn’t suited for most of the “re-purpose into a bench” ideas (wrong body style), and those ideas don’t help if you only have one chair.  This works well if the chair has a solid base, but the back is damaged or very loose (this chair had several cracked spindles and the back was VERY wobbly).

Thoughts on old stuff

First, credit where credit is due.  The photo above comes from a cool photo blog post by Nate Kay.

So why do I like old stuff and spend hours in my inglorious garage shop fixing up or re-purposing old stuff? Glad you asked.