I may have written this in another blog or two but it bears repeating. I have never really worked with wood in my life. I have however used my laser on pre-made wood blanks from hobby stores and people close to me know I was doing this.

On Thanksgiving of 2021 my wife’s sister and her husband came over to the house and brought me a full sized Milwaukee router from a garage clean out from someone who had passed away.

The next day I took a rectangle of wood and put a routed edge on it and I think I probably giggled for 30 minutes. I was tickled at how good it looked and how easy it was to do.

Since then I have bought several woodworking tools and a CNC machine. I generally prefer to make things that are useful and not just trinkets and this blog will showcase a few of those projects.

Here’s thing number 1. We renovated our bathroom upstairs. My wife said she wanted some towel hooks on the back wall but said she wished it were on a board and not just the wall. I decided to take a stab at it………………..

I did okay! One pic is the unpainted poplar and the other is painted to match the wall.

Bathroom Towel Hook Board (click pics to enlarge)

Okay that’s not so impressive. It’s just a board with a beveled edge but it was epic for me and gave me confidence to carry on.

Next up. Valentines Day. We have a saying at our house for Valentines Day. “Oh Crap”. It’s what I said once when my wife told me Valentines was in a day or two. It stuck.

I had not a clue what to do but we renovated the bathroom so my wife could take baths in a nicer environment. Then it hit me. I would make her a bath board. It has a ceramic tile which she uses for a hot towel, a wine glass slot, and an angled slot for her iPhone. Also made some holders for those little tea candles.

Bath Board (click pics to enlarge)

And while I’ve made several other pieces my latest one is my favorite so far. I think a woodworkers rite of passage is a fancy cutting board. A friend of mine took me to an appointment only exotic wood warehouse where I got some Zebra wood and some Granadillo wood. I cut them into different sized strips, glued them together, cut and planed it down and finished it.