B.Light Design

Another oak tree fell on my parent’s house (seriously this makes three now), no major structural damage, just a broken window. But their misfortune is my gain, tons of fresh wood. Giant logs, probably 3 feet in diameter. They are huge.

So I figured I’d try out something new, quarter sawn oak, on a pair of cutting boards.

Very simple and straight forward project, but I’m really happy with how they turned out. The grain is beautiful and almost no splitting or checking, rare in my experience with green oak.

I’m finishing up a built-in cabinet at my place. Been been planning to do for years. The build went very smooth for the most part (thank you pocket screws). And usually I’m kind of against painted wood, but I figured a white cabinet would blend in nicely with my white walls.

I had a lot of paint left over from a previous home project, so I figured waste not, want yadda yadda. What I didn’t know is that paint can go bad. It gets skunked. Literally, it stinks after it dries. Seriously. We’re talking B.O. here.

Now this is very disheartning. I’m very pleased with the way the cabinet came out, but the smell. So after doing a little research, I discovered a trick. They say a halfed onion in a bowl of water kills the smell. I was skeptical, but tried it. And after a few hours of this I can safely say, my place smells like onions and B.O.

Update: 3 or 4 coats of polyurethane stops the smell.

A friend asked for the parts list to the pot racks I put together awhile back. These pot racks couldn’t be simpler to make. It’s basically connecting a few pipes together and screwing it to the wall. The hardest part is making S-Hooks. Off-the-shelf would work fine, but I’m weird, I think the handmade hooks look better.

2 - 3/4″ galvanized flanges

2 - 3/4″ 90 degree galvanized elbows

2 - 3/4″ galvanized close nipple

1 - 3/4″ galvanized pipe, the length will be roughly the length of the pot rack, I used 12″ and 24″

I also made some S-hooks. Off-the-shelf S-hooks should do the job, but I liked the handmade look. I used 1/8″ steel rod stock

I also polished the pipes with steel wool and then waxed them. I’ve done this every couple of years, keeps it looking shiny.

After a little inspiration from Alma Allen, I turned my first stool (I guess it could work as a low end table as well). One of the bigger pieces I’ve ever turned.

Made from an oak tree that fell in the Poconos. I finished it with stain and tung oil.

14″ tall 10″ diam

You can never have enough hammers. I’ve got a hammer thing going on these days.

My pot rack was mentioned in this morning’s amNewYork. It’s an article about super-sizing small New York kitchens. This is very cool, thanks Lucy.

The article

I’ve recently built a pull-out desk drawer in my bookcase. When the laptops are closed, the drawer tucks away. Every inch counts in a New York apartment.

Now it just needs paint.

So a normal person throwing a Super Bowl party would be cooking, preparing snacks, maybe clean up a little bit. Not me. I’m fixing broken chairs that I’ve saved from the garbage dump, so my guests will have a place to sit.

I’m using Liquid Weld Epoxy. This stuff is great. Works like a normal two part epoxy, but when it dries it is incredible strong. You can sand and shape it as well.

I found this chair on 87th St. One of the back rest connections was completely stripped, and I believe someone actually tried to fix it with chewing gum (seriously). A little liquid weld, a good cleaning, and this baby is good as new.

This chair was originally at my office, but after too many meetings it finally gave out. I shimmed it with some metal rods and added a lot of liquid weld. Eventually I’ll sand it down and make it look nice.

Happy Super Bowl everybody.

Since I’ve seen some really great designs for pipe furniture lately, I figured I’d share something I did a while back.

I made a pot rack using some 3/4″ galvanized pipe, some fittings, and some hand made “S” hooks. After polishing the pipe, hitting it with a light coat of wax, and assembling it, the rack attached to the wall pretty easily with some wall anchors. The “S” hooks were the only real effort.

I bent some stiff wire around a broom handle and cut off the excess with a hack saw. I know it seems ridiculous to make your own “S” hooks (come on you can buy them at any hardware store), but it gives it that extra something. Different lengths and shapes add a little more interest. Off the shelf hooks just don’t look right to me. I’m an “S” hook snob, there I said it.