DIY Woodworking

Welcome to Woven Wednesday. Although my favorite crafts involve yarn or fabric, I enjoy all creative projects. But before I share my one and only endeavor in woodworking, I need to tell you a story. 

My journey into woodworking began when I bought my husband a complete tool kit for Christmas one year—saws, drill, levels, the works. Of course I had an ulterior motive. I wanted a particular kitchen cabinet called a Hoosier, named for the Hoosier Manufacturing Company in Indiana. It has a flour bin on the left, closed shelves, roll-up enclosure, drawers, and enamel pull out counter.

From the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s every well-appointed American kitchen had to have one. It would fit perfectly in my 1950s retro kitchen. 

I had sentimental reasons for wanting this particular cabinet. My mother had one in her kitchen, identical to the one pictured, except it was all white. As I was growing up, my first attempts at cooking was at this free-standing cabinet. It was my space. The bottom shelf was filled with little boxes of cake, cookie, and bread mixes which I baked in my little tin cookset. Standing on an upside down Coke crate, I could reach the counter to mix my creations. This was before the Easy-Bake oven, so my tins went straight into the big oven.

I loved that cabinet, but after my mother passed away and her estate liquidated, I lost it. That loss sent me in search of a replacement, but antiques were too expensive. 

Why not a replica? I had no doubt my husband, Robert, could do it. I’ve been writing romance long enough to know a hero can do anything, and hubby is my hero. I'd given him a golf set one Christmas, and he started playing golf big-time. My logic said all I had to do was get him the tools for cabinet making.

True, Robert had never given me a shred of evidence he could build anything. In fact, he kept lending those fancy tools to friends and forgetting to get them back. While he's a wonderfully talented man in many ways, he didn't show any interest in woodworking. Still, hope doesn’t need much evidence, so I showed him the design layout for the cabinet. It included full drawings, cut instructions, and materials list. What else could he possible need?

He studied the design for a long time, then folded it into a little piece before handing it back to me. “My grandpa taught me all I know about carpentry, and he built his house with nothing but a claw hammer and hand saw," he said. "Did I ever show you the picture?” He ran off before I could answer. Why would I want to see his grandpa's house? I didn't want him to build a whole house, just a Hoosier cabinet. 

My husband’s grandparents on his father’s side were North Georgia hillbillies, and I’d already heard enough about them to know they were a colorful bunch. One glance of that picture of the house Grandpa had built told me I wasn’t going to get a Hoosier cabinet. All I can say is those shacks in Deliverance were pretty authenic. 

It didn't matter to me. Robert is a great husband, tender, generous and patient. He brought me breakfast in bed until we retired and would have continued except I didn't wake up in time for breakfast. How many wives can boast that? Besides, he has an incredible business sense and can fix anything mechanical. So he doesn’t have any carpentry skills and doesn’t want to learn any. So what? But I was determined to get something out of those expensive tools before he gave them all away. Which is why I decided to make something myself. The project I’m going to share with you.

I decided on a bench for my garden. This one is the simpliest design possible aside from a board set on blocks. Full disclosure—this isn’t a picture of the one I made, but mine does look like it. Unfortunately, my garden doesn’t look like this, so that’s why I didn’t take a picture of mine.

Here is the material list and directions, so rev up your drills.  

Aldo Leopold Design:

2 10 feet 2x8 pressure-treated boards (I used 2x10s because I need a wide seat)

16 deck screws

Wood glue

Cut 2 rear legs - 2x8 x 17 1/4 inches at 22 1/2 degrees (Measure 3 or 4 times. This is important.)

Cut 2 front legs - 2x8 x 36 inches at 22 1/2 degrees

Cut Seat - 2x8 x 42 inches

Cut Back - 2x8 x 45 inches

Lay out the pieces according to the picture and mark for screws. Predrill holes and countersink. (This requires a special drill bit. I learned that the hard way.)

Slather on wood glue at joints like you'd slather on cake icing.

Drill in the screws

There you have it. The perfect place to sit in the garden and read a good book. Speaking of good books, any comment through October 4 will enter you for the giveaway of Daughters of the Heart by Caryl McAdoo. May I also suggest you mosey over to Amazon.com to download my Annex Mail-Order Brides series.

We'd love to hear about your DIY projects, woodworking or any other.

This Old Trunk

Trunks have been around nearly as long as people have had the need to travel or move to new locations. A trunk often held all the owner’s earthly belongings, or sometimes a whole family’s. It held up well and was used in the place of a table or for storage, and was usually passed down to a daughter getting married or a son about to move out on his own.

 

When the early settlers came to the New World, pioneers traveled west in wagon trains, and thousands of Europeans immigrated to America for a better life, they brought all their necessities and treasured possessions along in their trunks. 

The trunk in the photo below belonged to my husband’s grandfather, Herman Wirgau. He and his two brothers came from Germany in the late 1800s and settled in northern Michigan. The trunk remained at his farm for over 100 years, and now it’s on display in our basement. His name is on top, and the inside is unfinished wood. Ours has just enough of a rounded top to make it unsuitable for a coffee table, and it smells like its age, so I don’t store anything inside.

 

Evidence suggests trunks were in use during medieval times and were made of a variety of different materials. American trunks, some dating back to the 1600s, were flat on top, made of wood, came in a variety of sizes, and were often covered in animal hides. Leather straps, metal ornaments, locks, and brass tacks were gradually added. Most were lined with printed papers or newspaper. This well-preserved trunk dates back to the Civil War.

 

In 1850, a singer named Jenny Lind came to America for a concert tour. Her trunks were covered in leather, curved in at the center, and had several brass bands nailed around them from front to back. Trunk makers began making copies and the new trunk style, known as a Jenny Lind, won the public’s favor. They were also known as bread loaf trunks, due to their shape.

 

Large domes on trunks became popular in the late 1800s for people who wanted to have their trunks placed on top of other trunks on trains or steamships and avoid having their own damaged.

 

Most trunk makers ceased production around 1910, and suitcases took the place of trunks. Old trunks still turn up at antique markets and estate sales, and they often make me wonder about the owner and the journeys he or she took. What wonderful stories these trunks could tell!

Is there an old trunk in your family? How do you use it?