H A P P Y N E W Y E A R 2 0 0 9

Splinters Woodworks wishs each and everyone a very healthy and Happy New Year

For more information go to: http://www.splinterswoodworks.com/

Mother Nature Christmas Present.....

Of course this present was delivered just as the snow blower decided that it was tired. Once the trailer and vehicles were dug out we loaded the blower up for a trip to the nearest shop for a diagnosis. The answer was not what we wanted to hear, but what can you do. We are still waiting for its return.

It is hard to tell from the photos, but snow depth on the roof tops was between 3-4 feet deep. Needless to say it has slowed down work in the shop for a bit.


I had to use a roof rake to pull the snow off where I could reach it and especially around our stove pipe to our house wood stove.

Custom Hickory Cutting Board with Walnut ends

This 12 inch wide by 16 inch long cutting board was created using 1 inch Hickory for the center




Walnut strips were used for the breadboard ends. Wood biscuits were inserted in the ends during glue up to create a strong bond between the two woods. As on all my cutting boards a quality food grade mineral oil was applied to preserve the wood. It was created for a friend to give to her dad for Christmas. She was very excited to see the outcome of her idea.









This photo shows the finger grove I routed in the ends to make it easier for the use to pick the board up.



Next up on the project list: Two large Cherry Cribbage boards 28 inches long and 8 inches wide and a large version of this board...24 inch x 24 inch... stay tuned I hope everyone is having a joyful holiday season...Thanks for everyones support and patience....

Maple Cribbage board with a Walnut inlay..

This four person box style cribbage board was created for a client as a Christmas gift for her husband.


It was made out of hard maple with an inlayed walnut strip.

A light stain was applied to give it the darker look you see.

The board came with a set of custom metal pegs, a deck of cards, and set of instructions.
My client was very pleased with the outcome of her request. It is always very rewarding when clients are sincerely excited to see the finished product.

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This is the inside of the box used to store the cards and pegs when not in use.




The pockets were finished out using a router and then covered with a coffee colored felt.

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This photo shows the front lip which has a routed finger grove to make it easier to open the box.

Happy Holidays

Here is wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas...Taking a few hours break from the shop to do a little celebrating and then right back to work....

Pizzaiolo Bavaro Custom Mahogany Pizza Peels on their way to their new home....

The custom peels are headed to Pizzaiolo Bavaro in Tampa, Florida, which plans to open in January, 2009. Their progress went well and they turned out very nice.

The longer handle peel is 4 foot in length with a 12 inch paddle and the smaller one is 24 inches with a 12 inch paddle.

Giant Lizard heading East....

The blizzard has passed and left in its wake chilly temperatures...brrr... thankfully the wood stove is heating away and the shop is warm..

This special request critter Christmas present says it has had enough of Montana and soon will be on its way to Wisconsin... I tried to tell it that Wisconsin was a lot like it is here, but it didn't feel like listening.

The lizard cribbage board is made out of dark walnut and is approximately 20 inches long and 13 inches wide. It has a two person track and was designed to be hung on the wall when not being used.


This is where Lizzie started its journey coming out of this 14 1/2 inch wide piece of walnut.


This is the initial raw wood cutout of the lizard of choice. You can't really tell, but it has patterns carved on the center of the back and also on the front legs.



This is after sanding of the board is complete and the gloss polyurethane has been applied. The rich grain pattern of the walnut really adds to the look. This photo was taken on a different camera with different lighting and backdrop giving it a different appearance.



And finally the track is now drilled, along with a game counter on the rear right leg. The next step is to do a final sanding and then apply the final coat of hand rubber poly. After that prepare it for it journey to the land of cheeseheads.

Slight delay on pending projects.....

This is the weather forecast we received:

WEST GLACIER REGION- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...SWAN LAKE 700 AM MST FRI DEC 12 2008 ...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 PM MST SATURDAY... .REST OF TODAY...CLOUDY WITH AREAS OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S TO MID 30S. .TONIGHT...SNOW LIKELY. BLOWING SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. VISIBILITY ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 inches.

Needless to say I spent most of the day either moving snow or firewood or warming up from being out in the weather.... Hopefully tomorrow I will finish up some projects and get them ready to mail on Monday.
I am a little bit ready for some sunshine and warmth....

Idaho Cribbage Board

This is the latest completed cribbage board. It was a large board approximately 10 x 20 inches to be able to put the full track on the board. Created out of Hard Maple, as you can see the grain really showed through the clear poly finish nicely.


It additionally had lettering lasered on the bottom right, however I do not have a photo of that.

Pizzaiolo Bavaro Custom Mahogany Pizza Peels Continue....

As you know from the previous post I am working on a couple custom peels that are headed to Pizzaiolo Bavaro in Tampa, Florida, which plans to open in January, 2009. The progress is going well and I have hopes to have them ready to ship by the end of the week.

Pizzaiolo Bavaro Custom Mahogany Pizza Peels

These custom peels are destined to Pizzaiolo Bavaro in Tampa, Florida, which plans to open in January, 2009.

They are being crafted out of African Mahogany and will be used in a custom brick oven imported from Italy.

This is the raw mahogany lumber to be cut into proper lengths.




This is the smaller peel being glued up. It is a 12 inch paddle with a 24 inch overall length.










This is the smaller peel after glue up and before shaping






This is the smaller peel after the shaping process has began.













This is the larger peel being glued up. It is also a 12 inch paddle, but with a 48 inch overall length.







This is the larger peel after glue up and just before shaping










This is the larger peel after the shaping process has began. The handle is around 2 inches wide and has smoothed over edges to make it comfortable to hold.









Once this peel was created and shaped I laminated a strip of hard maple on the back of the long handle and paddle. This is done to give extra added support in the overall performance of the peel. The entire handle is rounded over and gives off a look of elegance as well as adding to the function of the peel.



To be continued as the project continues........

More personalized Montana Cribbage Boards

Two more Montana Cribbage boards are on there way to their new owners. These requests were different as you can see, using their motorcycle photo lasered on it and the other only the lettering.




The laser lettering was done by Blue Dragon LLC/ in Columbia Falls, Montana using a Epilog Laser.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is hoping you all had a nice Thanksgiving. In this space in time we all have to be thankful for a lot of things.

We celebrated the evening before we left with a family meal. It was a very memorious occasion for me and I was very glad to get on the road and headed back to my neck of the woods.

The holiday was spent on the road driving from Seattle, with a stop over in Spokane where I very much enjoyed a great Turkey dinner at a local Perkins. They actually gave me a senor discount for being old. How sad is that? Finally the gray hair paid off.

The following morning before leaving the big city was "BLACK FRIDAY", now how can you be in the big city and not partake a little bit in the fanfare? Which started at 4 AM, Without us.

Of course it goes without saying that Sears was my first stop and lo and behold they were not all out of door buster items. I was able to pick up some much needed additional clamps at 50% off. Of course we then had to walk through the large mall there to see what else we just couldn't leave with out and actually we both behaved quite well. That encounter with that many people in one place at one time was way too much for me.

After leaving there and on the way out of town the next stop was at my favorite Woodcraft store to look for bargains and pick up some needed router bits. As usual that is a dangerous store for me to be in, but luckily I was chaperoned by my lovely wife who did her best to keep me in line.

I was able to pick up some really nice African Mahogany for an upcoming project while we were in Seattle at my favorite lumber store. The choices there are really good and they went out of their way to be helpful as always.

The highlight for me of this whole trip there was time spent with my two grandsons and their families, Now it doesn't get any better than that!

Project updates will be posted soon...

Large Pizza Peel for Paizano's Pizza ships....

This peel ended up with a 24 inch long handle and a approximately 27 1/2 inch paddle. The box shipping weight on this creation topped the scales at around 22 pounds, however I am sure I over packed this peel to ensure that it arrived in one piece, a lot of that weight was packaging.
Soon this pizza peel will be holding the giant hand tossed 24 inch pizza's created by Paizano's Pizza. I can only imagine how tired one gets while handling a 24 inch pizza loaded with toppings. It will definitely create some upper body strength. Hopefully this larger peel will help balance the load and make it easier to handle. Someday I will make it by and to sample their fare.

This is a front view of the peel. Contrasting colors of birch were used to create the colors you see. Each peel colors come out different and you never know what that is going to be until you add the food grade mineral oil at the end.


This is the back of the Pizza peel, where the handle is twice as thick as the paddle to give some added resistance when it is loaded down.

Lake Wenatchee Cribbage Board Continued.....

I finished this crib board today and as you can see it came out nice. Because the base was a dark walnut the picture only gave us a silhouette of the mountain, trees and rocks, which I think give the board a nice feel and look, however it is not like the look we would have gotten on a lighter color wood.

The laser lettering was done by Blue Dragon LLC/ in Columbia Falls, Montana using a Epilog Laser.





Here is the photo we started with give you a better idea and perspective of the final product.

Lake Wenatchee Cribbage Board

Production is in the start up stages for a three person cribbage board.






It will have this photo and the words Lake Wenatchee lazered in the center.

This is the boards which will make up the board. The base will be made out of the darker walnut with two inlays of maple running parallel lengthwise, with the holes between the inlays.





Slot has been routered in board in preparation for the inlays.









Inlays being cut on table saw.











Inlays being run through planer to size them to fit the slots.







Inlays going into slot.









Inlays are in place, glued and clamped.









This is the board with the inlays glued in place and ready for sanding and shaping.

Once the board is completed I will rout on all four sides and create a slot on the back to hold the custom pegs.

To be continued....stay tuned!!!