Splinters Woodworks

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Custom LARGE Cribbage Board...............

This is the beginning of a very large custom cribbage board. I created this layout on the computer using CorelDraw, then ran through an Epilog laser to burn the hole layout. I will now lay this over a piece of rolled steel and drill the pattern, which will be in turn used to drill the final board.

The final product will be about the size of a card table, roughly 30 inches wide by 36 inches long. It will probably be built out of a piece of local fir/larch.

It is being created for a client who will give it to a group of folks living in a retirement home.
Every day this group of six play cribbage on several little boards on separate tables.

This board will allow them to all play together. It is a real joy to be part of this project.

Montana shaped cutting board with juice catchers...

This board is being created out of hard maple.

The shape is the outline of Montana, with the shape and groves being routered in using a CNC router.

This board is 22 inches long, 13 inches wide and 1 inch thick. I am sure there will be many meals served from this board.

The client request was to have a cutting board that would keep all the juices from running onto the counter or table once the carving of the meat begins.

As you can see there is a grove all the way around the outside of the board which drain into a pocket on one end. The center "tree" allows the juice to collect and also drain into the same pocket.

Pizza Peel for Truby's Woodfired Pizza....

We are creating a custom pizza peel for Trubys Woodfired Pizza.

This first photo shows the peel in glueup with clamps.
Finished it will be around 3/16 inch thick, have a 16 inch paddle with a 9 inch handle.

It is being made out of a locally harvested birch, which was obtained at RBM lumber in Columbia Falls.

Here it is out of clamps, cut to shape and being molded to finished size and shape.

My wonderful sanding elf is sanding the beveled edge on the peel for the easy moving of the pizza's in and out.

Here is the finished product. Once completed I apply a generous coat of food grade mineral oil to help preserve the wooden pizza peel.

This peel was hand delivered and received well by the client. They liked it so much they are planning on ordering 5 more peels.

I work hard to create a quality product for all my clients.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Huckleberry Days 2009

The 20th Huckleberry Days Art closed on Sunday evening and was visited by 100's of people. Rain and storms had been forecast for the entire weekend, but we made it through the whole time without a drop. Cloudy and cool seemed to appeal to the customers.

We used one of our tables to work on pending projects. This allows visitors to see us in action and to observe how things are done. Here Mara is sanding the edges of a Montana

This pond is in the center of the park and provided a peaceful aire to the festivities.

We were able to set up our booth so it could be entered from two sides. This view is looking toward the street.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

UPDATE..........20th Annual Whitefish Huckleberry Days Art Festival August 7, 8, 9, 2009

The festival was a successful weekend. Even though the weather forecast was for 90% chance of rain and thunderstorm...we made it through the entire weekend with out a drop. The crowds were large and seemed to have a great time just being there shopping for those special gifts or things they wanted. It was rewarding to me as a craftsman to have folks come back who had purchased something before share their happiness of what they gotten earlier and/or buy again either for themselves or as gifts for someone else.
Work in the shop is laying out and creating special orders taken during this show, as well as pending orders from my website

Please attend the 20th Annual Huckleberry Days Art Festival this weekend in the Park Side Credit Union Park. The park is located in the heart of downtown Whitefish, Montana near the O’Shaughnessy Cultural Arts Center and the Amtrak depot.

The fair is a juried event featuring hand crafted items by over 125 accomplished artisans from all over. Check the others out and then

Come visit our booth, say hi and buy your very own custom creation from Splinters Woodwork's. We accept custom orders and can take your ideas and turn them into that perfect gift. Start thinking about that special Christmas gift for someone you love.

Mention this post and receive a 10% discount on any purchase.

Show Dates & Times:

Custom boxes........Shelf....other shop activities

My favorite sanding elf, quality assurance inspector and best friend diligently at work..... keeping me in line on the quality of the finished products.
Here she is scrutinizing items for an up coming show and sending back a couple of boards to be reworked.

This is the first set of two custom birch boxes being created for a client in Maryland.

This custom corner shelf is on its way to a client in Washington State. to being installed to hold trophy's as well as other personal items .

Different view....

This is a stack of fish cutouts which will become cribbage boards. Currently we have trout and Walleye fish types.

Here we have a variety of different projects being worked on.

This one thinks she is the queen and controller of the Splinters household.....she insisted that I put her photo up of her favorite morning spot...

More on up coming projects soon as well as photos of the Huckleberry art show..

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

and the beat goes on.......

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Travel Size Cribbage board..........

After many requests for me to produce a travel size cribbage board that will fold up and be easy to carry, we are getting closer to offering these for sale. It is only in prototype stages currently, but will be available very soon. If you would like one of the first set I finish please send me an email or leave a comment to let me know, or both.

Here is a preview of the process:

As always we start with a rough piece of wood cut close to the finished size we want, allowing for sanding.

In this project the flat piece of wood will be around 11 3/8 inches long, 3 5/8 inches wide and roughly 1 inch thick.

This board is made out of pine, but can be made out of any type wood you prefer.

The pocket for the cards is routed out, as well as a slot for the custom cribbage pegs.

The center between the two pockets is measured and marked and becomes the spot where I make the center cut.

Here the hinges have just been put on.

This shows the board with the hinges put on and a deck of cards inserted in the inside pocket.

This is the playing side of the board. It is a 2 person board, with scoring tracks in the center of each side.

Here is the board in its folded state. It will be around 3 5/8 inches wide, 5 5/8 inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick.

The plan is to do some sort of inlay or laser engraving on some of these boards.

Also still working on the methods available to keep the two sides closed when not being used.

2009 Summer Montana Farmers Markets hit full swing.....

The summer market season is once again upon us featuring lots of area artists displaying there crafts and artwork, not to mention lots of food and wonderful fresh vegetables.

Sorry I haven't made regular posts on here.. Most days I meet myself coming and going... I am still working on website orders and trying to document them, However...for some reason they don't seem to make it on here in a timely manner.

I will strive to do a better job. : - )

This is a photo taken at the Columbia Falls, Montana Farmers Market, held on Thursday evenings 5:00-7:30 PM.
This is the second year for this market and has moved to its new location in the new Discovery Center lawn.

This is a photo taken at the West Glacier, Montana Farmers Market, held on Friday evenings 4:30-6:30 PM.
This is the second year for this market and has now relocated across the street to a larger parking lot and much nicer area to set up in.

This is the Kalispell, Montana Farmers Market. It is setup in the Center Mall parking lot on Saturday mornings from 9:00 Am to 12:30 PM.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Custom Walnut w/maple inlaid strips cribbage board.....

This four person cribbage board was created for a client as a present for their brother.
The white strips are inlayed pieces of maple into the main board of walnut. It was 18 inches long and 10 inches wide.
The firefighter helmet and the inscription were lasered into the wood.

This is the peg storage slot routered into the back of the board, along with some personalized lasering.

An enlargement of the lasering done on the back.

Here I have glued the maple strips into the slots that were routered into the walnut.

Clamps have come off and the surface is being prepared for drilling and lasering.

This is the photo we started out with to create the logo on the front of the board. The helmet number was added to add a personal touch.