New Handmade Shelf and Mortar and Pestle

Over the winter holidays, I was finally able to fit in some time in the workshop. My husband will say that this is because of the new band saw I bought him for Christmas, and he wonders if I actually bought it for myself (he picked that as his first choice when I asked for gift ideas! It just also happens to be needed for lots of things I want to make too, so… 🙂 ). I really don’t need yet another source of craft projects, but I’ve been collecting inspiration and instructions for cute wooden toys and home decor woodworking projects, plus I know some cosplay items like foam armor come out better when cut with a band saw.

The first thing to do was finish up this little geometric shelf I started a while ago! I’ve seen these all over Etsy and Instagram and found it to be a good starter project for me. It wasn’t very difficult and allowed me to get more familiar with the different tools we have. I used reclaimed oak (the shelf was a bench in a past life) and finished it with mineral oil. It is a pretty piece that’s the perfect size for holding things like interesting stones and crystals and little dried flowers and such from our garden (the old glass bottle was a yard sale find!).

For this project, I used a Ridged table saw, a Wen belt sander, Titebond adhesive, and mineral oil. This was a good starter project to learn how to accurately cut the 60 degree angles and make sure everything fit tightly. I planed the wood to the same thickness and cut three pieces to the same length. I then measured a point for the center shelf, cut a piece to length, and then measured the center vertical wall and smaller right-side shelf from that. When the pieces were cut, they were simply glued and clamped overnight. I sanded off any excess glue that dried on the surface, wiped away the dust, and then rubbed on the mineral oil. I allowed it to hang to dry thoroughly for another night before hanging it up.

My husband turned this beautiful mortar and pestle set on our Jet lathe. He used hard maple and walnut and treated it with boiled linseed oil. He made this one sort of as a test for a coworker, but really loved how it turned out so he’s making some more to see if it would be feasible to add to our Etsy (and also because I want one too 🙂 ).