bkryston

Thank you everyone for your positive feedback, it is greatly appreciated. Gary, yes I would agree about it becoming darker from the spalting. Not exactly sure about the chemistry behind that one though. Compared to walnut, working the spalted sycamore was like giving a cat a bath. The plane wood make smooth passes the first 6 inches and then leave the wood feeling like sand paper on the next 6. Very frustrating. Unfortunately, I had to constrain the pictures to post them. In better resolution there are tans, browns, grays, yellows, blacks, reds, and even a pale blue! Watching all that color come out after the first coat of finish... well all I can say is it was worth the effort.

Thanks Jim. They are actually Rockler's European style sliding door hardware. I needed something that would mount flush to the back side of the door and they did the trick. They are hard plastic unfortunately, but easy to install and work very smoothly.

I would like to start by saying that I am young and do not have 30 years of woodworking business under my belt. In fact, I am just coming up on my first year of woodworking as a part-time profession. Though it has not been much time, I feel as though I have had a good deal of success. Within this past year, I have completed half a dozen or so custom vanities and bathroom furniture pieces, numerous small pieces of furniture, 2 rather large built-in case pieces, and a set of very unique loft stairs. All fine woodworking jobs? Perhaps not, but they are a good start in my opinion.

I do agree with much that has been said so far, but I would like to add one crucial thing that has enabled my "dream" to come to somewhat fruition; common sense. This often overlooked quality has played a major role in every choice I have made. Instead of relying on hopes and wishes, I took matters into my own hands. I got a sales job with a local tile/stone/plumbing shop. Not because I loved the idea of selling people a granite counter, but because of the opportunities it could afford me in establishing a woodworking business. 1.) This would teach me how to sell and take care of the day to day tasks any business deals with. 2.) Everyone who walked through the door probably is in need of woodworking. 3.) Because it was not a woodworking business, I could acquire side jobs without any conflict of interest. 4.) I would be getting paid to learn all this and could afford tools for my shop without a loan. I also have made many contacts with people in the construction industry which never hurts.

This is just one good example where common sense told me that the best way achieve my dream was to put it in my back pocket and face reality. I understand that not everything I do will be to the sound of a hand plane and a scraper. And that's ok with me. If I approach my goal with an open mind and bit of common sense, I will always be learning. With learning comes versatility and with versatility comes possibility. Though my Veritas shoulder plane ranks high on the "favorite tool list," my mind is by far the most useful.

Thanks for the generous compliments. Bodnar, I use a CAD program for the initial design and proportions, but from there a lot is done on the fly. I don't have any detail plans to offer, but I can answer any questions you may have.

I made these from my own design. I had seen the Lapeyre style used in boats before, though I haven't seen any plans out there for them. Let me know if you have questions. I'd be happy to answer them.

Great job on everything man. I'm glad to see there is someone else out there going through the wonderful ups and downs of trying to make this your only career. I haven't stepped over the edge completely, but I've been looking pretty hard. Keep up the good work.