Tim the "cooper"

Boy do I ever have the projects.
If you've seen my recent list you will note that I said those were just off the top of my head. Now I have more.

1. I am going to make a bamboo fountain for my son's room. To be watertight I intend to use a drywall bucket, which doesn't look at all "tropical island-like". So, to conceal that I am going to make a barrel. The barrel doesn't need to be watertight but needs to be large enough to conceal the drywall bucket. I found a website that sells a plan book, so I ordered one. The barrel will look like it came from an old shipwreck, so it will be better. Here's the pic off their web site:

and an idea of what the fountain should look like:

but picture a barrel instead of a basket...and maybe not so much leafy stuff.


2. A friend of mine has a birthday in late march. Last birthday I gave her a jar of coffee beans. For Christmas I gave her some frames (I enjoy giving handmade gifts to friends). She REALLY LOVED the coffee beans because they were chocolate cherry flavored...and she had given up chocolate for Lent. This year I thought I'd do the coffee beans thing again, but instead of a glass mason jar, why not make a small barrel?? Like this:

When the coffee beans are all gone, she can use it for kitchen utensils, or find some other use. I'm sure one of her two kids would have a use for it. Or she could re-gift with coffee beans to someone else. The fun thing about this, though is that I will make the barrel out of sycamore, which came from a tree that I cut down in her front yard.

3. As long as I'm making barrels I thought of a couple other uses...two to hold scrap wood cutoffs from the workshop. One would be in the basement by the fireplace, until it is empty. The other would be in the workshop for NEW scrap pieces destined for the fireplace. Then swap them out as needed. My current method is to use a couple of cardboard boxes. Homemade barrels will look nicer. All of those barrels will be poplar, which I have plenty of. None need to be water tight.


4. I started making Christmas gifts for 2006. Can't say what, but there will be approximately 25 of them. I ordered and received parts for 10 (the parts I can't make). In an easy evening, I cut out the wooden parts for 15, drilled the parts for 4, and did a glue-up for those 4. By this weekend I hope to have a handful of them completed!! If you're curious, give me your email address and I will tell you (so long as you're not a recipient).


5. I asked a coworker for change for a $5 bill. While she was getting the ones I noticed a small unframed picture on her desk. I told her that I will make a frame for it. She asked how much. I said "nothing." But then she said she has many 8x10 pictures that she would like to display in nice frames. So I may have found a niche making and selling frames. I wouldn't be able to put all the same detail into them as the original 10 frames I made, but they would still be nice.