Walnut Headphone Stand and Audio Case

A past client reached out and asked if I could commission and build a headphone stand and case for some desk top audio equipment.

She sent over some pictures for inspiration and gave some basic direction for the scope of work.

“ I don't really have anything exact in mind. The only thing I really need is for the stand to hold the headphones in a way so the ear pads don't get crushed. So preferably they'll hang by the headband. Besides that, I'll leave everything else up to you.”

” feel free to make this as simple or complex as you'd like, or whatever is easiest/best for you or whatever you feel inspired to do.”

Anybody who knows me personally, knows this creative freedom is like opening Pandora’s box.

When a client gives free creative freedom, these are the projects that really energize me and keep me up at night. For me this is the crossover from maker to artist. This is truly the biggest compliment, the client trusts me enough to design, create, and build them a completely custom project.

My initial design with this headphone stand was to go the complicated route and incorporate a couple types of joinery. I sketched out a design and found some thicker pieces of cherry. I was going to use bridal joints for the “arms” and a bigger sliding dovetail to connect the “arms” to the base. After cutting some of the joints, something was just out of joint (yes, pun intended ;) ). I could see where the idea was going but it was just off. The pieces were going to end up in the burn pile, instead they went to the spare parts bin.

As much as complex and complicated seemed like the direction I wanted to go. Simple and clean was the destination. To me there was more with having less going on.

After seeing a lamp online now with another working idea, I went to the local hardwood store and picked out some pieces of walnut. I am no woodworking purist and I believe there is room for both technology and hand tools in the shop. Using Fusion 360 to design the vertical piece I was able to visualize and change my design without making firewood. After coming up with a design that felt right, I took the design to my shop helper C+C Creative Factory (my CNC machine for those that don’t get the reference).

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What came out was beautiful. A little bit of hand tool work, and my vision was coming to live. The base and the “arm” both were designed with some scraps in the wood till their shape was refined then I could transfer that image to the walnut.

Finally the finished product was coming together. I have been experimenting with finishing and I ended up sanding to 800 grit using tung oil, shellac, and a wax finish. The result was a finish that begged to be touched.

The next item on the list was a desk top audio case that was to hold a small headphone amp and in-ear monitors. The design process started again.

To match the headphone stand, I used more walnut. The case was constructed with box joints, and the interior divider was fitted with the smallest mortises I have made to date.

I asked the client for some favorite quotes and “Music in the soul can be heard by the universe (Lao Tzu)” was engraved on the lid. The lid is secured with magnets to hold the lid on tight.

The desktop audio box was finished using the same technique I used on the headphone stand with the same silky smooth result.

As the project progressed I kept in contact with the client to get feedback and to let her know how the progress was progressing. I really this is important to make sure my design is heading in the right direction, and to let the client see the project come together.

When it was all finished I staged the items for some glamour shots and then it was time to head to the shipping department. Each piece was wrapped in bubble wrap and wrapped in some special wrapping paper for some built in anticipation when the package arrived.

In the end the client loved the headphone stand and desktop audio equipment. I really do try to take into account every detail from the design, communication, pictures, and packaging because my clients aren’t just buying a product but I hope they have a great experience. To me that is what makes custom work so special.

Wooden Beam Table Lamp

Wood and metal. Two strong materials that cities are built with. Two materials I enjoy working with.

I received some large pieces of wood from a friend. They were remnants from a house they were working on (timber frame house at that, my favorite). The chunks of wood sat in the shop, as most pieces do, until the inspiration bug struck.

Some random day the inspiration bug struck and I had a lightbulb moment (pun intended) of what to make with that piece of wood. As with most things when I get an idea everything else will stop, until I can start working on the idea (I don’t want to miss out on the momentum).

I wanted to build a lamp by segmenting the pieces of wood. I had some rebar laying around and the two pieces just went together. Challenge was the piece of wood was thicker than my table saw blade was high, so with creative thinking I rotated the beam around to cut most of the way through and finished the cut with my handy Japanese hand saw. Next came drilling some holes for the rebar to fit. The holes were drilled so the rebar would fit snuggly.

As the pieces were fit together the vision I had in my head was coming to life. I love thinking of an idea and being able to creatively express that idea into the physical world. I also love when somebody approaches me with an idea for something they want built and trusts me to create it for them.

With the last coat of finished applied and dried the light bulb was tightened into the socket. The lamp was plugged in and came to life. I love the sweet glow from the Edison bulb and really think this lamp would look make a great addition to a boutique hotel or a home office.

If you are interested in this lamp or would like me to design a lamp for your space I would love to hear from you.

Wooden American Flags

My sister in law is a realtor in Columbia, TN (@house2hometn). The fire dept just built a new station close to their house and she wanted to bring them a housewarming gift. She asked if I could make a wooden American flag. I said “of course”.

While I was working on the fire dept flag she asked if I could make one as a gift for a police officer and I said “definitely”.

Each flag represents the thin red line and thin blue line to show respect for the firefighters and police officers injured or killed in the line of duty.

As a career firefighter/paramedic and former reserve police officer this project was meaningful.

If you are interested in a wooden American flag fill out our contact form.

Cedar Bird House

For the past couple of years I have been playing around with the idea to create a progressive woodworking for kids and young adults. (To learn the full back story of the Young Maker’s Guild click on the About section of that page). I have been struggling with trying to come up with a “first project” to launch in the guild and just couldn’t find any clarity.

When not at work at my full time job, my wife and I have been at home socially distancing ourselves from the world. Instead of laying around and watching Netflix I wanted to use this time to devote to something creative and productive. One morning at shift change, (I’m a fireman) I heard a couple of the guys talking about how their kids are starting to run out of things to do, and they started resorting to Netflix to keep the kids occupied. That same morning I read an email from Ramit Sethi that really inspired me to go forward with my idea of the Young Maker’s Guild.

Due to the state of emergency the world was in I wanted something I could come up with fast to put out into the world. It is spring time and there are the birds are coming out in full force. I remembered when I was in Boy Scouts we built a bird house.

That was it. It was something simple enough to build for kids of all ages, and a project that may stimulate some creativity. I could start cutting the cedar to put into kits and it was a project available to the world a couple of days later.

I made this bird house out of cedar so it would be insect and rot resistant. I did some quick research and created a house that would suit a house wren or chickadee, common birds in our area. I think I am going to leave this a natural cedar color and not seal it so it can weather naturally.

I look forward to hours of sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee in our house watching the trees come to life and the birds moving into their house.

Interested in your own cedar birdhouse kit? Click the button below.

Wooden American Flag

My brother-in law approached me last fall to build some flags for their organization to auction off at dinners they hold throughout the year. How could I turn away an opportunity to make something so of course I said yes. Taking some notes I had an idea of what they were looking for me to build and I got to work. The flag is made from pine with some colored stain. The flag was lightly burned with a torch to give a bit of a rustic feeling. Working with my shop partner C+C Creative Factory we engraved their company logo in the corner and the stars.

Did you know Maker and Finder can build a custom wooden flag for you complete with your own company logo. These flags would also make a great gift idea. Contact us today!

Wooden Serving Tray

A while back a co-worker of mine asked me if I wanted some “scrap” wood from a family members house. I of course said yes. (I’ll admit I sort of have a problem and may be referred to as a wood hoarder, email me for more but otherwise a topic for another day). What he brought me was a pile of scrap hardwood flooring something I wasn’t expecting but none the less it was free wood. After looking at this pile of wood in the shop the idea came. The wood floor pieces would fit nicely together to form a panel. My wife (girlfriend at the time) had been asking for a tray so she could carry odds and ends upstairs to her office. So with a little creativity I came up with these serving trays. There is a maple bottom and an oak. I was able to make three in total and my friend who gave me the wood I ended up making them a serving tray as a wedding gift.

Fun, practical, and functional project taking scrap wood that was going to be thrown in the garbage and making it into a wedding gift and a staple household item in our house.

Timber Framed Address Sign

The other day, my neighbor and I worked to replace an old rotten fence post. We replaced the old post with a new pressure treated post and got the fence back together. While I was walking back around to our house I seen the old post on his deck and I asked him if he was going to throw the old post away and he said he was and asked if I wanted it.

Its hard to say no to free wood and I had the perfect project in mind.

A couple of years ago I remodeled our house replacing all the siding. When I took off the old siding the house numbers came with and our house has sat unnumbered for a couple of years now (to the dismay of every delivery driver) with the intent I would make something eventually. Well the eventually came when my wife threatened to order numbers for the house because we were getting ready to host a BBQ at our unnumbered house.

Since the old fence post was western red cedar and I have been wanting to practice traditional joinery I went to work on this simple design. I cut the rotten end off the post, a few trips through the planer, table saw, and band saw later I had pieces resembling something. I made a large mortise and fit the through tenon and secured everything with some dowel. The CNC machine went to work carving numbers out of black walnut and the plaque is made from cherry. Everything got a few coats of spar urethane and I hung the address plaque with some copper wire.

All in all I was very happy with the end result. Instead of digging a deep post hole I used a spike the post sits if we ever decided to move the post.

If you are interested in your own post and beam address sign contact us today.

Fire Extinguisher Lamp

As a firefighter by trade, I am naturally drawn to firefighter decor. I have seen the traditional fire extinguisher lamps that use an old copper extinguisher. I had a vision for something a little different.

I had found an old carbon dioxide extinguisher at a flea market and was able to negotiate a bargain. As the extinguisher sat in my house I thought how it would look good as a lamp. Instead of using a pull chain or a nob to turn it off and on I thought, what if you could squeeze the handle. I set off to the hardware store and bought some lamp making supplies. This was my first ever try at a lamp and with a squeeze of the handle the Edison bulb illuminated and thought I was on to something.

This was in the pre-Maker and Finder days but there was a feeling of satisfaction finding something and re-pourposing it into a piece of functional home decor. When family and friends would stop by they would all comment on how great the lamp turned out.

After creating Maker and Finder, I used that lamp as a prototype to make another. So this is an old American LaFrance carbon dioxide extinguisher turned into a lamp. just like the first one I made, to turn on you squeeze the handle and watch the beautiful glow from the Edison bulb.

Book Lamps

We love to read. One day while browsing the internet I seen a picture of a stack of books turned into a lamp. The light bulb went off! A friend of ours runs a book store that sells $1 books. We made a stop at his store went home and turned some old books into book lamps. And these are some of our favorite projects. Finding something and making it into something beautiful.

Sliding Dovetail Wine Box

This was a commissioned piece from a customer who wanted a custom wine box for a birthday present. She gave me an idea of a wine box that she had seen that had a piece come off the side, a key, and that allowed the inner box to slide out. After thinking about it, I had an idea come to mind that involved a sliding dovetail as the key. I set out building this project with just a vision in my head. As the build progressed the more inspired I felt seeing the finished product come together. The inner box is made from aspen and the outer box is made from cherry with black walnut for the feet and sliding dovetail. Our customer said the person receiving the gift really liked lions and we were able to incorporate some lion heads as handles and a pull to pull the inner box out.

I really like starting projects with an idea and setting out to see if I can turn the idea into reality. Sometimes you have to be flexible and be willing to adapt and change but almost all the time the finished product turns out better than expected.