Sandal Woods

Woodworking with passion

Home 2008 Archives for August 2008

Archives for August 2008

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Spotlight: elle Z designs

We had our signature medallions made by Laura Zaruba, owner of elle Z designs.

Laura found a unique niche with laser-cut wedding invitations; but she assures me she will work with anyone “…to create your unique logos, or anything else you need in wood, marble, plastic, metal, etc…” (I quoted this from a recent e-mail message she sent me). She did a terrific job with our medallions!

After posting on Lumberjocks in reply to a question by a fellow woodworker, I received several questions regarding our signature medallion; in particular, the basic question was “…where did you get these made…?”

This is our signature laser-cut medallion, already glued to the underside of a project:

You recently saw the medallion in the short video I made on giving cherry a sun tan, and making your own buttons. A screen capture image from that video shows the medallion installed on the underside of the stool top:

I worked with Laura Zaruba to develop the logo. She was terrific – even sent us samples of the logo in various sizes, for us to determine which would be best. And in the end we selected the one we thought fit our style best.

Laura Zaruba is a busy lady these days. Although her web site is in need of some updating (she is working on doing it), she will be married later this year, is moving to a new city, is going to school to get an MBA, and is a corporate banker. Laura’s web site mainly focuses on the unique niche of laser-cut wedding invitations made of wood ( !!! ); it does not mention the medallion part of the business, but she will work with you to create your own design, or to implement your design on just about anything wood, marble, plastic, metal, etc.

Laura can be contacted at laura@ellezdesigns.com, or through the Contact page on her web site. Laura and Andy’s wedding blog can be found here.


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Sparks

Sandy and I took a short break and headed for the Sparks Flea Market on Thursday, to attend the 2008 opening day. We were there two years ago, and looked forward to finding some unique hand tools, or unusual cabinets. Sparks, a tiny, unincorporated town, is located in NW Kansas; it is nestled amongst some low and rolling hills; it is surrounded by beautiful corn and soy bean fields. Make sure to read about the Sparks Ghost Town; the story is written by Elmer, the Night Guard for the Sparks flea market.

We ran into Rick, a tool collector and tool maker from St Joseph, MO – he is practically our neighbor. He had on display a vast array of hand tools, but not one I was looking for this time. Nevertheless, we will be visiting him in St Jo soon. He makes metal tools, too, from plumb bobs to enormous punch centers – all of recycled materials. Here is Rick with a portion of his large display of hammers of every imaginable type:

We found two cabinets I loved. The first I liked because I had never seen one like it; and the second one, because we already have a similar one, and Sandy would like nothing better than for me to build a similar upper cabinet and base, as a – matched – set.

The first cabinet is a pie safe, possibly made by an Amish craftsman. It was different from any pie safe I have ever seen; this one has a mesh screen on the door (is the mesh a replacement for original tin panels?). The back was (my guess) shiplapped construction; I was unable to move it to look at the joinery, because other stuff around it meant moving more than the nice lady owner wished to move (its price was astronomical):

And the second piece, a bakers table and storage cabinet, caught our attention. Sandy already has in the kitchen an antique bakers table, minus the storage cabinet. First, our find, with dovetailed drawers and mortise and tenon joinery on both the top cabinet and the table:

Sadly, the drawer pulls had been replaced with gaudy plastic-looking handles, and the finish had been redone in some non-traditional finish. A shame, as a collector might not want it in this refinished condition.

Regardless, my excitement grew as I looked at this table and storage unit on top, as it reminded me of ours in one corner of the kitchen:

I have no idea whether ours is older or newer. But the drawers are put together with nails:

I suspect I might be making a reproduction bakers table and storage cabinet at some point in the not-too-distant future. If so, I relish the opportunity to making a matched set of these two pieces.

I have a request for everyone reading this: Please help me nail down a good reference for the pie safe above. I look forward to learning more about this type of cabinet. Thanks!




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New Sommerfeld Tools drawing, just in time!

Just in the nick of time, I am pleased to announce the latest item to be given away by random drawing: the Sommerfeld Tools large Lock Miter router bit, Item # 01006 – From page 52 of the Sommerfeld Catalog: “…These bits join materials at 90º by cutting a 45º miter and a matching tongue & groove at the same time…Used in boxes, hollow-beams, columns, and cabinet corners…”:

A quick way to make drawers:

I will draw a name at random on September 1, and will post the name of the winner shortly after that. If you have already registered, you do not have to register again. If you have never registered for the monthly drawings, send me your name and full address to sandal_woods@bbwi.net.

Thanks, and good luck to all!

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