Category: DIY

When we first bought our house, I wanted to make a small picnic bench for my son.  I bought a Makita 10″ dual slide compound mitre saw that’s been amazing.  Unfortunately, in my haste, I bought birch wood from Home Depot and it was a nightmare to finish (more on this later).

I followed plans from Ana White and tried out a Kreg Jig for pocket holes for the first time.  The plans were easy to follow and the jig was really easy to use.  I put it together without any issues and it looked pretty good unfinished.

As for the finishing, I tried brushing amber shellac at first, but it was a disaster. I applied too much and it dripped and dried with marks all over it, and it also came out really yellow on birch. It took me months to sand it down and research staining online.  I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t buy a sander at this point, but I’m guessing it was a form of self punishment!

For my next attempt, I started with a red mahogany Transtint dye. Birch gets really blotchy and this seemed to help hide that and it also gave it a reddish tint. I then applied Old Masters cedar gel stain. The combination of the two seemed to provide more depth than the gel stain alone. I then added a topcoat of clear shellac in light coats with a rag and it turned out much better.

It would’ve came out better if I used this schedule from the start, but it was an all around learning project. Mostly I learned, never to buy birch for staining.  But my kids approve and have gotten good use of it, so that’s all that matters.

When we learned we we’re expecting, I already started worrying about safety.  Our condo had stairs that lead to the living room, so I made this gate.  I told everyone it was for our dog, but it was really for our son.

It’s made from Douglas Fir.  It’s known as a cheap wood that’s hard to work with, but I think it looks really nice.  I like that straight grain and I picked knot free boards.

I sanded them smooth to avoid splinters and rounded every corner being an over-protective, soon-to-be parent.

I forgot what stain this is, but I want to say it was called Golden Pecan.  My memory is terrible though, so that could be completely wrong.

We moved on from the condo and bought our house when our son was 3.  He was working on the next milestone, so I cut up the old gate and made two of these potty step stools for him.  I also saw this on Ana-White.com.

Here are some planters I made for my old condo.  I designed it to fit along the back of the patio to add some privacy but to not take up much space.  I didn’t even own a saw at this time, but I borrowed my in-law’s and cut some select pine from Home Depot.  I lined the interior with aluminum flashing to give it a more modern look, but it also provided some waterproofing.  The most expensive part of it were the legs that I bought from a site that provides exactly what it says it does, tablelegsonline.com.

I ended up making some small square ones for some small Japanese maple trees, but I never took pictures of them.  This was our dog sunbathing, but you can see one in the upper corner.