Syzygy Woodworks

Yesterday was a busy day on the CNC router.

One of the projects I’m working on at the moment is a doll display cabinet.  Well, yesterday afternoon, I carved what will be the handles for the cabinet, a bow.  The run time on the file was around 4 hours and 15 minutes.  A long cut, but I’m really pleased with how they came out.  I have to spend some time sanding them and then they will be painted “Ella Rose”.  A unique set of handles that I think will be a beautiful touch on a distinctive piece of furniture.

In the morning I cut out a number of fun shapes for a new client.  Puzzle pieces and mazes.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I never thought I would be cutting this out when I first got the CNC machine.

The maze was a challenge as the material was 2″ thick and the maze had a diameter of 47″.  I had to buy a 1/2″ compression bit with a cutting edge length of 2 1/8″.  A big, expensive chunk of carbide!  I was a bit concerned going into the project but was thrilled at how the ShopBot handled the cut.   Both the maze and puzzle pieces will ultimately become large wall art installations.

It’s very satisfying to be able to help my clients bring their vision, regardless of what it is, a step closer to becoming a reality.

It’s official! After many years of friends telling me I need to find a place to sell my woodturning and woodworking items, I now have a booth in an Artisan Market.

Gwen and I set up our booth at Coconut Barrel yesterday. We may be a little biased, but we think it looks great!

If you’re in the St. Augustine area please stop in and check the market out. The owners and staff are doing a fantastic job, there are a ton of booths with many talented vendors offering their crafts. It’s well worth a visit.

We’re very pleased to be there and excited about the opportunity.

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It’s been a while since I posted on social media. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. In addition to working on a couple of projects, I’ve also been getting my booth ready for my space in the Artisan market in St. Augustine, Coconut Barrel. With the help of my lovely wife, we’ll be installing that tomorrow.

On top of all this work, I stressed my knee in the workshop and over the course of a couple of days developed water on the knee. It got to the point where I could barely walk and so I had to have the knee drained. I’ll spare you the grizzly details, suffice to say it involved a needle about the size of a drinking straw and was as much fun as you can imagine. While much better, my knee is taking forever to get back to normal. Quite possibly because when they told me to rest, I didn’t realize they meant for longer than five minutes 🙂 Apparently, I don’t heal as quick as I used to.

The image shows some feet I’m busy turning for my current project, a doll display case. Three down, one to go. I really enjoy the times when I am able to incorporate my woodturning into a project!

I have some exciting news to share. About six months ago I became aware of an Artisan Market in St. Augustine by the name of Coconut Barrel. We paid a visit and I really liked what I saw. Unfortunately at the time they didn’t have any vendor space available, however I put my name on a waiting list.

Yesterday I received a message that some spaces were available, and so I signed up for a vendor booth. It will be an opportunity for me to sell my woodturning and woodworking pieces, as well as an opportunity to market my cabinetry, furniture and built-ins.

I have to have my booth set up by March 9th, prior to an event they have scheduled, so it will be a lot of work to get ready on top of the commitments I already have, but I’m excited about the opportunity and look forward to getting set up!

Very pleased how well this turned out. A simple but elegant design, it added so much to the room.

Stacked stone surround. Pigmented lacquer color matched to existing trim work. All the moldings were made in house.

Electric fireplace.

I was excited about this project from the moment I first received an “inspiration picture” from my clients. They did a lot of work in this room including tearing out an existing fireplace, sheetrock, new tile, new electric fireplace, and paint. My part was the design, fabrication, and installation of the suspended cabinets and floating shelves. It was a pleasure to be involved and to play a part in taking a vision and turning into a physical reality.

The cabinets feature horizontal grain from rift sawn white oak veneer. Push to open hinges on the doors. Solid maple drawer boxes with full extension under mount drawer guides. LED lights under the cabinets and the floating shelves all controlled by a single remote.

From time to time Google Photos likes to remind me what I was doing a couple years ago. Apparently, two years ago today I was working on a large cross I was commissioned to build from a couple of barn beans. The cross now hangs on the wall in my clients study.

Access panel in the side of a cabinet, held securely with speaker panel connectors.

I glue up a lot of solid wood edge banding. These MDF panels are for a regular client and will form part of a speaker stand. They will be edge banded with solid cherry on all four sides and then veneered with cherry. The cherry veneer is the underside of a shelf on which a granite slab will be adhered to support sound equipment.
My shop made clamp rack has saved me so much time and space with operations like this. I just cut a bunch of holes in two pieces of plywood on the CNC and then mounted them to the wall with a couple inches space between. When I need to do a glue up the clamps slide into the holes quickly and can be configured depending in the size of the piece. No need to find floor or bench space while the glue is curing. When not in use the clamps hang on the plywood out of the way.

The project I’m working on has two countertops made from rift saw white oak plywood. Instead of using a black plastic grommet to hide the hole for electrical cables, I cut some custom grommets from solid white oak on the CNC router.
Very pleased with the results 😊