Treeline Woodworks feature, promo & GIVEAWAY!

For this week's Shop Small Saturday Showcase, I am really excited to share this one with you because this one was a first for me!  Normally, I find these amazing makers and creators at shows around Southern California and share lots of photos of their finished products with all of you.  However, when I spoke to Ad from Treeline Woodworks, he invited me to take a look at the amazing shop where they craft their pieces, plus their nearby lumberyard.  The wannabe woodworker in me was so excited!  :)

You'll see in the interview below many of the pictures I took during the tour.  Believe me when I say there were ten times as many interesting items to photograph, but I could not possibly fit them all here.  For example, in the lumberyard collage of pictures, you will spot a church pew sitting on top of a wood pile.  That pile of wood was actually reclaimed from a set of church pews that were being torn down.  There were sets of school bleachers, fence posts, and all kinds of interesting objects that the wood was being sourced from.  It was amazing!

Last but not least, my readers are being treated by another generous shop owner!  One of you will win a beautiful State Cutting Board (you'll see it in the widget below), and ALL of you can utilize the 15% off promo to their entire store.  That translates to: you can buy 15% more... at least!

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Tell me a little bit about yourself!

I'm an engineer by education and designer by disposition. From machine class in college to making things out of wood for friends or my loft, I've enjoyed building things for a long time. My interest in working with reclaimed woods is fairly new, a handful of years, I'd say. As a fabricator, I'm always learning about more materials and trying to incorporate them into my designs and what we have to offer.


Where did the name of your store come from?

Treeline has been a favorite word for long time. I'm a sucker for the outdoors and adventures with reckless abandon. Treeline is the highest a forest can grow up the side of a mountain before conditions get too harsh for it to survive. So in a way, it's the natural limit for forest. I'd like to do good work and there's always more left to learn, so I'm striving to reach my treeline.

Why did you start making goods for Treeline Woodworks?

There a lot of things I'd like to make and as much custom work we do, I enjoy flexing my creative and designer muscles. So whenever we have some free time on our hands we dive into a collaborative ideation process and experiment with product we can design and make ourselves.


What is your favorite item?

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Essential Woodworking Tools for Beginners: A wishlist!

Now that I'm done with sharing my woodworking projects, from the first to the last one, I'm thinking about how my X-leg stools need to be finished and all the future projects I want to make.  Just one problem... I don't have a wood shop!

Most likely I will take another class so I can have access to the tools, but I also want to start putting together a shop of my own.  So, being the overly organized appropriately prepared person that I am, I put together a list of tools as recommended by both experts and friends.

I included links to each item as a reference, with some of the more highly rated or popular brands represented.  However, if any of you have advice or experience with a particular tool that you just have to recommend, please let me know!

Safety Items & Measuring Tools

1. Hearing protection
2. Face shield or safety glasses
3. Dust mask or respirator
4. Framing square or Combination square
5. Trusty pencil!

Power Tools

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Wooden Beer Carrier (for a Six-Pack!)

Alas, this is the last of my woodworking projects to share with you.  I shared my first project ever (wood piece basket), my first scrapbuster (scrap vase), and the unfinished project that hopefully I'll get to soon (custom X-leg stools).

I am so excited about this project because I think it turned out fantastically!  To celebrate, maybe I should crack a beer open?  :)

We were given plans with some instructions for a toolbox, but we could make it with any dimensions we liked.  You can see the example with the flames, which was made pretty huge.  Obviously, I decided to go with a different size to tote around a six-pack of beers.

In the picture to the right, first I cut the sides of the carrier.

Then, I used a band saw to create a rounded shape towards the top and sanded it smooth.

Next, I used a drill press to match the size of the pipe I planned on using as a handle.  By the way, I spent a ton of time sanding the hole bigger because there wasn't a size that quite fit my pipe.  That meant drilling a smaller hole and sanding it larger.

Then, I changed the plans a bit on the advice of the instructor to make a notch in the sides using a router.  That way, the bottom of the carrier would be even more snug and secure!

Next, I cut the sides of the tote down and used the router again to add a bit of detail.

Then it was time to glue it all together and clamp it while it dried.

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Custom X-leg Stools (Work-in-Progress!)

Although I should probably share the next completed woodworking project after the wood piece basket and scrap vase I made, I wanted to end with a bang!  So sit tight until next week for my favorite project, but for now, I'm going to share the last thing I made before my class ended.

The fun thing is that it is still in progress, so I'm excited to finally decide exactly how to finish it!

I started with a bunch of really long pieces and cut them into smaller pieces, some at an angle.

I used a chop saw for this part of it.  Take a look at all of my scraps!

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Woodworking Project #1: Wood Piece Basket

Last week, I was a little tricky and shared the Wood Scrap Vase as my first woodworking project ever...  But it was really made with the scraps of the project that I'm sharing with you today!

That was just a teaser, but here is the whole process of how I made this Wood Piece Basket!

By the way, this is not a tutorial.  I just wanted to show off my new-found woodworking skills to you all.  Yay!

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I started with this huge piece of lumber taller than me, plus a couple other pieces you'll see later.

I used a table saw to rip it into six skinny pieces on the right.

Using a chop saw or miter saw, each skinny piece was turned into lots of tiny pieces.

Then, I sanded each piece down to give the edges a bit of a shape.

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Project #0: Wood Scrap Vase

After last week's Woodworking Tip, I promised to share a woodworking project with you...

Well, I kinda lied.  Or maybe I didn't!  I thought I would share this project that I made out of a bunch of scraps from my first project.  Thats why it's Project #0 and not number 1!

It's not the prettiest thing ever, but I'm happy that I made something semi-interesting while practicing using the tools.

I attempted to make some type of spiral design and it ended up juuust a little wonky.  Also, I with I had four more pieces to make another layer on the bottom to match the top.

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Woodworking Tip: How to Make a Easy Drill Bit Guide!

Remember how a year ago I started woodworking, and it was so fun and exciting, and I was making progress on some really fun projects?  And then nothing showed up on the blog?  Well, please forgive the slight delay, but over the the next few weeks I will actually share a few of the woodworking items I made!

This week, I wanted to share a quick tip that was super helpful while putting together my last project. It is useful for just about any time you need to use a drill, even if you are not working with wood.

Basically, this helps with the question, "what do you do when you have to drill a lot of holes at a very specific depth?"

During my last project, I wanted to drill some holes not through the piece of wood, but only about 3/4 of the way through.  That meant lots of checking and rechecking while I was drilling to make sure I was going deep enough without breaking through to the other side.

But here's the quick tip that made it so much easier...

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What to do with fallen wood? + Sunday Synopsis!

Happy Sunday!

This week, I am mulling over what to do with this fallen wood that we acquired when the tree in my parents' yard had a huge branch fall off with the wind.  I know that it has to dry for at least a year, so I have time to think.  What do you think?

What project(s) should I make and do you know any tips for prepping wood?

By the way, this is only half of the wood!

Lastly, here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

Sunday Synopsis

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Sunday Synopsis! Wood scrap suggestions?

Happy Sunday!

Last week, you all helped Kathy with lots of suggestions, so thank you very much!  This week, I have another question.  I pulled apart these pieces of wood that were basically abandoned, so I could probably put together something fun with one or all of these heavy duty pieces of wood.

Any suggestions for what to do with scraps of wood?

Lastly, here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

Sunday Synopsis

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Wooden Basket Dilemma for Stumped on Sunday / Sunday Synopsis

Happy Sunday!

Today's Stumped on Sunday question is about the wood basket (pictured below) that I shared with you on Friday.  Basically, this is what I ended up with and I'm not a huge fan, but I still want to finish it.  My question is...

Do you think I should paint it, stain it, cover it up with fabric, or just give it away?

This is the "example" basket, but I'm not a huge fan...  What do you think?

Lastly, here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

Sunday Synopsis!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Furniture Shopping & Late Night Eats!

For some reason, I completely forgot last week to include my late night Thursday dinner with my friend, so we'll have to do a mini-rewind for that!

Otherwise, it was a pretty relaxed weekend because I have been completely busy with all of my work, classes, and more.  Whew!


Precap:

• Eats: Amor Y Tacos, Frostbites Crepes & Frozen Delights
• Activities: Woodworking, Furniture shopping

Amor Y Tacos

After one of my evening classes, I met up with one of my gal pals to try out Amor Y Tacos nearby.  What a great find!  As you can guess, it is a Mexican restaurant, but the dishes are extremely inventive and interesting.

My dish was the Doritos Chilaquiles, and you can see even more on The Episodic Eater here!  Check out the decor, I mean it's pretty awesome!

Afterwards, we had some sweet treats from Frostbites Crepes & Frozen Delights.  This looks pretty normal, but you wouldn't believe the flavor combinations they have!  Here are the ones we tried, but there were other amazing flavors like Flintstones Push Pop, Almond Joy, and Sour Gummy Worm.  Yum!  Find out which flavors we tried on The Episodic Eater.  You'll be surprised!  :)

Now back to this week!  This is my very first woodworking project, and although we are done with it in class, I am about to do some work on it at home.  I'm still trying to decide, but I'll figure it out eventually.  :)

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Woodworking & more!

Happy Valentine's Day!

After last week's drama, I am so glad that I have a nice, leisurely recap.  Yay!


Precap:

• Sights:  Woodworking class!, Mystery class
• Eats:  Honduras Kitchen, K Pasta

I mentioned this last week, but I finally took my first woodworking class!  I'm so antsy to do more, but I know that we have to go through the first classes before we can do our own stuff.  I asked in last week's Stumped on Sunday if anyone knows of good beginner furniture projects to do.  If you do, let me know!

Honduras Kitchen

Omg, I love this place!  I've been back twice in a month, so obviously I have even more photos to show you than the first time we went.  To whet your appetite, this is fried yuca topped with cabbage and crispy pork.

Here are the Tacos Hondureños, which are super delicious!  I'm starting to think that they don't make anything that's just "okay."  To see it all, including some of the most amazing Carne Asada, check it out on The Episodic Eater!

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Sunday Synopsis / Stumped on Sunday #4!

Happy Sunday!

I have another question for this Stumped on Sunday!

This week, I started my wood-working class and I learned how to use a bunch of tools: band saw, table saw, drill press, belt sander, miter saw/compound saw/chop saw, scroll saw, nail gun, staple gun, and a router.  I think that's it...

Anyways, for this week's question...

Do you have or know of any easy projects for a newbie woodworker?  I would love to make something cute after we learn the basics!

A shot of my scrap wood, after learning how to use the tools!

Lastly, here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

Sunday Synopsis!

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