United States Quarter Map

Back in the spring of '05 while in college, I was searching for a woodworking project to make my Grandparents as a Christmas present.  While surfing the net, I came across the project plan at Rockler, a great woodworking store.  My Grandparents had already been collecting the new state quarters, so knew they would really enjoy it!

So, Erin and I jumped in the '88 Dodge Caravan and headed up to the Burnsville Rockler.  Now, one must understand that a real woodworker always needs a new tool to complete each project.  For me, I needed a scroll saw to cut out the intricate parts.  Luckily, this Delta model was on sale. 

I also picked up the project plan and the appropriate sized drill bit to drill the holes for the quarters.

This is the process that I went through to complete the project:

1.  I went to the local Fleet Farm and picked up some Aspen wood to cut the states out of.  I chose this wood because it was light colored with minimal grain, which would take the different stain colors very well.  For the backround, I laminated 1/4" oak plywood to 1/2" MDF.  For the trim around the edges, I used red oak.
2. Next, I cut and planed down the aspen to create a large wide piece with which I used some of Erin's vellum adhesive to attach the paper template to.
3. Then, using a drill press, I drilled out the quarter slots with the special quarter sized bit.
4. After that was the fun part.  Erin and I took turns sitting in our unheated apartment garage and cut out all 50 states.  Note to self, although Alaska is a great state, it is not fun to cut it out of wood!
5. At Rockler, we picked out some different wood dyes to stain the wood with.  After staining the wood, I used some spray polyurethane to seal the stain and give the wood a semi-gloss sheen.
6. Next, I glued all 50 states to the background using wood glue.  
7. Finally, I created a plexi-glass cover which slid into the side frame and was aligned with the face of the wooden states to hold the quarters in place.  To access the quarters, you simply take out two concealed screws in the top trim and slide out the plexi.

This was a very fun project, and turned out great.  I would say all in all, it took about 30-40 hours to make.  The best part was seeing my Grandparents reaction when I revealed it at Christmas.  Now that all the state quarters have been issued, the map is full and looks great!

Here is the finished piece.  Yeah...check out Alaska - still amazes me that we were able to cut it out!

Now the only problem is that I want one of my own!  Maybe some day I'll make another.

Bent Wood Coat Rack

Back in my college days, I discovered the woodworking technique of bent-wood lamination.  Being the typical college student on the lookout for extra cash, my lovely then wife-to-be worked at a bank.  They happened to be in need of a coat rack for their conference rooms, and she commissioned me to build one.  However, I didn't want to make a plain old coat rack.  So, after some surfing, I found exactly what I wanted to make.

My inspiration for this coat rack came from famous woodworker David Marks.  Besides making many unique furniture pieces, he has also made a few projects with the bent wood technique, one of which was a coat rack.

So, I set out to make my own bent wood coat rack based on this same design.  David's utilized walnut, but I chose white oak to match the finishes inside the bank.

 

The hardest part of the entire project was creating a curve which was attractive and pleasing to the eye.  After some help from my cute assistant, I came up with a flowing curve.  The four pieces are identical except that two are longer than the others.

After creating the curve, I traced it to a piece of plywood and added blocks which followed the curve line.  Next, I cut thin 1/8" strips of wood on the band saw.  To get them smooth, I ran them through the wide belt sander (which was a luxury to have, as they are very expensive).  Next, I applied glue to the strips and started clamping.  For those of you non-woodworkers out there, this is a good example of why you can never have too many clamps.  After the piece sat for 24 hours, it was ready to come out of the mold.  A quick pass through the table saw (which I admit was tricky, as you had to guide the curve through the blade). trued and made the edges parallel.  Three more glue-ups resulted in the four legs.

To assemble the pieces together, I simply made a 2 x 2 and glued the legs together, two at a time.

After that, I sanded, stained and applied a protective polyurethane finish.  The bank actually had some leftover stain from when it was built, and I used that so it matched exactly.

Here is the finished product - I am quite proud of how it turned out for being an amateur woodworker. 

I still have the mold and have always had plans to make one for the house - however just haven't gotten to it yet.

Thanks for checking out this project!