Woodworking | Mr. G's Mind

A few years ago, a good friend moved his family to Tennessee. What an awesome state!

One day he texted me, and told me about the play tables that he was making for his kids. When he finished, he said that they turned out great and he was ready for some wonderful Tennessee mash.

I felt so inspired after our conversation, that I wrote this poem. Hope you Wood Butchers enjoy!

Like the wood itself,

The Wood Butcher becomes

A shape changer.

From tree rings to mill,

From lumber yard to garage,

Unnamed pieces of wood are assembled,

With glue, nails and love.

Once a tree, now a play table.

A mesa for imagination.

A living thing becomes a life-long childhood memory.

At day’s end, iced Tennessee gold

Fuels the dreaming mind,

For yet another rainy day project.

Now go build something for your kids!

I bought this cool tile below from an artist in Pt. Arena, CA. I’d been moving the tile from place to place and decided that it needed to be framed, before I cracked it in two pieces.

I wanted it to be a larger frame, as it reminded me of some Craftsman-period paintings that I’d recently seen in an antique store.

The frame is made of mahogany, and will be 16″ x 16″ overall when finished.

I cut the frame pieces at 45 degree angles and joined with biscuits and glue. If you are not familiar with what biscuits are, refer to my paddle build post for a description – Stand Up Surf Board Paddle Build

Next, I made a plywood backing to support the tile. I don’t have a router, so I placed the tile on top of the frame and traced around it. I removed the tile and hand gouged out an edge for the tile to sit in.

I secured the plywood backing to the frame using wood blocks, some aluminum straps and screws. I spread grout onto the plywood backing and set the tile in place.