I wrote this poem describing the table to her.
To Karen with Love,
I am a closet romantic, meaning that I often have warm thoughts that I just can't seem to be able to say. When I was designing and building this special table for you I had these thoughts:
The strong white oak legs remind me how supportive you have always been to me.
The gentle taper that I made on the legs reminds me of how gentle and kind you are.
The rich red cherry table top reminds me of all of your overflowing Love, color red is the color of the heart.
The classical three bead decorative design in the aprons reminds me of how classy you are.
The decorative Forget-Me-Not flower tile in the table top makes me think of all of the wonderful times that we had.
The warm color purple of the flowers is most appropriate since it is a blend of red and blue, or hot and cold, since you indeed are a very warm person. Purple is also the color of royalty again most fitting.

This is a West Minster chime clock made of cherry and curly maple wood. It is about 19 inches tall, 12 inches wide and 4 inches deep. I made this for my wife Karen.

I made this Western Curly Maple and Walnut chime clock for a fund-raising project for my church. It raised a grand total of 1,062 to put towards the church heating bill. I could not believe how much publicity that it created. There was a front-page story in my local newspaper and also a WBRE/WYOU TV interview.

These CHARCUTERIE AND CHEESE-CUTTINGBOARDS are constructed with seven pieces of both domestic and exotic woods that are one and three/eights wide and fourteen inches in length, making the board nine and five/eights wide and fourteen inches long and finished with a food grade mineral oil.

The board on the left starting from outside to center consists of walnut, cherry, yellow heart and purple heart with the walnut wood having a very rare exquisite quilted grain pattern whereas the board on the right consists of cherry, yellow heart, pink/salmon color honey locust with a purple heart center.

This is a magazine rack made of cherry wood and 1/4 inch square highly polished brass rods. It is held together with polished acorn nuts.

This knitting storage box is 16 inches wide and 8 inches deep and 4 inches high. It will hold knitting needles and some supplies. The turn table is about 6 inches in diameter. There are two rods that will hold different size yarn balls. The box is made of walnut and the lid and turntable are made from curly maple. The box has an unconventional design having mitered corners with 1/8 inch strips of curly maple to use to hold the corners together. The inside bottom has blue felt and the latching is made up with magnets imbedded in the front and lid.

TheThe plaque is made of white maple and the base is walnut. There are two Widow's Mite Coins glued to the top of the plack under the heading. The following is printed on the plaque and Jesus's words are in red.

WIDOW'S LEPTON MITE COINS

Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said," Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others."
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything all she had to live on."

These coins were used in the Holy Lands during the life time of Jesus Christ. They were struck during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus 103 - 76 BC and often circulated for more than a century. They are most likely the mites as discussed in Mark 12: 41-44 and Luke 21:1-4. These coins, recently discovered in a dig outside Jerusalem, are average circulated examples of these historically significant coins.

This white oak display case is finished with a red oak stain. The stained glass window was made in 1911 and was removed from the Trinity Lutheran Church, Pottsville, Pa. for a remodeling expansion project in 2000. This case is back lit to showcase the window. The window is about 32 inches wide and 25 inches highand weighs about 60 pounds.

This flag display case is made from white oak with a red oak stain. It is about 3 3/16 inches wide and stands 9 and 1/8 high. The sides are 12 and 7/8 long and the base is 18 and 3/16 long. The front glass bead is 3/8x3/8 with a 1/8 inch glass. The glass is held in with hot glue and the back panel is 1/4 inch plywood and secured with number 4 3/4 inch long brass screws. The back panel fits into a 1/4 x 3/8 inch rabbet. The top is formed by 2 45 degree miters and the bottom of the sides and the base are cut at a 67.5 degree angle, the complement of the 22.5 degree angles that make the 45 degree inside bottom corners. I made sure that the inside of the sides were about 10 and 1/2 inches long to give room for the folded flag. The flag is a 3 x 5 foot cotton United States Congress official flag.

There were four flags flown over the United states Capitol in honor of my grandson's confirmation class. One for each of the kids. The official certificates accompanying each of the flags read as follows:
THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

This is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol.
At the request of the Honorable Matthew A. Cartwright, Member of Congress, this flag was flown for Christian Gauker in honor of your May 19, 2013 Confirmation into the Trinity United Church of Christ.

This red cherry solid wood tv stand has a hidden drawer in the bottom. It is cherry wood with a red mahogany stain.

this is an oak tv stand with the same design as the red cherry one.

I made this vanity for our bathroom. It has a banjo style top. and 3 drawers on the left side. It is solid red oak.

I made this wooden vanity top for our bathroom. A friend help me align the wood grain so that it looks like one wide board. He also cut out the hole for the sink.

I made this mirror to match the vanity.

I made this wishing well planter for a fund raising project for my church. It is 24 inches tall and 15 inches across. It is made from white pine. The finish is quite unique. I had my wife take a torch and sorch the wood to make it look rustic.

This bird house planter is made of white pine. There are instructions on this site of how to construct. The instructions are designed so that a blind woodworker can make it.

The two carriage lamp style candel sticks stand about 50 inches tall. The flame was constructed from pbc pipe with a light socket secured inside.

My home was built around 1890, long before any building codes and the front porch with best guess was added 1930-1940s. The porch is about five feet above the sidewalk and the railing was twenty-four inches high. A few times I almost went over it as did my wife . It was time to upgrade the railing.

The twenty-four-inch railing had a very decorative pattern between the top and bottom rail. I pictured a design that I thought would not only work to make it safe but would enhance the look. On top of the short railing I constructed a taller railing with vertical balusters thus bringing it up to code height. There were two short columns by the steps that had about a one-inch decorative cap which I removed. By removing those caps, I was able to use pieces of four-inch square posts to attach my new railing.

For the top I cut six-inch wide pieces to about four-inch wide widths to make a small reveal over the new corner posts. I made a chamfer or angle cut that was twenty-three degrees making the top decorative. I did get to use two fairly new very cool tools for this project. A talking angle finder to help make the twenty-three cuts and a new talking protractor to make the corner miter. I had a professional painter complete the job; my wife does not allow me to handle a paint brush.

This is the toy train I made for my grandson Christian when he was almost two years old for Christmas, 1998. As you can tell, I was not allowed to paint it. My wife Karen was afraid of the Picasso look!

These photos are the inside and outside views of a cabinet I made for my mother. The cabinet stands 5'3" high. It is 15" wide and 10" deep. Both the top and bottom sections are 30" high with a 3" base. The doors were my first attempt of making a raised panel door. The cabinet is made of white pine with a colonial maple finish.