DAVE JANOS, CORVALLIS, OR
Quali-tea table. Longtime reader Dave Janos crafted this tea table for his home. The bookmatched canarywood top measures 28" × 15" and sits 22" high atop mahogany legs. The matching aprons feature inlaid rosewood and maple banding. Janos formed the curved rosewood edge molding around the tabletop by creating a segmented ring, trammel routing the profile into the top edge, then cutting it into quarters and inserting straight sections between the curves. We think it’s beau-tea-ful!
JACK O'DONNELL, RUSHFORD, MN
Rising star. This Minnesota woodworker was one of many readers to put their own spin on the Kissmas Tree (Dec/Jan 2021). O’Donnell’s version is made of walnut with a lacquer finish. He replaced the spike nut topper of the original with a T-nut fitted into a walnut star. The wood was harvested from a walnut tree felled on O’Donnell’s mother’s property, giving the finished piece extra-special meaning to its maker.
DAN MARTIN, COLUMBUS, OH
Case Claused. Hearkening to ghosts of Christmas past, Martin crafted this intarsia Santa featured in Issue 38 (Dec/Jan 2011).
The project’s palette came from natural colors in the aspen and red cedar parts. After assembling the intarsia, Martin wrapped it in a glass-fronted maple shadow box lit with integral LEDs. A drawer in the back stores the remote that controls the lighting. This was Martin’s first attempt at intarsia, which makes him elf-taught.
GARY ALLEN, RICHMOND, KY
Forest for the trees. Apparently attempting to keep a certain chocolate company in business, Allen made a whole forest of Kissmas Trees. This cherry version was one of a dozen treat trees he made as gifts last Christmas. He said family members who received them absolutely loved the unique, handmade gifts.
DAVID MARTIN, CHADDS FORD, PA
Star of wonder. Pennsylvania woodworker Martin designed and built this tree-topper from half-inch thick pieces of maple and cherry. After mitering the ends of the rays, he glued them to a piece of Baltic birch plywood and finished the assembly with tung oil. A screw eye affixed to the back allows the 12-inch star to be secured to the tree with wire or a zip tie. This tree-topper truly deserves to take a bough!
ROBERT OWENS, ST. MARY'S CITY, MD
Safe shipment. Owens says he enjoyed building a pair of Kissmas Trees for his chocolate-loving grandchildren. But since they live far away, he had to make sure the aromatic cedar boughs survived the long trip. Owens modified the storage box (see onlineEXTRAS for Issue 98, Dec/Jan 2021) to include a hold-down bar for securing the tree during shipping.
