Recycling
In 2004 I started doing some woodworking, initally as a way to consume the huge pile of lumber left after demolishing the deck and gutting the Stupid Room, but that quickly evolved into a way to consume the huge piles of shiny trinkets the best and I have been picking up at SCRAP (a Portland business that warehouses old sample books, metal and wood parts, tile left over from building projects, and whatnot. It’s a very. very dangerous place to the Magpie Family to visit, and it’s even more dangerous now that we visit every weekend), the small piles of hardwood scraps we pick up from The Joinery, and the large piles of pallets I scavenge from work and local businesses.
The oggOmatic
This little computer is made from an old CD-Rom case, walnut side-panels from the Joinery wood scrap pile and a little green led from the electronics pile. I also built it a slipcover from a fabric scrap that I bought from Trillium Artisans.
A 3-stall roundhouse
This roundhouse is made from maple scraps from the Joinery woodpile sawed down to thin planks, glued, clamped, and sanded to within an inch of its life. This lasted about 3 months before the bears broke out one of the side walls; it’s been glued back together, but this is not what I’d go out of my way to call fine woodworking.
A tile-topped art table
This railroad table is built with a frame made of wood salvaged from the deck, then topped with plywood salvaged from the Stupid Room, and tile from SCRAP. This project came to a screeching halt when I was foolish enough to put the almost-completed table within reach of the bears.
![A children’s workbench] (Workbench.jpg =256x240)
A children’s workbench
This is made from more lumber salvaged from the deck, plywood from the Stupid Room, and linoleum from SCRAP.
A Tiny Special Bookshelf
Silas wanted a Tiny Special (™ Russell Hoban) Bookcase, so I built one out of boards salvaged from a pallet.
A Green Toyshelf
After I built the Tiny Special Bookcase for Silas, Russell wanted me to make something. We decided on this green toyshelf, built from boards salvaged from pallets and a sheet of plywood that was lying around after we uncovered the bathroom window.
A Monitor Stand
I used some pieces of walnut and cherry to build this monitor stand. The grand intention was to put a shelf into it, but the stand is still sitting at work sans storage compartmet.
A Decorative Table Lamp
On Thanksgiving weekend, we went into SCRAP and found the motherlode of glass tile. So I pulled out the stops and built this pretty little glass and wood table lamp, using Joinery scrapwood, the tiles, and electrical bits and pieces from around the house.
Another Decorative Table Lamp
This is the second of the tablelamps I’ve built from the glass tile I got from SCRAP on Thankgiving weekend, 2004. It’s built from the same materials as the other lamp.
Unfortunately, these lamps were only glued together, so this one fell apart in 2006 and is awaiting the application of dowels to make it actually lock together when I glue it up again.
A Not-So-Tiny Workbench
I finally got tired of doing all my construction projects on the floor, and built this workbench to get the work up to a more comfortable height. This workbench is made of recycled pallets and wood that I salvaged when I scrapped the deck at the back of our house.
The Glass PC
This little PC is made from colored glass from SCRAP, wood scrap from The Joinery, and a VIA ME-6000 motherboard. I made it because I found the glass at SCRAP, bought it, and needed to make something out of it.
