Projects of Kirtis Hickey

These projects come from Kirtis Hickey kirtishickey@yahoo.com of Maple Valley (Renton/Seattle) Washington, USA and he describes them below.

I built two of these 5' round poker tables using mostly salvaged materials for about $115.00 each

Salvaged material:
Base - 5'x5' baltic birch 3/4" plywood
Rails - 3/4" plywood
Foam - 1/2" carpet padding
Inlay - 1/8" x 1" cherry and walnut scraps
Spacer - 1" plywood (to make legs overlap)
Carrying Handles - 2" wide nylon strap

Purchased materials:
Marine Vinyl - 1/2 price on e-Bay
1 yd - Faux suede -  1/2 price on e-Bay
1 yd - craft felt
1/8" masonite
1/4" oak plywood
Folding banquet table legs
T-nuts

Consumables:
Wood glue, Adhesive spray, epoxy, stains), Vera thane, staples, nuts, bolts, washers, screws and brads.

Since I was building more than one, I ended up creating 5 new jigs (mostly for the router) to make things easier. In all I only purchased one new tool, a sheet metal workers pliers from the visegrip co.

I sadly did not make any plans… oh well!

"This is a noise maker make of Black Walnut, Oak doweling and Maple for the reed. I found this design in Popular Woodworking and modified it as I don't own a lathe. The design goes back to the early 1800's as a night watchman's alarm and was also used when gas was detected. The Woodwright has them in one of his books and I saw one on the Antique Road Show that was almost two feet long! The base was easy to make, and the reed took a little work and a few attempts to produce just right.

Plan on making more of these than you do the bases! I had to use dowels as I don't own a lathe for the handle and cap. They suggested using a bandsaw to make the gear or ratchet, but I found a simpler way since I was building six of these for New Years Eve 1999/2000. I cut a long block of walnut into an octagon, the lowered the table saw blade and set it to around 7 degrees or so. After setting the fence to the correct position, I ripped the work piece to create the teeth. Next, I set up my router table and rounded out the bottom of the teeth to a uniform radius to clean everything up. Worked really great. Next I ripped the "ganged" gears apart and sanded then smooth. These were a hoot for my kids and nieces. We saved a set for my wife and my self and use them each year. In addition their great at events like Klondike Derbys or Winter Rendezvous and even the kids' soccer games to cheer them on... "

"This is an Oak flag case that I modified from the plans I found in Popular Woodworking magazine. I originally modified their plans to make a flag case for a 5x7 casket flag and found that I didn't like the way their bottom piece attached. It was made with 45 degree cuts and the bottom simply was butt glued, imagine that!. Later in 1999, for my sons cub scout den of nine boys, I designed this flag case to fit the 3x5 foot nylon flags you see around so much now.

It has all the corners mitered and has the Plexiglas front slid open rather than the plywood back. This makes it easier to position the flag after its been folded."

"Here is a fruit hanger and paper towel set made of Oak that I made back in 1998, again with the idea of making wood projects for nine little boys. This was a Christmas gift for the moms and would not have been possible without another dad's bandsaw. Thanks Dave! The boys had a good time making these, and their moms still use them as a place to hang bananas and grapes."

"I built this solid Black Walnut poker chip box back in 1993 with the help of my friend Ray Bechard. He has a complete woodshop in his garage and opened it up to me. After seeing my design, he decided he wanted to build one as well, and choose to do his in oak. He was kind enough to teach me how to use all the tools for my first project. The case is 12 1/8" x 14 3/4" x 2 3/8" and is built of 1/4" thick top and bottom panels, 1/2" thick sides and center divider, with 1/8" thick dividers."

"The box cost around $40.00 (which my poker buddies donated!) for the wood, brass latches and hinges, and about 5 layers of verathane. The felt was just added last year, it helps align the chips along the outside edges while closing the top, as well as the rattling of the chips during transportation. It will hold 600 poker chips (150 each of white, red and blue, 100 green and 50 black) which allows for eight players to buy-in for $20.00 each. Happily it has seen a lot of use (and wear) over the years."

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