Matt Sparx’s Woodworking Projects for 2019

This year has been quite the year... Busy to say the least. I did still find the time to get into my happy place, the woodshop, and make some pretty cool stuff in 2019. I wanted to share with you some of the projects that I completed this year.

First up on the list is storage solutions. I didn't have enough storage when it came to the basement, so I decided to do a couple of quick shelves. Three of these in total were made out of 2x4's and 7/16" OSB. I'll need to make a few more of these sometime soon in the future.

I also did the same thing in the garage for overhead storage using the same material. Most of the items that are placed on these shelves above the garage are lightweight and rarely ever used.

Woodshop solutions

I don't know why it took me so long to build a legitimate workbench, but I am glad I finally did. This has been so useful over the course of the last few months and has made working in the garage quite a bit easier.

Flip cart tool stand. Two tools, one footprint. I made this cart to house my planer and my sander without taking up too much space. This is easily one of my most favorite projects in 2019 for the garage.

The raised garden bed in the backyard was a great addition to the house. The garden bed provided us with 80 square feet of planting space for our tomatoes, brussels sprouts, cucumbers and super hot peppers. Shortly after planting all of the vegetables, I had to engineer a shade net to protect the plants from hail. It only worked okay. I will have to think of another way to protect the plants next summer.

The custom cherry and aluminum dining room table. Everything about this table is custom from the legs to the top. The cherry tabletop has astounding grain patterns that are accented with brushed aluminum bow tie keys that match the custom made aluminum legs. The customer who commissioned this table was ecstatic when she saw her table in person for the first time.

Cutting boards galore. The first cutting board of 2019 is an end grain board made out of cherry and walnut.

This edge grain board was made out of maple and accented with cherry and purpleheart inlays.

As well as this one.

Two of the last boards were Christmas gifts made to order. Another brick end grain cutting board made with maple, cherry, and walnut.

This is a 2 inch thick all cherry butcher block end grain cutting board. The grain looks astounding from the top.

There were a few other projects that were completed, but I sadly never got around to taking photos of them. I have a few ideas that I am floating around for the first projects of 2020 and can't wait to get started on them in the new year.