My first stint into woodworking was in middle school. I made a few things in wood shop and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't know why but I never pursued it when I went into high school. In the mid 80's, I watched a program on PBS about hand carving carousel horses. At the time there was a tree being removed on our property and I saved a few pieces and I thought I might try my hand at carving. What I hadn't learned yet was the proper way to dry out wood so it doesn't check and split...so the pieces I saved ended up being firewood. Jump to 1999 when I moved to Pennsylvania. I was tearing down an old shed and dividing the materials to recycle: steel, aluminum and wood, which I was going to burn in our fire pit. My niece Kayla looked at me and asked what I was going to do with all of the wood. I looked at the wood and looked at her and said I was going to build something. I did some research on the web and started making door harps. I just wish I had kept with it when I was younger.

A heart door harp I made for my ex-wife. That is my granddaughter in the pic. It is maybe the third thing I ever made.

A door harp I made for my Step-nieces Mom, pictured is Kayla who had passed away.

My girlfriend and I were visiting my daughter and they were discussing the upcoming second birthday party for my grandson, Max. I have never been one for party planning so I was just kind of there. When my daughter mentioned it was going to be pirate themed I knew instantly that I wanted to make him a pirate ship. My daughter then said she was going to have nesting boxes made in a pirate theme for cupcakes. I thought for a few seconds and told my daughter not to worry about the nesting boxes and I would take care of it. I thought in my mind I wanted to make a multi tiered cupcake stand. I have to say it came out 95 percent what I saw in my mind. During the build I decide it needed a Lego pirate. I searched all over for plans for a pirate ship for the scroll saw or in intarsia and could not find anything. I finally settled on a cartoon picture that I used for my inspiration.




Below are some more projects I've made:

A jewelry box I made for my girlfriend. It has an antique key embedded in the lid.

I made this project for my daughter and her family.

An Adirondack chair I made for my grandson from a plan I got on the web.

A diorama I made for my daughter.

A Celtic spoon I made for my girlfriend.

A toy box I made from a plan for my grandchildren.

Ben can be reached by email at btyler5360@yahoo.com.