Recent content in Projects on A.H. Okuda Woodworking
I built these large bookshelves as a custom design from my client. They specified the sizes they wanted for the shelves; the unit is 78.5" tall and 72" in width overall. I used 3/4" baltic birch plywood for the unit with a 5mm light mahogany backing board. This project was the first time I have used this type of material and I really enjoyed working with such flat wood. I used a router with…
I built this twin-sized day bed frame out of construction lumber. The main requirement of the bed was to be solid and support a kid jumping on it. I designed it so that it can be moved easily by unbolting eight bolts, two per corner. I slightly angled the head and footboard so a person can sit and read with a comfortable posture, and the gap between the angled panel and the mattress allows for…
This is a simple frame I made from mahogany for a 5x7 photo. It has a 1/8" round-over on the outside edges and uses basic 45 degree mitre construction. I added a 45 degree bevel on the inside edge leading to the glass and photo so that there’s no shadow from the edge. The frame is 1.5" thick, but next time I’ll build it 1" thick so I can make more frames from the same stock. For a…
This is a butterfly enclosure that I built to hold a few plants and secure them from lizards and birds and other animals which would eat the caterpillars going through the process of transforming into butterflies. It is made from redwood finished in an oil-based finish that has a light leave-on stain (Cabot Australian Timber Oil, my favorite for redwood that will be in the elements). There is a…
This is a design that has entrance storage with four open boxes for backpacks and a few shelves for other bags and outdoor-related items. it also includes a hangar bar for coats and a few other bags. In the future, hooks and custom shelving could be added to the sides to increase the utility. It’s kind of like an open coat closet. 
 I built it using construction and paint-grade pine…
This shadow box is intended to hold two ~80mm medallions, such as from a marathon. It was built and given as a gift to some people who supported my father in law during his woodworking business for many years and still visit occasionally. I built this out of mahogany for the sides and a 1/4" plywood back covered with some black felt for the visible surface. The back is set into the sides with a…
I built this table from redwood and used Australian Timber Oil by Cabot for the finish. I was using spare wood leftover from a privacy fence project, so I tried to do some interesting joints and resawing on my table saw which didn’t quite work out perfectly but I was able to fix with a hand plane. I used a “castle joint” for the top box stretchers that hold the tabletop, but the…
This is a small shelf for desktop use. It is about the height of a laptop’s screen when open and a bit wider than the laptop overall. It’s used to place some decorations, a pen cup, and other things for easy access and to make a workspace feel cozier. I used a design for the side based on a design for an antique bench I saw in a YouTube video by Rex Kreuger . I simplified the design…
This is a door for my home’s lanai (patio). I built it as the first wood project that I have done for a while, at least since I was a teenager and worked with my grandfather to build stuff from wood and do wood carvings. It is built from redwood lumber that I milled from rough boards. The frame is 1.5"x3.5" (aka: 2x4) and uses mortise and tenon glued construction. The cross bars are 1" wide…