As usual I waited till the last minute to get started making christmas presents this year. In case any of you are in the same boat I thought I'd share what I came up with.
Woodcraft has a set of 3 "weather station" instruments (Thermometer, barometer, hydrometer) for $25. That, 12" of walnut, a router bit, a BIG fostner bit, and a coupld of hours work made an extremely nice looking gift.
I'm also made the shelf clock pictured in this link:
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have no idea how long it would only take to make one of these...as soon as the wife and my Mom saw them I was suddenly making 4. I'm guessing you could crank one of them out in a weekend. Not all that much work but finishing is going to add an extra day. This is a wood magazine plan and if you decide to make one I'd suggest a couple of changes. First, keep the columns and the sides one block of wood. It will look better and will be easier to finish and assemble. Second, instead of cutting the birds eye maple into 4 pieces, just leave the face a bit thick and cut the slots about 3/4 of the way through the board. That ensures that the lines are perfectly aligned and makes it MUCH easier to assemble.
I've been in the furniture making mode for so long making these "quick" projects were a lot of fun!
Jim