SWIVELING WEATHER STATION

A gift for his wife serves double duty.

SHOP OWNER: Drew McManus

LOCATION: Bel Air, MD

I recently finished a new project for my wife, a rotating weather station, and received several nice comments about it. I purchased the weather instruments from Woodcraft over a year ago and finally got around to putting them into a project. The weather station features a barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer.

The box is butternut and the lid and base are black walnut. The box swivels on top of a tiny lazy Susan. The small "skirt" that hides the lazy Susan is padauk. I purchased all of the rough lumber from Groff & Groff in Quarrysville, PA. The lid rests in a shallow rabbet cut into the case using a rabbeting bit. The dovetails were cut using a Porter Cable 12-inch dovetail jig and router. The round black vent provides air circulation for the barometer. All parts are hand finished using Bartley's clear satin gel finish.

My wife uses the storage space inside to store her extra violin strings. She is a professional violinist and practices about three hours a day. The box is on a shelf next to a stool where she sits while practicing. She had already wanted a box, so combining the two just made sense. I included the lazy Susan so she can turn it to any instrument without having to put down her violin. Necessity is the mother of all invention.