Chris from A Glimpse Inside built and designed these projects featured in the video.
Chris tackles a handful of shop work in one video, including a custom cover for a wedding venue, a small product collaboration with his daughter, and the repurposing of resin-encased wood “cookies” into a useful tabletop piece.
Wedding Manhole Cover Panel
One of the main projects is a decorative cover made to hide a manhole at a wedding photo location, swapping plywood for real hardwood and finishing it to look intentional in photographs.
Assembly and preparation included multiple paint coats with light sanding between layers, test cuts to dial in the laser engraving, and a long raster pass to reproduce the couple’s logo across the panel; the result is a clean, purpose-built piece that reads well in photos and blends with the venue.
Artist Push Sticks (Daughter’s Project)
Chris developed a small product line of artist push sticks in collaboration with his daughter to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship at an early age.
The project is set up so a portion of each sale benefits his daughter, offering a real-world lesson on idea development, productizing a shop-made item, and learning about marketing and fulfillment in a low-risk way.
Resin-Cookie Accent Panels Repurposed
Chris repurposed panels that feature cypress cross-sections embedded in resin by machining them on a CNC to create a new tabletop element with a protruding plywood datum and routed relief areas for the resin pieces.
The work continued with shaping, a light roundover, and a simple glued-up mahogany surround held with brads and epoxy, followed by a Danish oil finish to bring out the colors; along the way Chris notes that sometimes a simpler cutting method would have saved time, but the CNC approach yielded a precise fit and a finished look he was happy with.
Overall Takeaways
The video showcases a pragmatic approach to woodworking where aesthetics and function are balanced, and the maker is willing to mix techniques—from hand-finishing to CNC and laser—to get the desired result.
Beyond the builds themselves, the projects highlight useful lessons about problem-solving in the shop, repurposing materials into something new, and using small shop products and campaigns to teach valuable skills to the next generation.
Please support Chris by visiting his website here: https://www.aglimpseinside.org.
Matt’s Take
These are my personal thoughts and tips based on my own experience in the shop. This section is not written, reviewed, or endorsed by the original creator of this project.
What I really appreciate about this collection of projects is how Chris demonstrates the versatility that comes with having multiple tools and techniques at your disposal. The laser engraving for the wedding cover shows how modern technology can elevate what might otherwise be a basic utility piece into something photo-worthy. That test cut approach is smart — laser settings can be finicky, and dialing them in on scrap before committing to your final piece saves both time and material.
The artist push stick collaboration is brilliant on multiple levels. Teaching kids about business through woodworking creates real accountability and pride in craftsmanship. Plus, push sticks are one of those shop essentials that get beat up over time, so having extras that look good enough to display is a nice touch. Safety-wise, anything that encourages proper push stick use gets my vote.
The resin cookie repurposing project highlights something we all face — what to do with materials that didn’t work out as originally planned. Sometimes the best approach is stepping back and asking what else these pieces could become. The mahogany surround is a nice way to frame the cypress sections while adding warmth to the overall piece.
Danish oil remains one of my go-to finishes for projects like this. It penetrates well, enhances the natural wood color, and doesn’t build up a thick film that might interfere with the tactile experience of the piece.