HOMEMADE FURNITURE FILLS FRUITLAND HOME

Riney with one of the many wooden pieces that fill his home.

They're everywhere -- homemade oak picture frames, knicknack shelves, book shelves, candle holders, magazine racks, more knicknack shelves, cedar chests.

In the Fruitland home of Dave and Becky Riney, there are also a jelly cabinet and a microwave cart for the kitchen, a Xerox copier cart for an office, a night stand for a bedroom and a little wagon with moveable parts in their son, Michael's, playroom.

In fact, there's so much homemade furniture in the Riney home that some store bought furnishings had to be removed.

And when Dave Riney says homemade -- he means he makes it in his home, in a saw dust-covered woodworking shop attached to his garage.

If Riney had started making furniture when the idea first occurred to him -- at a very early age -- all the homes in Fruitland might now be awash in his carefully crafted creations.

But Riney, who teaches physical education and coaches volleyball and basketball teams at Jackson Junior High School, didn't really measure and saw his first piece of wood until about five years ago.

"A neighbor kind of got me started," said Riney, who was born in Perryville but graduated from Jackson High School in 1971. "A neighbor moved out and another moved in and he worked with wood a lot."

The neighbor, Harry Thiele, had a workshop with all the trimmings. The two practiced the craft there for several years until Riley built his own workshop about three years ago. When his house was enlarged, a 19-by-18 woodworking shop was part of the floor plan.

"I never really had my own place to do woodworking or someone to do it with," said Riley.

With the assistance of Thiele, Riley began to purchase machinery and materials needed to craft oak objects of various sizes and complexity.

His first piece of equipment was a table saw and the first thing he made, after more equipment was added, was a doll swing for his wife, who teaches computers at the Jackson school.

A band saw joined the table saw, as did a drill press, a sander "for the little stuff," a jig saw, a planer, a scroll saw and a router table.

As equipment accumulated and Riley became more versed in its operation, he branched out into rather unusual creations. In one room a small, delicate swing sways a pair of cloth rabbits; nearby are a miniature tricycle and mailbox; in his son's room on the second floor is an athletic rack -- it holds baseball, bats, hats and shoes.

"I also made him a little old-fashion desk," said Riley, as his son, almost 2 years old, opened its top and began removing pre-school readers.

Also in the room is a small wagon with moveable parts. Laden with quilts and pink and purple stuffed animals, it has a hitch that turns side-to-side and wheels that roll. Wood was wetted and stretched over the wheel base to cover the spoke holes, "like the old-time wheels, I'm kind of proud of it," he said.

Riley works almost exclusively with oak, a kind of oak called glue-board -- 1 1/2-inch slats of the hardwood are glued together to make long, broad sheets.

He buys it in Cape from a company that uses it to make tractor-trailer beds. The glued edges pretty much disappear after planing and staining. Most of Riney's woodwork is stained with a medium-dark walnut color.

"A good piece of furniture we can make in eight hours," said Riney, pointing out that Thiele, the neighbor, often helps. "We'd work on it over a few days.

"Knicknack shelves, candle holders and other small things don't take too long."

Riney says when he makes something he usually winds up making two of them -- his wife wants one to give away.

Last Christmas, he created enough oak objects to supply his and his wife's families with most of their Christmas presents. Two cedar chests for two nieces were put under Christmas trees, his mother got a jelly cabinet and knicknack shelves were generously dispensed.

Riney gets a lot of his design and pattern ideas from magazines such as "Country Sampler." People asking for specific creations often bring him pictures of what they want.

"Teachers at the school know if they want something made they can give me an idea and I'll do it. I work pretty cheap, and it's really just a hobby for me, an outlet."

Riney's workshop hasn't hummed with the buzz of the planer or the hum of the sander for about a month -- time had to be taken to get ready for another school year.

And although he has no big projects planned, he does admit his wife would like a clothes closet, and he'd like to fashion a china hutch.

"That hutch would be a big project," he said, smiling and scratching his forehead. "I'd have to get up the nerve to do it."