Furniture and other Woodworking

Here is some stuff that isn't round, i.e. not turned, although you might find some turned parts here and there.  Some of what you will see here is new, and some old, dating back to the very beginnings of my hobby before it became a business.  This page might take a little while to load.  Please be patient with me.  My lovely wife is working on some new whiz bang program that will improve things, but it isn't ready yet.

I debated with myself (and won, fortunately) about how to organize this.  If I put my early work up front, people could see how my work has progressed over the years.  On the other hand, they might look and think I'm a real tyro and not even finish the page, so I have decided in all my limited wisdom to start with the latest and the greatest and work my way back.  As you go, you will undoubtably see that at the very least, my photography skills have improved somewhat.

This first piece was delivered just a few weeks ago.  It is a reproduction of an antique music box cabinet, built to hold the music box you see sitting on top.  My customer was gracious enough to bring his box when he came to pick up the stand, allowing me to get some very nice pictures.  The stand was built using a picture taken at an auction of a similar stand.  The only measurements I had to start with was the desired height, and the footprint of the box for which the stand was being built.  The upper spindles were turned to match those on the box, in a effort to harmonize the two pieces as much as possible.  Construction is entirely of mahogany, with the exception of the dividers inside and the lower back panel, which are made of mahogany veneer plywood.  Overall dimensions are 32" high, 18" deep, and 21" wide.

Here is the stand with its attendant music box.  Not only does it look good (if I say so myself), the sound is great, thanks to the hollow top.  I can't take any credit for that, I'm just a good copier.

Here is a shot of the inside storage for the disks.  This box plays 12" steel disks with holes punched in them.  Try explaining that to a generation familiar only with CDs.

Here is a shot with the inside top of the box displayed.  These people went in big for flourishes and decorations.

Here is a terrible picture of a pretty nice table.  The customer wanted a hall table in a Scandanavian style, and it had to fit the space seen, plus go around the heater underneath.  After a consultation with the Mr and Mrs, we settled on the trapezoidal design, making the heavily travelled corner betwen the room and the hallway a little less constricted, as a square top would have done.  It was easy enough to do the top, but I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when it came to gluing up the aprons.  The front apron has a drawer with a lip on the underside acting as a pull.  The front apron is also made from a single board to conceal the drawer's presence and preserve the flow of the grain.  this picture is of suffciently poor quality that you'll have to take my word for it.

Here is a close up shot of the top and a walnut bowl I made for them.  The table is constructed entirely of curly maple, with the exception of the drawer sides and bottom.  Overall dimensions are 58" wide, 18" deep, and 30" high.  Finish is Bartley's gel varnish.

And now a giant step back to earlier days.  I did make stuff in between, but I am lousy about taking pictures, especially with tight delivery schedules.  The pictures below are of a bannister I built for a former co worker.  She was one of the first to contact me to do work after I quit my coporate job to begin the slow process of starving to death as a self employed woodworker.  The main criteria for this job (and I am not making this up) was to make it weird.  It had to be fuinctional, but weird was top on the list.  After some thought and a few initial drawings, this is how it ended up.  I would not want to have to negotiate these steps in an altered state of conciousness.

This was my part of the job, to deliver and install the bannister, unfinished except for two coats of sanding sealer.  The mural on the wall is a woman's face and hair, with the hair colored like a rainbow.

This is the bannister after the airbrush artist got through with it.  Notice the colors are picked up from the wall and the stair risers.  These pictures were supplied to me by the owner.

Here is another early job for me, and somewhat simple.  It gave me one of my first opportunities to work from a picture instead of my own design or plans.  A lady came to me looking for a CD cabinet.  She had purchased an entertainment center from a large furniture store.  Unfortunately, they did not make matching accessories, and she wanted the two to match.  So, working from a wrinkled and very small catalog picture, I matched the species and style to the point where she declared they looked like they were made in the same place from the same plans.

This step stool was comissioned by another former coworker.  It was succesful enough that I built several, and even made jigs to speed the process.  However, I got a little worried about making and selling them.  As a new business, insurance companies just laughed at me whan I approached them about liability.  Now thatI am established, I am somewhat covered against the stupidity of others.  This stool, as in other pieces, is personally tested to over 350 lbs of wiggling woodworker for stability and joint integrity.

Here is another view with the pivoting lower step extended.  This is my own design.  No offense to any readers out there, but I will not pass the design along.  I don't need to hear form someone else's lawyer down the road.  If you want to knock it off though, have at it.

The project below was one of my earliest and largest to date (the date I finished it that is).  It was also for some of my favorite customers, my wife and kids.  This bunk bed was built over a period of about two years, as my two oldest daughters exited the crib and needed a real bed.  The room in which they were staying was very small, so this is a youth sized bed rather than a full size.  We figured that would buy us the time we needed to get the house on the market and move to a larger one.  It didn't, but that is another story.  The bottom half was built when daughter number one needed a real bed and daughter number two was ready for the crib.  The top half was fitted to match the bottom half, and was built with several features not found in commercial sets.

The window in the footboard here is framed out just like a real window, with all the moldings, a sill, etc.  It did two things.  First, it lightened the appearance somewhat (remember, tiny room and massive furniture).  Second, it made the bed into a playhouse.  All the girls needed to do was to hang a blanket over the side, and they had their house.

The beds are joined by some heavy duty wood clamps, held on by 3/8" carriage bolts.  Young mothers are fearful, and sometimes young fathers as well.  This bed was tested by Daddy himself, at 300 lbs plus, and none too gently, before any child spent the night.

Here is a shot of the foot.  The guard rail is integral to the bed rail, glued and screwed, and is long enough to cover all the bed except what space is needed for the ladder.  The ladder hooks over the rail and will not slip no matter who is on it or what they are doing (and the little monkeys did a lot when they were supposed to be snoozing).

The final, and perhaps most unusual feature, is the height between the two beds.  Most commercially available bed leave just enough room for the kid to squeeze in for the night.  This bed was built with a very important purpose, and that is the nightly reading of the bedtime story.  I did not want to end up looking like Quasimoto, so increased height was a requirement.  I am 6' 2", and this bed allows me to sit comfortably while reading to the girls.  Favorites were Hop on Pop and Oh Say can You Say.

This last picture on this page is a coffee table I built for my parents, and is one of my earliest woodworking projects not counting high school shop.  It is also one of the first pieces I ever built that was not square on purpose.  All the joints on this table are offset by 5 degrees.  It is sturdy, as my Dad has it piled high with books and photo albums, and it has been standing for about 14 years now.