Furniture

I have been building custom furniture since early in my high school days. I spent the last 3 years of it as a student-aide in the woodshop, have been simultaneously building my personal shop to the point where I have nearly the same machine tool and equipment capacities. Here is a
sample of the more challenging or interesting projects I have completed over the years.

The coffee table at right is one of my favorites, partially because it was a personal project. Built to house and showcase a headlight of a locomotive given to me by my grandfather, it is constructed of solid Red Oak posts and panels that came from my grandparent's farm in northern Michigan. Oak-veneer panels conceal the bottom of the table, while a bevel-edge glass to and glass side panels allow the headlight stand out as the focal point. The light fixture is wired, and even with a low-wattage bulb, it is a very bright light.

This side table is a piece I was asked to make to fit a particular space in the hallway. Situated at the entrance to the master suite, it provides a place to set keys and other small items. It is made from a solid-wood cored door that was once the front door to the house, saved when it was replaced with a newer door. Though it is hard to see in the picture, the sets of legs on each end are single pieces of door, with a section in the middle removed. Routed, sanded, and finished, the core of the door is a very unique looking feature. The original faces of the door are on two sides, and the blocks of wood that were glued together to form the core provide a striped look along the edges.

This is one of 3 beds I've made. Each varied in size and design to accommodate specific needs and spaces. One allowed a Queen-sized mattress to fit into an alcove with only an inch to spare, the bolts that connect the headboard to the stretchers had to be recessed into a notch on the inside, because there was no room to insert the bolts from the outside in a more traditional manner. The one in the picture was built to allow plastic storage bins to fit underneath, to better fit extra items in a small room. It was made of red oak, with lots of character knots placed in various locations throughout the bed.

Finally, a few shots of various boxes, checkerboards, turnings, and small projects.