Here are a few more photos of projects I built over the years. Some of them were for customers and others for personal use. This is a solid maple entertainment center. The photo at left shows the unit with all the doors closed. The second photo shows the unit with the top doors open exposing the TV and stereo components.

Normally I would create shelves for the stereo components, the VCR and the TV. The owner of this unit wanted the entire unit sealed so that no open spaces appeared around the components. I was able to cover the spaces using maple plywood and cutting around the components carefully. The unit has concealed european hinges and all the visible hardware was furnished by the owner. The bottom doors open normally but the top doors open into a pocket to avoid blocking the view of the TV. The owner contributed a great deal to this design but most often they only have a general idea of the project and you have to design the piece.

Entry Table and Mirror

This is a small entry table and a mirror. They were both built of solid red oak. The table has an oak edge but the surface is an attractive fire agate laminate over plywood. The legs are tapered in solid oak.

The table edge and the mirror frame share a routered ogee design and I purchased a beveled mirror to make it more attractive. Both projects are assembled using biscuit joints. The mirror corners were biscuited and the wood edge was biscuited to the plywood table top after the laminate was applied.

Child’s Rocker

On the right is a child size rocking chair that I designed and built for one of my granddaughters many years ago. The finish is a clear polycrylic that was applied after a friend of mine painted the decorations. This project was also assembled with biscuits. The rocker was biscuited to the side panel forming a one piece side.

Guestroom Bed: On the left is a bed that is in our guest room. The materials for this bed included an interesting collection of oak. One day, while visiting a friend who does antique refinishing, I notice an old, round six foot table top that had split. It was stained a dark ugly black walnut color and was laying outside of his shop. Upon asking, he told me that he was disposing of it and I asked him for it.

I took the table top home and belt sanded all the finish off and it looked pretty good. So I designed this bed using the split table top and some solid oak material left for a number of other jobs. To accommodate a futon mattress that needs to breath, I built a grating of plywood for support and the bed has served us well for almost ten years.

Handcarved Hand Mirrors

While I had very little time for it, I enjoyed carving. Shown above are two solid wood mirrors that I carved. These are unusual in that the mirror is permanently encased in the wood. The sunflower mirror appeared in an issue of The Mallet magazine for woodcarvers many years ago.

These mirrors were made by ripping a block of hardwood into the top and bottom pieces. Then I rabbeted a space for the mirror in one piece and cutout and carved the faced of the second piece. Once this was completed, I carefully glued the two pieces together with the mirror in place. I put a thin layer of caulking behind the mirror so it would remain tight. Then I clamped the two pieces and let it dry.

The final steps was the most time consuming because it required cutting out the shape with a band saw and then carving the entire design using carving bits on a dremel rotary tool. The back of the mirror requires a lot of care because it is easy to cut through to the mirror itself and ruin the job. The walnut mirror was purchased years ago but I still have the sunflower mirror.

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