ENTERTAINMENT CENTER MAKEOVER

O.K. It's been a little while, but I have a good customer whom I've built a cross legged table for them, a while back, and they came to me with a challange of modifying there Entertainment center.
 It was of an older design where your analog, 36" tube type TV fit snuggly inside, and the doors could be drawn and closed to cover the TV.
   They wanted to up grade with the times and replace the ole antique with a digital flat screen.
Well what do you do with the old Entertainment center, pitch it? Give it away?
 I Looked at it and heard there idea about cutting it off here, and bringing the top down to this level.
 Well after about a half  hour of examing, the piece, I decided it was doable, and I wasnt gonna take it on if I couldn't make it look like it had never been touched.
   Not only did I have to carefully dismantle a big part of it, so that it could be cut down, and some of the face frame had to be cut at given points, exact.
   I had to cut down the left door, which in old times, covered and displayed some of the old components or nick nacks.

 After sucessfully lowering the cabinet into it's new look, it was time to take on the door. I removed the glass, then cut the top rail out, then extracted the raised panel, then cut the door frame down to it's new size. Then I cut the raised panel down to it's new size, but now I had to figure out how to put that old style profile on the panel. That was figured out, the some pretty close matching stain did the job, and reassemble the door and hang it.

O.K. This is been a project I did months ago and just didn't get time to get these two pictures up
 These bookcase's are about 16" deep and a pinch over 8' tall.
     Construction was poplar face framing and domestic maple plywood.
I use Maple ply due to the fact it is a smooth grain, and yields a good finish with little wood grain showing.
  Sure looks better when the customer gets moved in.

Natural Edge Table - A Man Table

Alright, Here is another table ready for delivery.

This table is what I call a Natural Bark Edge Table.

It is made from 2" thick slabs of Turkey Oak.

The log that I was able to produce these thick and wide slabs from

was 90 years old, and that is rare for a Turkey Oak to reach that size,

which was about 24" in diamater at the base, and estimated to be 55-60 feet high.

They normally reach about 25-30 feet high and not much more then about 12"

in diamater, then die off.

The table top was about 39" wide X 54" long, and it was heavy.

That said the base had to be built stout and ridgid

so that when the top was placed on the base it would not rock or rack from the weight of the top.

I applied several coats of Lacquer to all parts of the table, to achieve

the desired smooth finish, then several more coats of a gloss

Polyurathane, to resist moisture.

This Man table will be enjoyed in a very large screened in patio

overlooking a garden and a paddock of pet goats, and an active bid feeder.

O.K.

Here I just finished up a Pie Safe/Cabinet

This piece is built of Saplted Pecan,

 It Measures 48" high, 32" wide and about 13" deep

This piece is 100% solid stock pecan, which means, the Top, Sides, Shelves, Floors, and backing are all solid pecan.                                                                                  I did a pickwick molidng profile on book match boards for the backing.The customer will do a hand rub oil finish on it, and once that is on it will really bring out the lines and color.

 Now if your unsure of the term spalting, basicly it is the early stages of decomposition, and most of the color and lines that you see are from different Fungi that develops in the wood cells.

Just to keep this brief, one type of Fungi causes pigmentation which can change the color in wood from blue to brown , red etc,

 another is called White rot, this is a little more advanced stage of decomposition. Now when the pigmentation stage and the White Rot stage are next to each other in the wood, that creats a black or dark line/pencile line.

Childrens Computer Desk & Chair

Alright, here is another fun project for me, Well most of my projects are fun anyway. This is a childs computer desk and chair that I did for the Childrens Library section at the Dunnellon Public Library.
   The two piecs are made of Maple, and I used standared table construction techniques, on the table and chair.

 The two pieces were stained to be a simular match to the rest of the furniture in the library

ANTIQUE DISK CABINET REPRODUCTION

Alright,, just wanted to get on here the last project that went out,, and this one was a fun one to build also.. This reproduction is made of African Mahogany, to match that of the Antique Music Machine, that will sit on top. The top has the same scrolled profile as the base of the Music Machine, just a little larger of course.

To give it more of a nostalgic appearance, I did what is called frame and panel construction, in which I inserted 1/4" Mahogany plywood, which was done on all 4 sides.

The mahogany is already a pink to reddish wood, and when a red Mahogany stain is applied, you will get that beautiful Burgundy color, and then of course when the clear coat is applied over that, the grain really stands out.

Now just a pinch of history on the Music Machine : they were built before the Phonograph, or some may also remember the Victrola, those mentioned played the early records.

The Music Machine used 15 1/2" metal disk, which had about 3/8' holes punched all the way around the parameter, for the cog/gear to engage and turn it, which by the way, a handle crank on the side was wound up to drive it . Then on the rest of the metal disk were holes punched in with little tabs on one side, looked like a cheese grader, or you might say hanging chads. But anyway these little tabs would pluck the metal music bars, and just create beautiful music.

The Machine that is sitting on this cabinet has been through one fire, but has survived, and owned by the same family for years.

When I heard the music, I was amazed at how big of a well orchestrated sound came from the Machine.

The bottom two photos is of the piece in the shop before the stain and clear coat, then the cabinet was dismantled for finishing, stained, clear coated, and then reassembled.

O.K. Here is a set of Bookcase's that were built to surround the window on both sides of the fireplace, over the window and under the window with a bench, with storage.

The construction is Oak with a lite stain, and several coats of Lacquer. The units were built to fit wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, with a crown molding at the ceiling.

Sure did change the way that room looked, Seams a lot more warmth has been added to that room now.

One photo is of the units in the shop, and the other in the home of course.