Commission Work

I am always up for a challenge, and while I will take on projects that are simple, affordable, and practical solutions, I am really looking for these special jobs where I can use artistic and unique designs. My favorite thing is when I draw something that I don't know how to make yet, and then figure it out. The ideal project has me spending more time scratching my head than cutting and sanding. 

This is by far the most ambitious piece I’ve ever made, 3 months in the making. The 5’ X 6’ X 3” thick maple and walnut endgrain checkerboard top has almost 2000 pieces, and weighs 300 lbs! Due to it’s size, the only way to accomplish the massive glue-up was to first build 2 separate clamping tables, one for gluing up 6 panels of 40 pieces each, and one for clamping the 48 resulting pieces one at a time. Each joint had to be fitted to the next by hand plane, and each of 3 main sections had to be flattened with a hand plane as well, before they could be joined into one full piece and flattened again. (probably had to sharpen the plane iron 50-100 times). Once the 3- 100 lb pieces had been joined together, I couldn’t move it by myself anymore.

The base is constructed entirely with doweled mortise and tenon, thru tenon and sliding dovetail, joinery. The drawers are solid walnut with hand cut dovetails, and the only metal fasteners are on the drawer glides and removable wheels. Several jigs and 2 special purpose tools had to be fabricated to accomplish this.

I hope you like it, videos included explaining some of these processes, and how over the course of this 3 months, I lost 10 lbs, my beard, and my shirt!

This free standing vanity of walnut and maple is setting a new benchmark for my work, all mortise and tenon joints and hand cut dovetails on the drawers. Blum undermount invisible hardware for the drawer glides. hope to see a lot more like this in the future!

This set of bath vanity cabinets is a perfect example of what I love to do. The original upper unit had been a high, gothic arch with side cabinets that sat on the countertop but had to change, because my client needed the counter space. I drew a new design for two matching, curved, upper cabinets that I ended up liking even better. The radius on the bottom of the cabinet was made to match the mirror.

The design for the lower unit was my answer to the old problem of having a blank 6" section across the top, where the sink does not allow for a drawer.

The entire unit is made of solid walnut, including the drawers, which feature box joint corners and wood slide rails the way a dresser would, to eliminate the need for hardware. The drawer pulls are simply holes through the face exposing the walnut drawer behind and the door pulls are also uniquely designed for this project.

This table was a special challenge, the 2 slabs of Aleppo Pine provided by client had been laying around and got badly twisted and checked. Being too twisted to straighten them without losing too much of the thickness that makes them so nice and strong, meant finding a way to install them on a flat base while leaving the twist in them. The solution was to route sliding dovetails into the underside while referencing from the other side! Risky business, but it worked. The base is made from construction grade Doug/Fir, with all exposed surfaces textured with a grinder rasp for that hand tooled rustic look. It now lives as a working farm table outdoors, in the shade of the other Aleppo Pines that it was milled from.