One-of-a-Kind Set of Furniture Legs

I have been asked to create a base for a small chest of drawers. This particular base is to have turned legs. I thought I would share the process of creating a turned piece on my CNC machine.

I use my CAD/CAM software to design and create the necessary vectors and toolpaths for machining –
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I then create a 3D simulation of the piece for review –
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I thought you would find it interesting to see what the toolpaths look like. This is an image of the toolpath for roughing-out the turned leg –
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This image represents the toolpath for machining the leg –
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Here is the toolpath for machining the flutes, something that cannot be done on a traditional lathe –
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Roughed-out on the machine –
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Here is a finished cabinet leg still in the machine –
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Finished cabinet leg –
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What can I turn for you?

JIM

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Oval Wooden Serving Tray Update

Our Oval Wooden Serving Tray prototype is nearing completion. The stain and a couple of coats of the hand-rubbed finish have been applied. The blacksmith is busy working on the wrought iron handles.

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We are also working on a different method of construction for another Oval Serving Tray.
You may want to check back and follow the progress of that prototype as well.

Jim & Rebecca

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Oval Wooden Serving Tray

A Prototype in Progress

We have long planned on creating an Oval Serving Tray. This is still a work in progress.

To make our prototype, we used a solid block of Cherry measuring 23″ x 16″ x 1 3/4″ (three pieces were joined together).

The two images below represent the Serving Tray after the initial carving.

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An edge profile was then routed on the inside and outside surfaces of the Tray’s wall.

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The inside dimensions are 14″ x 21″ yielding 230.79 square inches of hospitality.

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There’s No Place Like Home

In the words of John Howard Payne ~

There’s No Place Like Home

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You will soon see the entire piece on the Wall Art section of our products page.

Jim & Rebecca

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Sneak Preview

Sola Gratia (By Grace Alone)
Sola Fide (By Faith Alone)
Solus Christus (By Christ Alone)
Sola Scriptura (By Scripture Alone)
Soli Deo Gloria (Glory To God Alone)

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You will soon find our new Five Solas Wall Art on the Wall Art section of our products page.

Jim & Rebecca

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What Exactly is Book-Matched?

Occasionally, I am asked about book-matching. What exactly is book-matching?

To enhance the beauty of wood’s grain, I choose to resaw one solid piece of wood and book-match the two resulting halves. I use this particular technique on our wooden Serving Trays and on some our inspirational Wall Art.

Here are the steps taken:

In this particular application, I start with 6/4 Cherry –

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After sizing the lumber and squaring it up on my jointer, I set the fence on my band saw to resaw the Cherry vertically, right down the center –

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After the cut –

I liken it to opening the pages of a good book – revealing the mysteries within –

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I then machine a glue joint on the two halves and join the two. The image below is of the joined pieces with a clear hand-rubbed oil finish –

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The image below is of the joined pieces with our warm stain and hand-rubbed oil finish as used on our wood Serving Trays –

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JIM

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Almost Complete ~ Five Solas Wall Art

The Five Solas is almost ready for assembly. The carving is complete and the hand-painting is almost finished. The frames are assembled and will soon be mounted.
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We plan to have our new Five Solas Wall Art ready to ship late next week. This new piece will be featured on the Wall Art section of our products page.

Jim & Rebecca

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Our New Serving Tray

We are excited about the release of our new Serving Tray. It should be up on our website within the next few days.

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We wanted to make an uncarved Serving Tray available to our customers ~ for those with a preference for simplicity and a reduced cost.

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This Tray will be available for $185.00. Contact us if you are interested before it becomes available on our website.

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Prunus serotina

As I said before, I enjoy working with wood. Each species is different and beautiful. My table saw never fails to bring out the aromas within ~ Each has its own distinct scent.

Perhaps my favorite hardwood to work with is Cherry; Prunus serotina.

Cherry Wood

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Prunoideae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Padus
Species: P. serotina

Some Cherry trees are known to live up to 258 years and can reach almost 100 feet in height with trunks attaining diameters as great as 47 inches. The widest Cherry wood board I have worked with was only 14″ wide 🙁

Although hardwoods come from all over the world, a favorite hardwood with me is American grown. Prunus serotina grows throughout the Midwestern and Eastern United States.

JIM

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To Create Beautiful Things from a Beautiful Thing

I enjoyed reading A Reverence for Wood by Eric Sloane. My wife, Rebecca, gave this to me recently as a gift. The book highlights the important role that wood has played in the development of American life and culture and touches on topics such as the aesthetics of wood, wooden implements, and carpentry.

Mr. Sloane rightly comments ~

That century of magnificent awareness preceding the Civil War was the age of wood. Wood was not accepted simply as the material for building a new nation – it was an inspiration. Gentle to the touch, exquisite to contemplate, tractable in creative hands, stronger by weight than iron, wood was, as William Penn had said, “a substance with a soul”. It spanned rivers for man; it built his home and heated it in the winter; man walked on wood, slept in it, sat on wooden chairs at wooden tables, drank and ate the fruits of trees from wooden cups and dishes. From cradle of wood to coffin of wood, the life of man was encircled by it.

I also found this an enjoyable inclusion ~

The heft and feel of a well-worn handle,
The sight of shavings that curl from a blade;
The logs in the woodpile, the sentiment of huge beams in an old-fashioned house;
The smell of fresh cut timber and the pungent fragrance of burning leaves;
The crackle of kindling and the hiss of burning logs.
Abundant to all the needs of man,
how poor the world would be without wood.

Everard Hinrichs

There is something about wood ~ something about working with it that I find enjoyable. I consider it a blessing to create with wood; to create beautiful things from a beautiful thing.

JIM

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