Furniture

Sometimes out of necessity and sometimes because it is fun; but making furniture can be both challenging and rewarding. I seldom like to make things twice but will sometimes tackle a new approach to do the same thing. There are several items in our garage that I never finished simply because I lost interest or did not have the right tools to complete. One such example is shown above. I call it "La Machine", a concoction of pulleys, unusual gears and things that don't do anything except go around, up and down and sideways. For example, the clown face drives an intermittent motion "gear". There is an "oil pump", cam followers, linkages, a spring loaded idler for the chain, etc. The whole thing is 100% wood, no nails, no screws, just wooden pegs, including the chain that drives it all.

Most of my projects involve oak. There are some that have birch or mahogany, and I have used exotic woods on small items, but my favorite is still oak. Below is my desk where lots of time is spent dreaming. It has a 6 x 60 inch deep space in the back for large drawings and also includes a secret hiding place with . . . .?

It started with a simple end-table (below). Then my daughter wanted a matching coffee table. She told me, "The open end tables are great for displaying magazines and special items. But the coffee table should be enclosed with lots of storage space below." So, here is one-of-a-kind, with doors in the center and two drawers at each end. I like to use Finnish birch plywood (seven ply or about 3/8 inch thickness) to make the dovetailed drawers.

Many moons ago (with a friend and three young boys) I hiked to the top of Mount Whitney. Somehow a piece of granite ended up in my pack while we were on top and I carried it back home. Since then, we collect a rock (any rock and always legally, I think) from all the places we visit. One time a security guard at a European airport took a rock I had in my pocket. I guess he thought I might use it as a weapon, a thought that had never occurred to me. The rest are displayed in my office on special boards I made.

While we were in Bali, Indonesia, we bought two wood carvings. One is a cock-fighter that was hand carved out of one piece of ebony. The basket is completely hollow. The fine details must have taken many hours to do. The second piece represents Krishna, a Hindu god. This thirty inch high statue needed a base, so Sharon could display it on our living-room wall. The result, shown below, has about thirty-six pieces of mahogany cut at compound angles to make the contoured bottom.

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