What I build is considered high quality furniture and cabinets.  I like to use all solid woods; however, I will use furniture grade plywoods for some shelving and side/back panels in order to reduce cost.  Antique reproductions are always made from solid wood.  My "normal" finish is precatalized lacquer for smoothness, clarity, protection and repair ability.  Shellac, varnish, oil and other finishes are sometimes used for historical accuracy or customer preference.  While most furniture quality woods seem to look best in their natural color; I will stain or color pieces to fit decor or customer wishes.

    I build in many different styles; however, I prefer the classical lines of Shaker furniture for my personal use.  The only thing that I don't do is carving.  If you need carving; I am not the person to build your item.

    I use construction techniques developed over centuries of furniture construction to ensure the durability of the finished piece.  Normally this means mortise and tenon, dovetails, and other joints not needing mechanical fastening with nails or screws.  I use a mix of hand tools and machines.  Since hand tool work requires a "proper" workbench; I built my own bench.  The bench is shown on the  shop pictures page  and the process of building it on the  workbench page .

    For the past ten years; re-modeling kitchens has paid the bills.  This is not furniture quality work; however, it is done with care and is top quality as far as kitchens go.  By the end of 2003, I  plan to phase out all kitchen work and revert to full time quality furniture and cabinet work.  Some sample kitchens done in ten years of kitchen remodel work can be seen here.  UPDATE: I am now fully retired from kitchen work and devoting all of my woodworking time to furniture/custom cabinetry.     Kitchens

Examples of completed projects can be seen in the custom projects page.  Custom Projects

 
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	Typical shaker construction details:       Hand cut dovetails       Bead detail on drawer bottom and bottom of stretcher rail       Top edges very slightly rounded over to eliminate sharpness
	Drawer construction:       Hand cut half blind front dovetails       Hand cut though rear dovetails       Solid wood front, back and sides       Matching hardwood plywood or solid wood bottom
	Shelving details (bookcase unit):       3/4" grade A1 hardwood plywood shelf stock       1 1/2" high by 3/4" thick front edge for support
	Mortise and tenon construction:       The mortise is the hole       The tenon is cut to fit exactly in the hole       This gives mechanical strength and a large surface for glue to work
	I make my own raised panel doors to ensure correct style and fit

 
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