woodworking

• Mendota Mantels in St. Paul, Minnesota

  

  Each Mendota mantel – made from antique reclaimed old-growth timbers and "rescued wood" – is unique, and uniquely beautiful. The wood has been salvaged from old barns, mills and warehouses, most built from the mid 19th to early 20th century, and each piece is sculpted with hand tools. Custom carving – like this piece by Jock Holman, on a rescued beam from a Norwegian ship – is available, although much of their work simply celebrates the natural grain and shape of the wood without any additional decoration. They describe the provenance of their materials thus:

  Antique Reclaimed timber mantels are recycled beams that have
  been salvaged from old buildings. They have an estimated age of 300 to
  800+ years. They are antiques. They grew from old growth forests that
  flourished in America through the 1930’s – forests that are now mostly
  gone.

  Our reclaimed timbers were milled into beams in the
  late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to become mills,
  factories, warehouses, and barns – buildings now being demolished.

  Unlike water-salvaged timbers, our Reclaimed timbers have been air-aging for over 100 years. This slow air-drying enhances color, beauty and character.

  Most importantly, air-dried timbers are more stable and much less
  likely to twist or check (crack). Reclaimed antique timbers are a
  limited resource.

  Our ‘Rescued’
  timber mantels are milled from present day trees that have been
  discarded. They are most often logs from urban tree services, storm
  blown trees, or ‘ends’ from logging operations.

  The artisans at Mendota are comfortable working in the Craftsman / Mission Revival style, as in this piece by Dan Guion, just as much as doing much more contemporary-styled work like this backlit mantel made from heart pine reclaimed from Wabasha’s Big Jo Flour Mill. Check out a gallery of their work.

• Charles Rennie Mackintosh(esque) kitchen remodel in W Virginia

  
  Monongaehala PA cabinetmaker Pat Herforth recently channeled the spirit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh to build a new kitchen for client Carrie Russell’s 1920 Tudor/Craftsman home in Morgantown, West Virginia.

  Once in a great while, if you’re very lucky, you’re sorry to see a work
  day end so soon. Pat Herforth felt that way when he created a kitchen
  for Carrie Russell.

  "I was at work eight hours, and it seemed like 15 minutes," said the Monongahela woodworker.

  "I didn’t sleep at night — for excitement."

  The thrill was in building cabinetry, trim, light fixtures and
  furniture in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Scottish
  architect/designer whose take on Art Nouveau jelled with the European
  Arts & Crafts movement near the turn of the 20th century.

  photograph by Darrell Sapp for the Post-Gazette

• Robert E. Koch custom woodworking

  
  Robert Koch studied under John Kassay (author of The Book of Shaker Furniture) and continues that tradition of austerity and craftsmanship in his own work. His furniture is influenced by "Arts & Crafts, Asian and American Shaker furniture designs" – and in its smooth lines, deceptively simple framing, delicate dovetailing and use of several beautifully-grained woods, these pieces combine elements of all three styles.

  Robert lives and works in Diamond Springs, California (not far from my home in Sacramento), and takes commissions and may have other pieces for sale.

• Greene & Greene Influenced Bed

  

  Take a look at this beautiful bed! The very strongly Greene & Greene inspired design is originally by Gary Rogowski, but this example – in cherry and walnut, finished with hand-rubbed oil and wax – was made by Paul DeWitt in Colorado. It sells for $2775 (king) and $2600 (queen).

  Take a look at Paul’s other work at his custommade gallery and on his own website.

• Woodworking Videos now on AOL?

  AOL, long thought to be way behind the times, is actually making some free and useful videos for woodworkers and other do-it-yourself types. They are part of the produced content on their video service – an attempt to compete with YouTube, I guess. They’ve even signed up some pretty good hosts – for example, a whole suite of home-improvement videos starring Eric Stromer, who hosts the Clean Sweep program on TLC. The site also includes print versions of the instructions for each project, so that you don’t need to watch the video over and over while building your table or bench or what have you.

• Allan-Dymarz Studios

  Edmonton craftspeople Curtis Allan, a woodworker, and Ania Dymarz, an artist working with leather and glass, have come together to build some very unique and attractive pieces, with plenty of flair and a noticeable basis in the Arts & Crafts movement. Curtis and Ania regularly display and sell their work at Edmonton and other local crafts fairs and events.

  • large, open back bookcase with a leaded-glass panel
  • leather bookbag with green leaf applique
  • unique coffee table design in birch with cherry and walnut inlay
  • "anna bag" with scribed design
  • green & blue Prairie-style leaded glass panel in walnut frame
• Furniture Design of Taos

  Bob Bresnahan and Emily Zopf are located in Valdez NM, just outside of Taos, and together build some absolutely beautiful wood furniture strongly informed by both the American Arts & Crafts movement the more rustic look of the Mission and various related revival styles.

  Bob and Emily’s work is quite similar to that of many northeast woodworkers – not necessarily in style, but in that their work is part of a very rich local tradition with its own ways of working specific local woods and using specific techniques rooted in their region. But they are not stifled by historical designs, and instead seek to modernize and change traditional themes:

  We like tradition. The New Mexico furniture making tradition is old and
  rich. The Craftsman furniture traditionis full of great ideas and is
  very alive today. We want to add to both traditions. Furniture needs to
  evolve even as it pays tribute to the great heritage of Spanish
  craftsmanship and the American Arts and Crafts movement.

  I found a number of items on their site especially attractive. Take a look at the cherry trestle table with walnut pins and butterfy joins, the hutch with alder vine pattern, which is repeated in a number of items, like this nine-drawer dresser. Their use of unique and obviously Southwestern iron hardware and a number of carved and cut-out motifs make all their work spectacularly un-generic – all pieces are very obviously part of that New Mexico tradition, and would fit with either with a Craftsman or Mission styled home.

• carved door, Berkeley CA

  

  Saw this terrific carving on Acton Street in north Berkeley, California the other day; nobody was home. Anyone familiar with this craftsperson’s work? Let me know if you think you might know who is responsible – I’d like to see more of his or her work.

  The carving is not particularly deep, yet the details all really stand out – not sure if it’s the light or the wood or a combination of the two, but the delicacy of the design is visible all the way from out in the street. every detail of the irises is clear, as well as the gently scalloped hex-pattern in the ground behind them.

• Don’t Fence Me In

  Charles & Hudson had a good post recently on residential fencing, and it got me thinking about all the great Craftsman style fences I’ve seen in the last few years – since I really started paying attention to this kind of thing, at least. Here are some pictures, fencing-related tutorials, custom designers and builders, vendors and other resources related to Arts & Crafts style fences, garden gates, arbors and other related features:

  • Charles Prowell Woodwork makes very pretty lattice-based modular fencing as well as garden and driveway gates. They do custom work, too, and have shops in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Boise and Baltimore. His site also has a good article by Diana Powers on Craftsman-style fencing and his company in particular; good reading for anyone trying to pick the right look for their own fencing and gate.
  • Aptos-based LMNO Arts is the team of Scott Lindberg and Cristie Thomas (and Ben, Assistance Puppy #10). Their product is wood and metal fine art for the yard – arbors, garden benches, fencing, trelliswork, rails, gates (also) and plenty more built for specific locations and specific uses. They’ve done work for clients all over the country, and in 2003 made a gate and columns for the Sunset Idea House. They also built a number of wood and metal features for the 2002 Idea House.
  • Peter Kitsch-Korff builds beautiful wooden pergolas, decks, fences and gates throughout the Los Angeles area. He has done quite a bit of work in the Craftsman style, but has also completed many projects with a sort of modernist Zen-like austerity. The Asian influence in his woodwork may be an offshoot of his hobby, building historically-accurate Japanese, Persian and Chinese suits of armor. He’s not cheap, but his prices are fair for what you get, and he always builds to reflect the unique architecture of the house or other structure that his work is complementing.
  • A friend of mine bought replacement gates for his old, decrepit and generally falling-down Berkeley home from Cross Custom Works, who had a number of pre-made designs that worked out beautifully. Looks like they have plenty of different motifs available.
  • The DIY Network’s voluminous website includes tutorials and articles on all sorts of fencing and gate-building projects, including this attractive and modern two-sided fence (part 1 and part 2); a backyard "pool fence," complete with arbor entry; how to measure and set fenceposts; a pretty wooden garden gate with an eye-catching copper panel inset; easy instructions on planning and building your own custom picket fence;  building a (relatively) simple privacy fence (a second article on the same subject is also available);  a half dozen different articles on constructing and installing various types of arbors, and lots more.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle had a good article last year on fencing, gates, curb appeal and how to fit a gate project with a particular house style; luckily, the article is still online.
  • On Flickr, our friend Merideth has a nice shot of her side fence, arbor, trellis and gate; our friend Tiffany, in Petrolia California – up in Humboldt County – has a shot of an interesting gate by master craftsman Dave Grant; Mandolux’s shot of a simple fence at what looks like a Japanese monastery; Finnigh’s HDR (high dynamic range) photograph of a stepped trellis-topped fence; Liquidskyarts’ photograph of a set of brick-and-fieldstone columns in front of a very pretty bungalow; Montanaraven’s succesful trellis and privacy fence … I’m sure there’s lots more, but that’s a five-minute tour right there.
• Gary Katz’s Craftsman Mantelpiece

  

  Gary Katz devotes
  his time to trim and finish carpentry and architectural millwork. His
  name may be familiar as the author of Finish Carpentry and The Doorhanger’s Handbook; his website has a
  number of articles on trim techniques, with lots of good info on mouldings, columns and other detail work.

  He also has a terrific and easy-to-follow tutorial on how to build this very attractive and detailed mantelpiece, with cloud lifts and inlaid panels strongly influenced by Greene & Greene. The final result is shown above, but if you have some interest in his technique and the process of building one like it yourself, you’ll have to check out the drawings and step-by-step instructions, all documented with photographs.