Faye's crib

I built this crib for our new daughter Faye. It's walnut with zebra wood on the head and toe boards. It feels very much mid century modern- did anyone think to build cribs in modernism's heyday? Or would it have been unusual to fuss so much over something for a child, and something only to be used for a short period of time back then? I don't know the answers to these questions, but this crib feels to me like it would have fit right in 60 years ago.

Platform bed with angled legs

I built this bed for a couple in Arizona. It's a borrowed design, with a few modifications. It presented quite a few challenges, such as engineering it in such that it could be taken apart, shipped, and reassembled by someone else. Also, figuring out how to support the headboard panels on a cantilevered edge was quite the task. And most importantly, figuring how to make it properly supportive with 45 degree-angled legs. Plus, everything is mitered (2 45 degree angles to make a right angle), which leaves little margin for error. I asked my furniture design professor (highly regarded builder Todd Ouwehand) for advice and, after thinking it over for a few moments, simply said 'I don't like mitered corners very much.' Indeed- they look great, but are a pain. Well I think it was all worth the trouble, because the bed looks fantastic. It's built from solid walnut.

Rosewood Storage Bed

I built this bed for a couple with a sweet house in Los Feliz. This bed is in a guest bedroom with an amazing Danish modern wall unit on the opposing wall. Everything about their home had me in awe, so I'm psyched to have one of my pieces there. The bed is built from solid rosewood, including the headboard, which is comprised of 7 boards glued together and sanded with much blood, sweat and tears and a combination of drum sander, belt sander, orbital sander, and hand paper. I hated every minute of it and wondered why I didn't just use a veneer, but when it was done and in place I was thankful that I did it the way I did- it looks stunning.

Solid Cherry Table Top

I made this table top for my friends Josh and Rafi, a.k.a. Form Los Angeles. It's 5 planks of solid cherry joined and cut to an oval with a cove edge detail. I used some type of dark, non-toxic oil that Josh and Rafi found. The legs were fabricated by someone else. The overall effect is pretty strong.

Rosewood bed with turned legs

This bed represents my first attempt at turning tapered legs on my lathe (actually, it's on my shopsmith, which is many tools in one, and a tool that is very dear to my heart), and also my first time veneering. I was previously intimidated by both tasks, but everything went off without a hitch. The veneer on the headboard is actually a species called jatoba, also known as Brazilian cherry, but it blends perfectly with the rosewood frame. Everything else is solid rosewood. Thanks to Chad Cress for the really nice photos, and to John Douglas for the lathe photo. The first and least impressive photo is by yours truly.

Bill Boyne's handrail

Bill Boyne contacted me a little more than a year ago, and asked me to build him a handrail. Bill learned of me through my best friend Nate, who was his mechanic at the time. Bill had a large piece of redwood that he had been saving for years (at least 10, if I remember correctly) for the purpose of building a handrail, but had been slow getting around to it. I came to learn that Bill was a builder himself, but was now advanced in age and did not feel up to the task of handling this enormous piece of redwood.
Bill spent about 30 minutes with me working out the shape of the handrail, drawing on a small piece of cardboard for me to take with me. A few days later we spoke on the phone and he asked me if I ever used walnut (I do), and mentioned that he had some he'd like to give me, which I could hardly believe. I crafted the handrail and delivered it a week or two later. He looked at it and approved, but wanted to make some modifications to get it ready for installation. And so we spent about two hours working together in his garage, crafting a second piece that would attach to the rail and to the wall. I watched with amazement as he masterfully manipulated his table saw, running his fingers dreadfully close to the blade. I took comfort figuring that, if he still had all of his fingers after all these years using a table saw like that, then I'll probably be OK too.

During those two hours I learned many of Bill's stories, including how he went from teaching high school in Compton to living his retirement on the Peninsula of Long Beach (in a word, laundromats). He also told me a story that has really shaped my thinking in business and wood working. He said that he once built a table for a gal, and wanted to use a highly figured slab of wood with a large knot in the middle. He thought she might not like it, but he loved it, so he proceeded anyway. He delivered it just in time for a party, and she immediately showed her displeasure, saying that she would not accept the table with that large knot. Bill told her to just leave it out for the party with the knot exposed and see what her guests had to say about it. The next day she called and apologized, and said that she'd never received so many compliments on a piece of furniture.

Bill gave me a large stockpile of solid walnut that day, and told me that there was more where that came from. Apparently it had been sitting in a storage unit, left over from his days of carpentry. He also mentioned that he had some wood working magazines that he would like to give me. I also got to know Bill's wife Sally this day, and experienced a great warmth that filled their home. I was completely overwhelmed by the kindness they showered on me.

I spoke to Bill one more time after this. I called him to see if he was done with staining and finishing the rail (something he wanted to do himself) and if he was ready for me to help him install it. He had already gotten a neighbor to help him install it, but told me that it really looked great and that he was very happy with it, and that I needed to come see it. It was shortly after this that I heard from Nate that Bill had passed away. I was deeply saddened, but also deeply grateful for the time I had been able to spend with him.

A few weeks later I got a call from Sally. She was beginning to go through some of Bill's things, and she had an enormous stack of woodworking magazines that Bill had set aside for me. Apparently, he had begun to go through them, photocopying the articles that he thought he might want to reference again so that he could pass the magazines on to me. I went over and met Sally to receive the magazines, and couldn't believe what a cache it was, and even more so the fact that Bill had so thoughtfully set them aside for me like that. Many months went by and, on a few occasions, I found my mind wandering to Bill and those great two hours we spent together, and remembering what a tremendous gift that stockpile of walnut was. I had used it for a number of projects, and had very little left. "There's more where that came from" was a phrase I heard in my thoughts once or twice. Then, this December, I descended one day into the basement (where my wood shop is) and noticed from a distance something highly unusual. I saw as I approached that next to my shop's door lay an enormous amount of walnut, delivered from Sally to Nate to my shop, with a Christmas card from Sally, signed from Bill. It was incredibly moving and a huge lift to my spirits at a time when I really needed it.

I never thought a handrail could be such an incredible project.

Cutting Boards and Picture Frames

I had a few days in December with no orders to fill so I decided to build some Christmas presents. I used scraps that were lying around the shop to build these cutting boards and picture frames. The cutting boards feature 6 species of wood: walnut, birch, maple, pecan/hickory, rosewood, and cherry.

Hing's Bed

This bed was designed by Hing Yeung, shoe designer by trade but designer of space and furniture on the side. Hing found me through Craigslist I think, I can't remember now for sure, and convinced me to build this bed for him, which required the drilling of some 2000 holes or so. It was by far the most challenging project I've taken on yet. One of the biggest challenges was figuring how to build it in such a way that it could be taken apart, since Hing's loft lacks a cargo elevator, and not show any fasteners. All of the fasteners (screws) are inside, and must be fastened while lying on one's back, reaching under the inner frame. Putting it together is hardly an exercise in elegance, but the finished product is pretty striking. It's now a part of Hing's incredible loft in downtown Long Beach.

Thanks to John Douglas, who took all of the pictures of me working on the bed, and Chad Cress, who took all of the really good pictures of the bed in Hing's loft.

More Stools

I had some downtime and built some more child step stools. I used two different approaches- the first one here is like the last, with hidden mortise and tenon joints. The second employed dovetail joints. The first one has some particularly incredible wood.

Rosewood Bed

This bed is notable because it's in rosewood, which I had previously never used before and which looks really gorgeous, and because it ended up in this incredible loft in Los Angeles. Also, I used a mortise and tenon on each corner, which really locked the whole thing together, made it easier to assemble, and relieved the metal brackets of some of the workload, I think.
Note Luke, my son and bed installation assistant extraordinaire, in the foreground.