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commisions
Bookcase and desk unit in cherry
Objective:
Provide the client with a desk / bookcase / lighted display unit combination that utilized all of the wall area available. Provide slide out storage for a computer on one side and a printer on the other side. File drawers that would accept both legal and letter sized documents. Suspend a lighted display case with lighting underneath also. The client wanted the rich aging characteristics of cherry but wanted it to be toned down to become closer in tone to his dark walnut desk. We tried over 20 stain combinations before coming up with a 2 step stain combo that would bring out the red of the cherry as an underlayment and then tone it back down with a darker overstain.
You can click on any image to see a larger version
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Some beautiful 11-12' long 10-13" wide cherry boards we found in Virginia for this project |
Resawing the boards for bookmatching |
Planing and dimensioning cherry for the solid edge banding that is applied to the entire unit. |
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Selecting the cutting pattern for the boards for bookmatching |
Jack carving the fluted fronts for the bookcases |
Arggggggggggg ... NC weather and an ice storm got us! Right when applying the last of 3 coats of hand applied finish to one of the bookcases .. blam .. the power went out for almost 8 hours and despite madly setting up kerosene heaters, the finish "muddied" itself and we had to resand and redo this section |
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All came out well ... |
Chuckle ... the infamous "shelf bead". Each bookcase has one fixed and 4 movable shelves. Just when we had the two fixed ones installed and the other 8 finished, up came a design change. The original design had a plain flat front to the shelves and on viewing one of the shelves, the client mentioned that he thought a detail along the front edge would look nicer. We did a test piece and found he was right, it really tied things together. The only problem was that all the shelves had to be restripped and refinished but the end result was worth it. |
Chuckle ... shelves awaiting stripping and reapplying of 3 coats of finish along with some cherry crown molding for the top. |
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One of the file drawer units showing the bookmatching of the cherry. |
File drawers ... box jointed baltic birch with applied solid cherry fronts.
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We tried some new Accuset full extension ball bearing slides and they are really great! The new design simply lets the drawer "snap" into the sides |
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The desktop of the unit is 10' long and 1 1/2" thick ...... we took turns arguing about who would have to move it around the shop. ( Note: the lighter areas are due to lighting glare) |
Detail of the top with its solid cherry edging. |
Two shops at a standstill. Putting on first of 3 coats of poly ( we initially were going with 2 but 3 really gives much better depth ). Two Semi gloss and one satin final coat. Only problem is that all of the "pieces" are taking up all the available flat surfaces in both of our shops and no other work can be done due to keeping "dust critters" at bay. I wish there were a way for digital cams to handle the glare better since the color variation is not really as seen. |
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Hmmm ... think we will need a bigger truck for delivery of this one !!! |
Unit installed - Hard to get even lighting since the room had full windows on one side with bright afternoon light coming in |
The client sent us this picture of the final unit. |
