Ted Phillips
06-06-2018, 2:15 PM
I found some interesting wood at my local hardwood dealer a couple of years ago. Evidently, a career Foreign-Service Officer retired to our area and sold off some of his furnishings that he had collected during his postings around the world. One of the items was a bookcase made out of some "local wood from SE Asia". The bookcase was falling apart from hard use, so it was disassembled for the lumber. There were some oddly shaped pieces and the shelving was riddled with screw holes and other cracks and dents. In any event I bought a couple of straight pieces to see if I could identify the right project for them. The hardwood dealer and I puzzled over the wood species - and based on the origin, hardness, grain, and color, we both agreed that it might be Burmese Rosewood (Dalbergia oliveri). I'm not 100% convinced, but it is extremely hard and dense wood that smells like rosewood when it is cut.
As fate would have it, I stumbled across some thin pieces of highly figured ash recently. These weren't wide enough for a project on their own, but worked nicely into this design - contrasting with the dark rosewood. The ash sides were dovetailed together and the bottom is fastened with a stepped groove/rabbet (allowing the bottom to be flush to the frame), and the handles are held in place with Miller Dowels. You might spot a couple of other small repair jobs on the rosewood - there were a lot of random holes from its former life as a bookcase... The project was finished with original Waterlox topped with Renaissance wax.
TedP
387260
387261
387262
387263
As fate would have it, I stumbled across some thin pieces of highly figured ash recently. These weren't wide enough for a project on their own, but worked nicely into this design - contrasting with the dark rosewood. The ash sides were dovetailed together and the bottom is fastened with a stepped groove/rabbet (allowing the bottom to be flush to the frame), and the handles are held in place with Miller Dowels. You might spot a couple of other small repair jobs on the rosewood - there were a lot of random holes from its former life as a bookcase... The project was finished with original Waterlox topped with Renaissance wax.
TedP
387260
387261
387262
387263