What is your favorite piece of wood furniture you made or own?

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I have been working on restoring an antique banker chair that was in rough, but solid condition. While admiring the curves and comfortable contours, I started thinking about all you woodworkers on the forum who have had some impressive projects.

What is your favorite piece of wood furniture you have in your own home whether you made it, or bought it?

My favorite is an antique church pew roughly 4' in size. Years ago, I stopped into an antique store as a favor for a friend and walked past the pew. I have never seen one like this and sat on it. Wow. VERY comfortable. The curves of the arms and subtle curve of the seat & back seemed so unique to other benches I have sat on. A week later, I was still thinking about it and told my LOML I had to have it. Luckily I rarely "have to have" something and was given the okay to buy it. It's currently in our vacant front room until we focus on moving more furniture around. :)


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[Malcolm Schweizer]

What a great idea for a thread. I am anxious to see the replies.

I have two, if I may. One is a four poster bed. My father bought the posts in England after WWII and flew them back to the states in a B-26. (He was a somewhat high-ranking officer- he could do things.) My grandfather built the rest of the bed to match. I am allowing my 8-year-old to use it and she knows the history and knows not to jump on it or write on it!

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The other is the cradle boat I built for Petra when she was born. It has 198 hand-hammered copper rivets. The name is “Nod” and it is inlaid in abalone. There is an inscription in the bottom for future generations to know it was made by me for Petra.
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[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I LOVE the cradle boat! How unique and functional!

After dealing with my dear friend's massive estate, knowing the stories behind furniture and items is so much more meaningful and adds to the value. I love how you thought to put an inscription on the bottom.

[Bill Carey]

What a great cradle Malcolm.

Mine would be my Stickley table / desk.

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[Myk Rian]

My Cherry tool chest.

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[Rob Luter]

That’s a tough choice. I’m 40 years deep into a love affair with Arts and Crafts furniture. We’ve been fortunate to collect a number of pieces of Stickley (all from the Audi years) and a number of vintage A&C pieces from turn of the century Stickley contemporaries. I’ve made a few myself. I’m a sucker for QSWO. I’ll try to pick a favorite and post a photo.

[Tom M King]

A late 17th, or very early 18th Century six board chest, built from Santa Domingan Mahogany. Quite possibly a ship's Captain's chest, which is pretty fitting, because my 7th, and 8th GGF's were ships captains. One brought Smallpox to Jamestown.

It is dovetailed, with mitered ends. Specific gravity is close to 1, as close as it could be measured, and weighed. It's Very heavy, even just the top.

There are only tiny remnants of the corroded original hardware. The second hinges were made from Coopers nails. Then a worn out pair of cast iron, late 18th Century hinges. Other than one corner of the protruding base being broken off, it's in pretty remarkable shape.

The only pictures I have, currently, are buried in a drawer with other 35mm pictures, and slides. It's in our bedroom though, so I'll try to remember to take some.

Our furniture it mostly all old antiques, but if there was a fire, this would be the first piece I'd drag out. It takes two Strong people to carry it.

[John K Jordan]

Mine favorite is simple and functional. It's my favorite since we've used it daily in two houses for over 40 years, the center point of the kitchen.

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No fancy joinery. Made from hard maple, legs, shelf, top glued up. Built this when my shop consisted of a radial arm saw, a drill, two clamps, a hand plane, cabinet scrapers, and some sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood. Indestructible.

In this house it's in the middle of the kitchen central to fridge, microwave, convection oven, coffee pot, sink, counters, silverware drawer, range top, pantry, toaster oven, dish cabinets. Grandkids eat breakfast there, play with legos, used for rolling out pie dough, staging for salads, drinks, and leftovers, surface for chopping things, pounding chicken, setting down groceries before putting them away, making vanilla extract and limoncello, surface for emptying the dishwasher, great for sorting medicines, filling out birthday cards, browsing through cookbooks.

JKJ

[Mark Rainey]

Mine favorite is simple and functional. It's my favorite since we've used it daily in two houses for over 40 years, the center point of the kitchen.

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No fancy joinery. Made from hard maple, legs, shelf, top glued up. Built this when my shop consisted of a radial arm saw, a drill, two clamps, a hand plane, cabinet scrapers, and some sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood. Indestructible.

In this house it's in the middle of the kitchen central to fridge, microwave, convection oven, coffee pot, sink, counters, silverware drawer, range top, pantry, toaster oven, dish cabinets. Grandkids eat breakfast there, play with legos, used for rolling out pie dough, staging for salads, drinks, and leftovers, surface for chopping things, pounding chicken, setting down groceries before putting them away, making vanilla extract and limoncello, surface for emptying the dishwasher, great for sorting medicines, filling out birthday cards, browsing through cookbooks.

JKJ

Solid table John. Functioning for 40 years and still doing it's job.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

A late 17th, or very early 18th Century six board chest, built from Santa Domingan Mahogany. Quite possibly a ship's Captain's chest, which is pretty fitting, because my 7th, and 8th GGF's were ships captains. One brought Smallpox to Jamestown.

It is dovetailed, with mitered ends. Specific gravity is close to 1, as close as it could be measured, and weighed. It's Very heavy, even just the top.

There are only tiny remnants of the corroded original hardware. The second hinges were made from Coopers nails. Then a worn out pair of cast iron, late 18th Century hinges. Other than one corner of the protruding base being broken off, it's in pretty remarkable shape.

The only pictures I have, currently, are buried in a drawer with other 35mm pictures, and slides. It's in our bedroom though, so I'll try to remember to take some.

Our furniture it mostly all old antiques, but if there was a fire, this would be the first piece I'd drag out. It takes two Strong people to carry it.

I would really like to see that piece. Do you think it was made in the West Indies?

[Robert Galey]

My workbench. Built based on Ian Kirby plans.
A large red oak, on "river authority" land behind our house, fell during a storm. At the time, the only woodworking tool I owned was a Stihl chainsaw. I didn't want the tree to go to waste, so I ripped the tree into manageable planks. I stickered and stored the approximately 2-in. x 10-ft planks in my garage for 2 years+. I wasted a lot of wood due to cutting these planks with a string line and a chainsaw. Another big red oak had fallen about 300 yards from my house. I cut that tree into several ~300-lb cants and literally drug them to my house. I bought a Jet 14-in. bandsaw and built a 160-in. bandsaw mill with sliding table (based on this design http://www.afterhourswoodshop.com/Home/projects/tools/bandsaw-log-mill) to mill the cants into rough-sawn lumber. I stickered and dried these boards. Then I bought a MM FC30 jointer/planer, a used PM1000 tablesaw, some hand tools, a router and I was on my way...
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[Mike Stelts]

My daughter built this chest as her 4H woodworking project several years ago.
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She let me keep it and took her favorite, the chest she built a year earlier using spalted maple from a tree on our property.
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[Derek Cohen]

Mike, I don't think that anyone can compete with furniture built by a son or daughter. Priceless! :)

One of my favourites in the exact copy of a Hans Wegner chair ("The Chair") I made in 2014. This was built entirely with hand tools. I do own an original, from which I could take measurements. I learned to weave Danish Cord for the seat.

In fiddleback Jarrah ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/WeavingSeatCompletingTheChair_html_m4441928f.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/WeavingSeatCompletingTheChair_html_2ebf780e.jpg

Alongside the original ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/WeavingSeatCompletingTheChair_html_m1a3cedf0.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Stelts]

...and nobody can compete with Wegner's chair designs. I saw them at the Copenhagen museum and The Chair was my favorite. I hope to have time to make them someday, after I finish refurbishing this house in xxx years.

[Ole Anderson]

My first and still the biggest, computer hutch:

[glenn bradley]

I still smile every time I get a pair of socks or a t-shirt out of my G&G dresser or tall boy.

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[Mark Gibney]

I'll pick a table I made back in 2012 for a production company. They wanted a "buffet table" for a conference room and I had carte blanche, as long as it was wood. The room had a lot of Herman Miller, and mid-century modern was popular at the time, so that was the starting point and I got an idea in my head that I wanted to see if it was possible to make a full-sized table without an apron, just legs and a top.
I used ash for it relatively lighter weight compared to it's strength, and I had it professionally colored and finished. Offhand, I remember it is 28" deep, but I can't remember the length.
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[Jack Frederick]

This chair is my wife’s families chair made by Abraham Shove in 1805. It is written up in “American Windsor Chairs” by Nancy Goyne Evans. It was an every day chair in my in-laws home. I would sit across the room and just look at it and the geometry just worked for me. It was as they say, “pleasing to the eye.” Leaving the climate of NY State and now being the dry as a bone CA it is my wife’s bed side chair, but is still as tight as can be. It is so solid and yet so delicate. The point of the arm is only 5/8” across. My FIL said that someone about 100 yrs ago refinished it. I like it this way as can see the detail and I just marvel at it, and the builder.

[Jim Tobias]

These bedside tables are probably my favorite. Some veneering, gentle curves and some buffing out a finish. They required a lot of steps but have served us well for several years. They are practical in their use but fit in with our bedroom.
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[John K Jordan]

These bedside tables are probably my favorite. Some veneering, gentle curves and some buffing out a finish. They required a lot of steps but have served us well for several years. They are practical in their use but fit in with our bedroom.
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I like the look of the beveled glass in the top. It it to put items placed below on display? I can imagine putting the book I'm currently reading there.

[Rod Sheridan]

Perhaps my Morris chairs, or my coffee table, or the small breakfast table my daughter made, photo of her with the table in dry fit included.

That smile tells it all.456463456464456462

[Stephen Rosenthal]

My Bengal’s cat trees. I made two, one for my apartment (shown) and one for my country house. Platforms are walnut, base is red oak, exposed columns are western red cedar. Two of the columns are Douglas fir and covered in sisal for scratching and climbing. The tallest platform is 6 feet high and sometimes, when he’s in the mood and wants to show off, my cat will jump up to it from the floor. And he’ll be 15 next month! The platforms have inserts of a natural rough fiber material and the whole thing is on locking casters to facilitate moving it around. Of all the things I’ve made it’s my favorite because my cat absolutely loves it and there’s nothing in the world that means more to me than my cat.


Unfortunately the photos don’t do it justice, as it’s a large piece in a confined and cluttered space taken with a smart phone.456465456466456467456468

[Brian Runau]

Meditation table. Simple design, but lovely wood.

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[Rob Luter]

That’s a tough choice. I’m 40 years deep into a love affair with Arts and Crafts furniture. We’ve been fortunate to collect a number of pieces of Stickley (all from the Audi years) and a number of vintage A&C pieces from turn of the century Stickley contemporaries. I’ve made a few myself. I’m a sucker for QSWO. I’ll try to pick a favorite and post a photo.

Tough decisions made.......

For the one I own, a 1910 Cron-Kills (Piqua, OH) Slant Front Desk, aka Ladies Desk. Catalogue #1010. All QSWO, hammered solid bronze hardware, and original finish. This crappy photo doesn't do it justice. We found it in an antique shop near Lake Michigan and brought it home upside down in the backseat of a VW Beetle Convertible. It was quite an adventure


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51130204534_cd67e0b972_b.jpg



For the one I made, this 2009 original hall table I made to kill time while out of work when the economy tanked. All QSWO with pegged through tenons.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51130320749_ee0c628318_b.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

The 6 board mahogany chest sounds like a fine piece. That mahogany is the other ; and rarer one. Most of it was cut by 1820’s . Not as much
figure as the other one, but about 20 percent heavier. Was usually polished not coated. The trees are smaller than the more common
stuff.

[Tom M King]

Here's a poor picture of that chest. We're kind of crowded up, in that room with furniture shoved in it for now, with my 105 year old Mother moved in with us, so I don't have much room to get to it. Sorry for the iphone rotation.

[Tom M King]

This desk belonged to my Grandfather. The roll top still works like a new one. It's probably from the turn of the 20th Century, and one of the newer pieces of furniture in our house. The dog is one of our stud dogs, who believes he owns the world-he does.

[Larry Frank]

My favorite is the Maloof style rocker. I enjoyed working with Bill Kappel who taught me how to do it. It was a long process and work but very rewarding.

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[Mel Fulks]

Malcolm, that crib brings a smile and a tear, what a beautiful thing ! The big bed is great too. And I guess the mosquito
netting come in handy.

[Mel Fulks]

Jim, that is spectacular stuff. The “contact paper” people need to copy that veneer ! Then I could afford it . The elevated top is interesting
but I think the metal curls are not quite up to the modernness and luxury of the woodwork. The piece has made me think of a term I last
heard more than fifty years ago....”breakfast under glass”.

[Rod Sheridan]

Beautiful scratching posts and a gorgeous cat.

Our house normally has 2 cats, we're down to one now, and a dog. They're best friends and go for a walk together every morning for a couple of blocks, if Widget the cat gets ahead she waits for the dog, and Jebediah waits for Widget if she's lagging.

Always a few stares from people passing.............Rod.

[Bob Riefer]

I think the benches I'm about to build (Maloof inspired) will likely be my favorite if I am able to accomplish the task.

Until then, I really love this double dog crate, mostly because it's a very Yankee Frugal build... the walnut top is from a tree that we had to remove from our property years ago, portions of the base are from a black locust fence post that was laying in the shed, a few scraps of this and that from a neighbor that moved and left me a pile of lumber... And the dogs love it (although they both have earned the right to be in there with the doors open... good girls!)

Edit: AND, this was my first "pandemic" build, which helped my sanity quite a bit! :)

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[Erik Loza]

When I came to Texas in 2004 for Minimax USA, I was this single dude living in a apartment with zero furniture. At the time, we had a CU300 Smart in the showroom. Being new-ish to combo machines at the time, I was, "Well, guess I have to learn on one of these sooner or later", so made a bookcase out of some solid cherry that was laying around the shop. No actual joinery. Just square boards, screwed together. It as basic as basic gets but very solid. Finished it with BLO and had that thing for another 10 years. Don't remember exactly but at some point, it was in storage, got exposed to lots of moisture, and fell apart. I remember being bummed out since there were so many good memories attached to it.

Erik

[Jim Tobias]

I like the look of the beveled glass in the top. It it to put items placed below on display? I can imagine putting the book I'm currently reading there.

John,
You're exactly right.....bedside use and storage space. Every bedside table I've seen always seems to get too much on it....especially as we get older. I always try/want to make anything I build practical and useable.....if I can make it look nice, that is a bonus. As you can see from these pictures I tool today, they are used and filled. My wife has worn the top on her side until I may need to refinish the top someday. She is a big "reader in bed" so there are always books beneath the glass. And on my side, a single older Lee Valley magazine.....and lots of CPAP equipment!!

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[Jim Tobias]

Jim, that is spectacular stuff. The “contact paper” people need to copy that veneer ! Then I could afford it . The elevated top is interesting
but I think the metal curls are not quite up to the modernness and luxury of the woodwork. The piece has made me think of a term I last
heard more than fifty years ago....”breakfast under glass”.

John,
I bought this veneer(English Brown Oak Burl) from a place in High Point, NC (Furniture manufacturing hot spot) a long time before I used some of it to make these bedside tables. I bought a flitch of it. Not too expensive, if I remember correctly. It a place that had bought up a lot of veneer flitches from some of the Furniture Manufacturers that had shut down.
As for the iron on the tables, I saw this guy(Alwin Wagner) giving a demonstration near Asheville at the Southern Highlands Folk Art Center and kept his card. Years later, I drew a picture of the iron pieces with the sizes and he made them and shipped to me. The iron pieces were to attempt to tie the bedside tables to the bed which has some similar iron design on it.

Jim

[mreza Salav]

Well, the woodworking project I am most proud of is all the woodworking in our house (from entry door, to all passage doors, to cabinets, to trim work, to curved railing, walk-in-closet), that were all documented here. Although it is not a furniture:

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If I had to choose a furniture it would be curved cherry cabinet (which we are using it as a shoe cabinet) with curved raised panels and curly maple inlays.

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[Mark Rainey]

What beautiful work Mreza!

[mreza Salav]

What beautiful work Mreza!


Thank you. It was 1.5 years of hard work (+ having a full time day job!)

[Ron Selzer]

Very nice work Mreza!
Definitely work to be proud of
Ron

[Lee Schierer]

Like others here I've done a lot of projects over the year so picking a favorite is pretty difficult. Probably the most complex project that was my own design was the kitchen Pantry-microwave cabinet I made for my daughter. The upper cabinet has glass doors and two shelves, used to store coffee cups, tea etc. The left side is a broom closet where she can store a broom, dust mop and dust pan. The lower cabinet has two shelves and she stores her baking pans there. The right side is a spice rack where all the cooking spices are kept. There is also a shelf for a microwave oven. It is a dark coffee color, not black as it appears in the photos.
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[Mark Rainey]

Impressive Lee, you pack a lot of utility into that cabinet. I'm sure your daughter is happy with it and using it daily.

[Mike Cutler]

This Tack Trunk/ blanket chest is probably the nicest piece I've made.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?46908-Blanket-Chest-Tack-Trunk&highlight=

[Charles Lent]

The pieces that I've made that get the most attention are my smaller woodworking items. I've made larger furniture, but in a way, these are sort-of furniture too. I enjoy making these, as well as larger furniture pieces and all are favorites. I've made 16 of the crosses, about 200 pair of ear rings, and probably 35 boxes of this style in various sizes. The cross was made from one piece of mahogany and cut on a scroll saw. The vines and leaves were then carved with an air powered dentist drill using 1/16" diameter bits. The reindeer are cut from hard maple on a scroll saw using a 3D cutting method (yes, I do use magnification). Only one dragon (The Keeper of Time) was made since he took almost 50 hours. The box was made from various thicknesses of Baltic Birch plywood, cut with my Unisaw and then the joints cut with an Incra I-Box jig on the saw, using a Freud SBOX8 box joint blade set.

Charley

[Andrew Gibson]

I am always more excited about my Next project than my last. Of finished projects I think these are the ones I am most proud because they forced me to evolve.
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[Mike Soaper]

You folks do some really nice woodworking, I can only hope my skills get anywhere near yours.

This is my favorite, not furniture though. It's a pump cart I made for a toddler when he was learning to walk. He was a short gut baby and didn't have much of his intestines at birth so he was connected to 1-3 pumps and med bags for about 22hrs a day. Trying to learn how to walk is hard enough without a dragging 3-10 lbs backpack along, so I made him this cart.
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It's made of 3/8"? appleply, the corners of the box are locked mitered. I tried to get the box as low as possible to keep the center of gravity low, the box is attached to the horizontal platform with some angle brackets so the we could adjust the box height if necessary.
I curved the front to maybe reduce the chances of it getting hung up on furniture. I drilled and radiused the holes to make it a tad lighter and to give it a bit of style, 1950's movie space rocket style:).

When I gave it to him he could barley see over the handle, the photo was taken just before it was passed on to another short gut toddler learning to walk.

[Jim Becker]

I honestly cannot identify one particular piece, made or owned, and that's even after touching every one due to our recent move. Each made item was a particular accomplishment, either in style, in technique or in unique material. I'm actually faced with the difficult task of considering where to put some things in the "new" house which has half the square footage and a very different room layout. There is also competition with some items that have been in Professor Dr. SWMBO's family since she was a kid and they originated from Vietnam and Thailand.

[Alan Lightstone]

Mine would probably be my Titanic deck chair. Took about 6 months (with that pesky day job), and I'm now being tortured refinishing it, but it probably has my vote.
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[Patrick McCarthy]

Mike Soaper, nicely done sir. What a wonderful project. I imagine the internal reward was immense, and well deserved.
With much respect, Patrick

[Mike Soaper]

Thanks Patrick, I appreciate that, Mike.