A Very Important Project Completed and Delivered!!

[Jon Farley]

Well, this past week I finished a major project that I had been working on for about six weeks. When I began this I posted several questions to SMC regarding this project and received plenty of good advice. Anyway, this piece is what I'm referring to as a "freestanding altar." I was commissioned to do this for our church in order to be placed just out from the regular altar so that the pastor can face the congregation during certain portions of the communion service. I put quite a bit of thought into the design (I designed it myself with the consultation of some others)in order to match the existing altar and complement its surroundings. Since I don't have a lathe, I had to have some local Amishmen turn the posts for me. It is made of red oak and is deceivingly heavy, as I built some extra weight into the bottom for an additional measure of stability. The cost of the materials is being covered by a gentleman in the church who is dedicating it to his late wife (that's what's on the brass plaque). I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, as I just got a new digital camera and this is the first time I've re-sized photos to make them work here on SMC. Thanks for looking...Jon

[Jim Becker]

Jon, you did a great job on this project and it looks like it fits in very well.

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice job, Jon!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Great work Jon. Your design and execution does, indeed, seem to fit the situation. Congrats!

[Roy Wall]

Jon,

This fits the bill quite nicely..........nice work!! The Altar blends nicely with the woodwork of the church. A lot of emotion goes into these things - for a lot of people - well done!

[Charlie Plesums]

Beautiful job. So many "add on" pieces in a church are done without consideration of the existing architecture - yours proves that it can be done to fit in perfectly. Congratulations on both the design and the implementation. Hope your name is on the brass plaque...you contribution is worth far more than just the materials.

[Andy Hoyt]

That looks great, Jon. Well done!

So.... I'm anxious to hear how the hole drilling issue got resolved.

[Pete Harbin]

Well done John. Just beautiful!

Pete

[Greg Koch]

A great job and a fitting tribute/memory of the gentleman's wife. Very nice.

[John Timberlake]

Great job with the design and finishing. Just in time for Easter. You should be proud and so should the donor of the wood.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Excellent job for an excellent cause, Jon. You have a right to be proud of the altar, and I'm guessing it'll be used for a long, long time.

- Vaughn

[Ken Shoemaker]

Ya' done good... Well thought out and the execution is outstanding

[tod evans]

nice work jon!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Don't look new at all, it looks like it has been there all the time!

Yep you dun good! :D

[Shelley Bolster]

A wonderful example of craftsmanship Jon. You should feel extremely proud of your efforts.

[John Bailey]

Nice job Jon. I'm sure the church is thrilled with the altar.

John

[scott spencer]

That's beautiful Jon....great use of your gift!

[Lars Thomas]

Jon, it looks like it has always been there - matches perfectly. Nice job. Lars

[Steve Clardy]

Looks really nice!!

[Tom Hamilton]

Well done good and faithful servant. Congrats on a lovely piece. Tom

[larry merlau]

nice work jon and i am sure the congregation is pleased.

[Jon Farley]

Thank you for all the kind compliments. I think it goes without saying that this was a particularly meaningful project for me, and I became so engrossed in it that now that the altar has been moved out of my shop, I sort of miss its presence there - that propbably sounds kind of weird, but it's the truth. The upside is that I should be able to continue to be able to see it again every Sunday for years to come. Again, thanks for the compliments, and a particulary heartfelt 'thank you' to Charlie Plesums, who, without any prompting from me, was kind enough to PM me a few weeks ago regarding the structural design of this project. Thanks again, Charlie, and thanks Sawmill Creek...Jon

[Jon Farley]

That looks great, Jon. Well done!

So.... I'm anxious to hear how the hole drilling issue got resolved.

Well, I ended up drilling them on my drill press. It was too late to have my hired woodturner do it on his lathe so I did it with a HSS 1/2" by 12" twist bit. It went smoothly, but the key was that I devoted a lot of time to getting the drill press set up for the operation. It was a little too involved to get into here, but in a nutshell it involved a plumb bob initially chucked in the drill press to check for perpindicular and then a jig to hold the post in a 'rock solid' position while drilling. I drilled from both ends and met in the middle darn near perfectly each time. Since I drilled a 1/2" hole and used 7/16" threaded rods, that left me a little wiggle room to work with anyway...Jon