Kitchen Cutting Boards

Services:
Along with creating custom designs in furniture I also offer a service of giving a well-used cutting board that has been a part of a family's favorite room - the kitchen - a renewed life to help prepare many more meals. A refinished board can last another 5 to 10 years. Well worth the investment in these sentimental items that came from Grandparents, wedding and spouse gifts.

• All parts are rejoined to a solid piece.
• All cutting marks/scratches of the past are removed.
• All surfaces are (re) smoothed and flattened.
• All/most stains are removed.
• Handles can be repaired and reattached.
• Joints, cracks all sealed for cleanliness and immediate use.
• Beautiful nox-toxic finish applied for beauty and strength.
  
  
• Service fees start at $15.00 and cap at $40.00.

---

... Be sure to click on the image to see extreme details of the wood...

Before & After

This board (12"x10") has been in the family for a very long time and has sentimental value. After it leaves my workshop, it will be around and working hard for them well into the next generation of family chefs.

The person who made this piece did a wonderful creation skillfully blending five (5) types of wood for this result.

---

This board is the "sliding drawer" type found in many kitchens. It has been completely renovated from the handle to resurfacing. The already beautiful wood was beconing to come through once again:

Before & After

Butcher Block Table

$475.00

Tom & I combined our efforts once again and also made a new commercial-grade culinary table for the Kitchen Staff at Diggery Inn Cafe.

They all worked so hard over the years that they wore out their original. We hope it gives them a new "cutting edge"!!

Stats:

• Top: Hard Maple and Purple heart (Designed & built by Thomas Roche - Craftsman)
• Base: Ash, Pine & Birch (Designed & built by Damon Manni - Woodworker)
• Size: 30"x30"x29 1/2"
• Accessories: Sculptured lower shelf for additional storage/working area

---

Solid hard top with custom designed legs: Working shelf-keyed for a perfect fit and style:

Within a few minutes they had the new cutting board up and running!! Smoothies anyone?!! These are a Diggery Specialty!!

---

Greene & Greene inspired 8 legged entry way table

This is a wonderful piece I am currently working on that is almost complete. It is in the Greene & Greene style and tradition.

I am completing the drawer fittings, inlays, and finish shortly.

When complete the drawer sides and bottom will be in Maple to provide a beautiful contrast and freshness.

Stats:

• Structure: Mahogany
• Drawers: Maple
• Inlay: Ebony

... Keep tuned in as more postings are coming as project completes....

Outdoor Dining Tables

Customer:

• The Diggery Inn Cafe
  3212Park Blvd (Glenview District)
  Oakland, CA.

Before:

After!!

---

Project History:

This local Oakland restuarant wanted to replace their existing outside tables (top picture) with something fresh and new (above) for a warm sidewalk dining experience.

• I have eaten a lot of breafast and Lunch at this great little cafe in my hamlet. It is just a short walk from my home/shop. Over the past 2 years I have gotten to know each of the family members very well and always have a good laugh and meal. They have seen me time and time again immerse myself in my sunny-side up eggs and fruit and latest woodworking magazine. This was the catalyst for our common interests and needs and wants. Then on...
• May 29, 2009 - I was laid-off from my software IT position. And then on...
• June 1, 2009 - I launched full time into this project.

Stats:

• Material: Tennesee Red Aromatic Cedar
• Finish: Spar Varnish, Satin
• Dims: 3o"x30"x29"
• Quantity: 6

A single beauty

$595.00

The sculptured pedastel:

Easily extended for larger accomadations

As was said by a wonderful human being in his writings:

"Furniture should look beautiful from any side, not just the front...."

---

The process

How we got there...

Here is the prototype completed and I'm taking a little break:

The lumber is ready to go for the next set of tables:

Here is the base consisting of a center core and leg structure.

• Each leg is actually made up from 3 separate components.
• I also added a gentle curve to the center leg component to give it some softness and organic feel.
• When complete all of these are blended together for a "solid piece" feel to it.
• This project is my interpretation of a design from the mind and hands of Sam Maloof.

Leg structures... lots of them. Ready for the next step.


The pedestal bases are ready to go for next process:

I like to use sapwood in my outdoor pieces. I mixed in lots of sapwood in this project. The dynamic's were stunning. Here as I was smoothing a table top you can see the fresh lavendar/purple coming through (on the right side of the sapwood) with each pass of the plane.

The left side fades with a more brownish/gold flavor as it weathers in the sun light over time.

Here are four (4) of the tables finished and ready for delivery to the customer. Notice the liberty in solid and patterned sapwood along with hardly any showing only natural cedar figuring grain.

Happy restaurant customers!!

Hindu Prayer Cabinet

Statistics

---

• Hindu Prayer Cabinet
  
• Solid Birch and Oak on all faces and Stiles
  
• 8' high x 4' wide x 16" deep
• 4 large storage cabinets with shelving
• Handmade and routed Window styles
• Oak trim
  

AFTER pic - Hindu Prayer Cabinet

This is a Hindu Prayer Cabinet that I made for a special and incredible person I have come to know over time... and who has brought so much into my life -Booni. She is my Behen ("sister" in Hindi).

Booni commisioned this piece a few years ago for daily usage by her family. It came out as my piece de resistance. This was solid Birch, stained a very deep Mahogany finish with Gold plated hardware and large, handmade glass window panes for optimal viewing.

BEFORE pic

This is how the existing wall in the living room area looke - recessed cubby holes used for TV, and general storage.

New construction

The new construction is going in (with help from Jube once again). We also added electrical for lighting. The Birch looks beautiful even unfinished.

Final product

The completed cabinet was quite handsome in their living room and definately a one-of-a-kind piece for sure.

Daily usage

Here is the cabinet as it is used for daily worship by the family. The doors can be fully opened for access and storage.

Anothe view of Daily usage

Another angle view of the cabinet in use.

AFTER pic -Bookcase with hidden Attic Storage

Statistics

• Red Oak Bookcase
• 6' high x 4' wide x 8" deep
• Hidden hinges so as to act at a secret doorway to an attic storage area
• 6 open shelves of varing heights

---

Here is the final product!! A beautiful, hand-crafted Bookcase in the bedroom. No big deal, right?! Well... keep looking. This has more to it than meets the eye!!

BEFORE pic

And HERE is what I had to work with!! Can you imagine, you want a door... here?! Ok! Cool, huh. Who da thought?! Actually Julie (my customer) was quite innovative. After all how many Carpenters get to put in a secret doorway.

Break on through... to the other side (The Doors, right?! Appropriate too in this matter). OK, we are looking into the guts of the soon to be attic storage. The shape? Well, that is the actual roof line slope and so I had to conform to the rafters behind the wall. Nothing is ever easy, for sure. :-). The stooping down kind of gave it extra ambience to the secret passage and storage area.

Another angle of the opening to come. The other door is to a large walkin closet.

The hidden doorway in ACTION!! Very cool project to work on for sure. This massive bookshelf is hinged on the inside - and when opened leads into a very large Attic storage which I also built- putting in plywood floors, steps, lighting, insulation.

The beginnings of a beautiful relationship! :-). A tradional rail and Stiles Bookshelf made from gorgeous solid Oak.

Coming down the homestretch with the project. It is even more beautiful in person. :-)

In its final stages of staining the wood in the Sunnyvale workshop