WOOD

crown_05 pic goes here — "In the middle of the journey of life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost."
- Dante Alighieri

I have repaired the old and fabricated the new. Solid hardwoods have become precious enough to warrant faux finishing. Either way, custom repairs, fabrication, and installation require a craftsman with skills and the right tools.

I started repairing antiques in high school, such as this Vanderbilt Bureau I restored before it went up for sale.

Below: The beautiful, dark-wood stairwell moulding seen on the left started out as extra wide, laminated lengths of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) as seen on the right. The stairs had been finished with no moulding installed. The homeowner had two carpenters scratch their heads over how to fit one piece of moulding into the stairs. Just ask your friendly neighborhood industrial strength artist.

Big material calls for big tools. I assembled my custom miter-saw bench (30 feet wide) on-site to handle my client's 10" wide by 16 feet long crown moulding. I fauxed the entirety of the material prior to delivering it to the job site. Cutting took place on the back patio. Qualified craftsmen are hard to come by. I brought a general contractor from Kansas City to help me on this job in Las Vegas. Lifting 10 inches wide, 16 feet long crown molding to the top of ten feet tall walls is a two man job.

below-right: The racked moulding shown has a primer on it that was the first step in its faux finishing.
below-left: The result of the faux is shown on moulding being fit to the ceiling. Note the nice compound-angle scarf joint. Note also the backing fir that is screwed into the top plate (double 2x4s) in the wall's rough framing, which is fully necessary for such big, heavy moulding that will not be painted. Thus no adhesive caulking is used.

below-left: Solid red oak, baseboard moulding, varnished. below-right: Cabinet fabrication. I added slide outs for the custom built, welded wire LP album racks. Yes, I weld, too.