Raised panels are traditional and live edges are edgy.

[Sam Murdoch]

To quote Mel Fulks in a recent post about a bubinga desk project "Raised panels are traditional and live edges are edgy." And then to quote John TenEyck in his post about his very nicely done - Two White Oak Dressers - "I didn't post any pictures at the time because most folks here seem to favor more traditional designs, but I finally decided what the heck."

So now I jump into the fray with these very edgy and eccentric pieces - which I am glad to report - have been very well received by my clients. They are intended for a real authentic old Maine coastal cottage - a lovely blend of artistic and functional with no self importance (if a cottage can be all that). As my mother has said - "They aren't my cup of tea" nonetheless I share them here for the curious and the dreamers among you. I hope you can find something to like .

Started out with these big leaf maple slabs -

P8200253.jpeg P8200252.jpeg P8200254.jpeg

I cut them up - made some puzzle pieces and then added some cherry bases - The colors in these photos under my shop fluorescent lights are exaggerated and unrealistic but you get the idea though not the real beauty and glow of these tops.

Good-High-view.jpg Dining-Room-Front.jpg TV-Door.jpg

Muir-DR-Door--corner.jpg Muir-Top-Detail-3-good.jpg


The intent was to create 2 live edge right angle pieces. One as a side board for the dining room and one as a TV base/bookcase in another room. I looked for some time to find some natural right angle slabs but was never satisfied with the options. It came to me that I might be able to interlock some burls together puzzle pieces style to make up the shape I wanted.

The tops really were the beginning. I had the basic sizes of the "cabinets" but as I told my clients we won't know the shape and size of the base cabinets until I have the tops and can fit them into some form that works to my advantage. It was a challenging and I might add, scary process, cutting these up and working them to fit. I knew that I could not mate them seamlessly without straight lines or fair curves. That would have been too artificial with these burls and so chose to try to suggest that the live edge continued through the "joints" by hand cutting the irregular pattern and leaving as equal a spacing as I could throughout the matching cuts. Some of the 4 joints (2 per 3 piece top) came out better than others. Sometime the wood just fell away leaving a hole and sometime I just made a hole .

The two pieces are different in all dimensions. They are siblings but not twins. They are not great examples of the joinery tradition as there are more mechanical fastenings (screws and dominos) than I prefer to include in my furniture pieces. I couldn't see any way around it in this case.

After I made up the tops - fitted the pieces and added two 8mm x 40mm dominos per section to keep them aligned I traced their respective shapes on my 4 x 8 work table to reveal the size of the bases below. From there I started creating a parts list and milling my cherry. The 6 legs of each "cabinet" are mitered and glued with the tape and fold method. I then had 6 legs and a bunch of boards to connect together. Now what? The 2-1/4" top rails were domino/tenoned to their respective legs and then started the process of connecting them in an order that would allow the last pieces to go together. Once these were assembled I had the final dimensions of the base. I was then able to build the bottom shelf assembly and slip that into place between the 6 legs locked into the inner corners of the legs with screws from underneath and resting on glue blocks.

The rail boards came next and then drawer boxes and doors. Only after the bases were built and finished and the top pieces were dyed and finished could the tops go on.

And there we have it - edgy and with attitude. Care to share your attitude about them?

Thanks for looking.

[John TenEyck]

Sam, those are amazing. I wouldn't want them in my house, but I can certainly picture them in a camp, and a high end one at that. I love how you created the interlocking puzzle effect and that the live edge runs from wall to wall. I guess that's what I dislike most about live edge tables; the live edge stops so abruptly at the ends and gives it an artificial look to me. You've completely avoided that with your design; as a result, it looks a lot more organic. Ok, they fit against a wall at the ends, but that was the idea. I also like how you used a piece (or pieces?) of the slab in the door panels. Very clever, and helps tie the bases to the tops.

What wood is it? The finish looks top rate.

Beautiful work.

John

[Bud Zeien]

Real nice work, Sam! Cleaver solution to a common obstacle. I like how you tied in the doors.
Any movement issues with the burl?

[Marty Gulseth]

That is really amazing craftsmanship! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Regards, Marty

[Ryan Mooney]

First up fantastic work.

I'm not sure I'd want the tops in my house either, although they are cool not quite my style. The door fronts on the other hand... Hmmm those are nifty!

[Mel Fulks]

Sam,the wood seems to glow on its own, clever and well executed corner turn. The omission of raised panels helps....see,
I told you so. I might by one of those new live edge router bits, it's pretty convincing !!

[Yonak Hawkins]

Wow !!, Sam. You really took remarkable care to make the pieces interlock precisely. They look great !

[Sam Murdoch]

Thank you John and all for your enthusiasm and open mindedness and your compliments.

What wood is it? The finish looks top rate.

Beautiful work. John

The tops are big leaf maple burls and the base is all of cherry. The finish is Waterlox but the color of the tops was enhanced with some WD Lockwood water soluble dye. Without the dye the tops just looked like a pale version of the cherry. The dye took them to the brown which I hoped would be the effect. 30 years from now the dye will be faded and the cherry will be darkened and who knows what it will all look like.

Real nice work, Sam! Cleaver solution to a common obstacle. I like how you tied in the doors.
Any movement issues with the burl?

Too soon to tell if the burls will open any more than they already have. I needed to add some dovetail keys on the underside of several pieces and they are still quite fragile. I did allow for wood movement as the tops are fastened through slotted rails with pan head screws but to be sure it is kind of difficult to tell what the dominant grain direction is - as it mostly radiates from the back edges.

All of the smaller cabinet top and its door panel came from consecutive slices of the same tree. The taller cabinet with the more birdseye effect was made up of the big burl in the center photo above and the flat bottomed piece in the 1st photo. The pieces range from 1-1/16" to 1 3/16" thick.

Sam,the wood seems to glow on its own, clever and well executed corner turn. The omission of raised panels helps....see,
I told you so. I might by one of those new live edge router bits, it's pretty convincing !!

You made me laugh Mel and thanks for the kind words. As for raised panels here are a few close ups of the doors.


DR-Door-detail-2.jpg TV-Door-corner.jpg

These were an afterthought - not part of the original design. After signing off on the design that showed no doors the clients reasonably asked for 1 door on the return end of each "cabinet". I didn't know what I would build until 2 days before these came out. I had a dream… and a bandsaw so I could slice the burl into thinner sections. As the doors are quite small this proved to be a perfect solution. I used dominos to attach them to their respective stiles and rails. Assembled the doors with these pieces already attached. After the fact I think that these doors are essential to making the pieces come together. Otherwise the tops would have been just tops without any reason to the bases.

Another essential was the antique brass pulls. Amazing how those turned the assembly into a piece of furniture. All in all a challenging, fun and gratifying project.

[Bud hill]

Now that's a new design. I love it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Here's another quote for you to use, Sam:

Monty Python's Flying Circus: "And now for something completely different".

Those are outstanding. Very, very clever and dreative. They need the right setting, of course, but still - remarkable.

[Jim Matthews]

That's demented.

Love it.

kudos

[Sean Hughto]

Quite wonderful and original. Well done. You followed your muse to a wonderous place. Many lack the imagination and many more the skill and follow through. My hat's off to you. Don't let hose who have only a taste for the traditional bring you down. More please.

[Sam Murdoch]

That's demented.

Love it.

kudos

rather demented than dementia - though that might kick in soon enough . You made me laugh.

Thanks you guys - usually a tough crowd here but you have made me feel special

[Prashun Patel]

Great execution. I love it. I love the raised panels, and your joinery and finish and coloring is really wonderful.

If I had to pick a nit, it's only that it's a lot of cowbell. I mean, those burls are just so dominant in their figure and their edge, that the crazy live edge on the top dominates the whole piece.

I love envelope pushing. I too was struck by JTen's comment.

[edit] I keep coming back to this. Something just keeps drawing me in. This piece really makes me think and admire and think. Is the top too much? I can't decide. Your build is so tight and deliberate it makes me think I must be wrong. I really like this one, and how it's making me think.

Can you elaborate how you made the top joints? That's a wonderful effect I'd like to use myself.

[Sean Hughto]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyV2cPLuFuA