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This is another one of my signature pieces. The piece was copied from an original in a museum. The legs, stretchers and case sides are in maple. The drawer fronts and front apron parts are veneered in walnut burl. All the moldings are made from solid walnut. The secondary woods are mahogany and poplar. The brasses are made for me in England. The finish is a layered analine dye under an oil based stain, then shellac is applied for the final finish. Only had two pictures of the piece. Hope you enjoy it.

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Comments

· In Loving Memory
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3,873 Posts
A great looking piece! Looks like lots of work went it.
 

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That's quite a masterpiece! I'm just now reading Jeff Greene's book on 18th century American furniture, and this looks like it could have come from those pages. Wish I could see it in person - you did a great job.

Cheers,
Kerry
 

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Great piece of furniture Chuck. I went to look at your bio and with 30 years of woodworking, I have to ask….. how old were when you started??.... three or four? Just kidding, you look so young in the photo. I guess that's a good thing. This really is a fantastic piece. Thanks for the post and I'm looking for to seeing more from you. If you've got the desire to teach, I have the desire to learn.
JJ
 

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yet another amazing piece. you do great work
 

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Another fantastic reproduction, Chuck!
 

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Well I'm speechless. Any idea on the hours to complete?
 

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Beautiful work. As Kerry said, would be great to see the actual item.
 

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780 Posts
What, you didn't custom-cast your own brass hardware? Terribly disappointed!

LOL….just kidding. Very nice, sir.
 

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1,487 Posts
Equisite work as always. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom
 

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Your work is off the charts, period. Nuff said …
 

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This sets the standard: The height of excellence! The wood is beautiful, the finish is great and the craftsmanship is awesome.
 

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Thanks to everyone for their compliments. I'll try to answer a few of the questions and comment on some of the things you all brought up as well as adding some additional background information.

First, a fair amount of time did go into the piece. The first time I made this highboy, I made two of them. One for the customer and one for me. Which brings up the answer to a couple of the comments posted. If you're in the Philly area, and want to visit, please give a call and drop in. I still have my copy of the highboy which means, if you do visit, you can actually see one of these in real life. I've built three or four more since that original run. The first two, however, are still my favorites. I spent about 80 hours just making herring bone inlay for those two. The last one of these highboys I built took about three or four weeks to build in its entirety.

JJ, I'm older than I look but to clarify, I got my first taste of woodworking when I was 10 or 11 but I consider my actual start when I was 12. That's when I got serious about it. I do teach and you are welcome anytime. I'll try to get around to working on a blog that lays out some of my woodworking history as well as some of the better stories from all those years of professional woodworking. Hopefully, it'll be something you will find interesting. My website has several planned expansions that will include a weekly blog and some tips and techniques, I just have to get the time to get them up and running. Until then, I'll keep exploring and posting here. This is a pretty good place to be. Thanks to all you LJs for making me feel at home.
 

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Now this is one of the best!!!!!! I think you are a great master craftsman. Very nice what a great job.
 

· In Loving Memory
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Beautiful as always, defines excellence. You truly are a master craftsman. mike
 

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Dave your work is trully amazing, you say that you took the measurements from a piece in the museum. Well I think they need to make some room for some of yours. Think you need to be on the American Master Craftsman…Keep up the exceptional quality, as your a motivater in the Craft. Just looking at your projects wants me to study more and more. Your brother in woodworking John
 

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Again the bar has been raised! I only hope to approach it some day.

What a great way to make a living, to create something that beautiful.

Charile Mullins
 

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Lovely work again, mon ami. You can't beat the classics.

always,
J.C.
 

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WOW!! I aspire to do work like you!! That is one awesome piece of furniture!! A classic!!
 

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Chuck,

How did I miss this one when you originally posted it?? Sorry about that but I am glad it came back around on my review list. This is a beautiful piece of furniture. Normally I like to add some comments on the details of a piece but there simply isn't room or time to do that on this. Outstanding attention to detail will have to suffice for this one. The finish looks good on this as well.

Thanks for the post.
 
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