LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

Another present for my wife. A simple frame for an old tin plate ceiling tile from the Empress Hotel in MooseJaw Sask. The hotel burned down a while ago and the tiles were saved. Apparently Al Capone or his cronies used to hang out here in the prohibition days. The fire did two things I guess - it removed most of the old paint and gave the metal a different patina. This is more of an exercise in patience than a woodworking project I guess. Measures about 29" square with an 18.5" opening

Barn wood is a PITA in my opinion. I got the wood from an old farm in Lyalta, AB where a friend was renting the farm house. The wood had split and took a fair bit of patience, glue and clamping to get to a stable board to work with. The wood was all old shiplap siding and was not very uniform in any direction. I chose to use the lap area to hold the tin plate and just let the rest "float" and made up the mitre as good as possible to average out the warp. Worked fairly well and the number one critic seems to like it.

Grant

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
3,693 Posts
love it
 

· Registered
Joined
·
6,953 Posts
Beautiful Job!

That old wood can be a challenge to work with, but the efforts are all worthwhile.

Great story behind both the frame and the ceiling tile.

You should enter this in the "Nothing New" challenge!

Lew
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2 Posts
Thanks Lew!

I hadn't thought of the challenge. I should have taken pictures of the process as "proof". I was more concerned with completing it before her Birthday - I still have the cut-offs though. I think I might be okay on board feet as each side is about .6 BF maybe less thanks to the weathering :) The glue was certainly new and this would not have been remotely possible without a good method to stabilize the old split wood.

Grant
 
Top