Arts & Crafts Shaving Stand

Just completed this walnut / maple / ebony “Shaving Stand” based on a design by Gustav Stickley, and reprinted in the Dover book “Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture.” I don’t imagine I’ll use it as a shaving stand, though it is the perfect height for me. I think that the mirror will be perfect to show off some nice flower arrangement in our front hall though. The idea for the piece began when I resawed an offcut from a fellow student’s hearth bench at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. The knot that was visible on the outside of the piece radiated into the gorgeous burl and curly figure which I then bookmatched and used as the focal point of the piece. I learned to turn my own knobs for this in a class taught by Mario Rodriguez at PFW. They are ebony. The construction features dovetails, and wedged, through-tenons throughout. I will knock the shine down a bit once it cures, but the finish is Watco walnut oil on the walnut, and boiled linseed oil on the maple and ebony, followed by six thinned coats of shellac (applied with a cotton rubber, using 1 lb cut blonde, dewaxed shellac), and then the top, shelf, and mirror frame have 4 coats of thinned polyurethane to protect in case someone spills gin, or tries to clean the mirror with alcohol. The project has been in my shop for about 14 months, though I suspect I’ve only got about 250 hours in it. BTW—I note that the door (which uses a “bullet” catch) is pushed in a bit past the bullet, in the second photo. I’ll have to put a backstop in there I guess.

-- SteveL