| Project by Popintraining | posted 266 days ago | 586 views | 1 time favorited | 19 comments | ![]() |
This customer had it all, huge basement, great ideas and money!
He told me he has 4,500 square feet of basement and wanted to cover it all with mahogany. I said okay!
We used approximately 25 sheets of ¼” mahogany plywood, 15 sheets ¾” shop birch plywood and 3,500 hundred board feet of mahogany and African sapele to complete this monster. The switch to African sapele was necessary due to unavailability of mahogany at that time. However, if I would have known about the sapele earlier we would have used it throughout! There was very little difference in the grain pattern compared to the mahogany we started the job with, and since it had a dark stain, it was almost impossible to tell the two apart! Only in price!
On a project of this size and difficulty, we found out that it’s easier to work it in phases to avoid headaches and mistakes! They were still there, just not as severe as they could have been.
The bar was the first place we started, because everything tied into the bar somehow. Coffered ceiling, archways and wall paneling were all added after the bar was put into place. This way we could take exact dimensions of what we were working on at the time and disappear to the shop for a couple of days to build it.
The wall paneling and archways went pretty smooth! We milled all the stile, rails, moldings and arches and fitted them on site. It was that pain in the arse coffered ceiling that took its toll on us. My Pop came up with a pretty good system to install coffered ceilings, but this one was just way much! I spent weeks going up and down the ladder, I was worn out!
The theater room is where we made the switch to sapele, can you tell? (He couldn’t). He was to busy thinking about that 10’ wide high definition screen. This thing is awesome!
Overall this job went pretty well. I can probably write a whole series on this project there was so much woodworking. Here are a few more photos from this one. For more of our projects you can visit our blog at http://woodworkingtipsfrompop.com/


-- Illegitimis nil carborundum - Don't let the bastards grind you down http://woodworkingtipsfrompop.com
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19 comments so far
Thos. Angle
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3244 posts in 414 days
posted 266 days ago
Great job and probably a profitable one as well. I need about three off these. I hope the customer is happy with your work because it is really excellent.
-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon
RobG
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72 posts in 274 days
posted 266 days ago
Hole-eee-smokes Pop!!! I must say you do some pretty awesome projects. Of course I would of bought that 10’ Big screen but I don’t have a wall in my house that is long enough!!!:-)
-- Woodworking is Life. Anything before or after is just waiting.--S. McQueen sort of
rpmurphy509
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287 posts in 306 days
posted 266 days ago
Stunning work. The ceilings really bring an extra something to the whole area.
I can’t tell the difference at all from these pictures of the two species.
-- Still learning everything
mot
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4839 posts in 488 days
posted 266 days ago
That came out just fantastic. Thanks for the info on the sapele and mahogany…I did not know that.
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
mrtrim
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1525 posts in 332 days
posted 266 days ago
wow ! everytime i look at your projects i get missing atlanta terribly ! i ran a trim business out of buford and worked all the grand country clubs around atlanta . i guess i got spoiled and when i moved here i was so disgusted with the industry here i went back in the autobody trade for three yr.s while i searched out the more upscale work . you do some very fine work my friend i might add ive switched to sapele as well and ive been quite happy with it
-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes
rikkor
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7202 posts in 326 days
posted 266 days ago
Huge project! It certainly came out great.
-- Maplewood, MN
bryano
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528 posts in 385 days
posted 266 days ago
WOW! Nice work.
-- bryano
Dadoo
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1511 posts in 442 days
posted 266 days ago
Absolutely impressive in both the size of this project, and the quality of the workmanship.
-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!
miles125
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907 posts in 457 days
posted 266 days ago
Really nice project Pop. Unlike MrTrim, i dont tend to miss Atlanta. I got stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam there yesterday! Grrrrrrrrr
-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""
mrtrim
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1525 posts in 332 days
posted 266 days ago
i was doin such a great job of blockin out the down side too !
-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes
Hawgnutz
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483 posts in 528 days
posted 266 days ago
Very impressive job, Pop!! Thanks for the tip on sapele!
God Bless,
Hawg
-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards
toyguy
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433 posts in 289 days
posted 266 days ago
Boy oh boy…....You guys here at LJ never cease to amaze me…..... such nice work..
-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/
Brad_Nailor
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705 posts in 409 days
posted 266 days ago
Wow…that is amazing! You guys do unbelievable work..that is one hell of a project to even take on and you executed it perfectly! 3500 board feet…man!
-- Women love me.....trees fear me
Karson
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12741 posts in 852 days
posted 266 days ago
Great Job. A beautiful design. Did you do the designing also or was that done by an architect?
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
Damocles
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128 posts in 280 days
posted 266 days ago
Wowsers!! What an excellent basement! You’ll get a call from me if I ever hit the lotto!
-- Living on the square...
cajunpen
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5352 posts in 518 days
posted 266 days ago
Wow, enough said.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
schwingding
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119 posts in 277 days
posted 265 days ago
Incredible. You really don’t see much of this type of work anymore due to the expense and lack of skilled craftsmen. Nice to see both still come together occasionally.
I agree about the use of sapele. I just glued up a replacement swim platform on my ski boat using quartered sapele instead of mahogany. It is beautiful stuff, works really well, and is very hard to distinguish from its cousin. Plus, it was about $2/ft cheaper.
-- Just another woodworker
Popintraining
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109 posts in 290 days
posted 265 days ago
We do all the designing on our jobs unless there is an architect or designer involved and then things can really get tricky! No third party here though, It was tricky enough!

Meranti is another import that we have substituted for mahogany, the availability has dwindled somewhat, but it might be worth a try also. Here is my only before photo of this job
-- Illegitimis nil carborundum - Don't let the bastards grind you down http://woodworkingtipsfrompop.com
BeechPilotBarry
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129 posts in 155 days
posted 10 days ago
Absolutely terriffic!
Did you make the parts like cornices & carvings, or buy them from an Outwater or Osborne type of outfit?
-- -