Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The sideboard


Jim had asked me quite a while ago, to build him a sideboard for him. He had seen the project in one of my woodworking magazines....oh, about a year or so ago. I told him I would build it for him when he was done, or almost done, moving around from apartment to apartment. Well, he is getting ready to get married and plans for the not to distant future include purchasing a home or having one built. So, with that in mind, I set about building the dining room piece for him and his fiance Mari.

The picture here is from the article detailing the plans for building the project.


I guess it took me about a month to complete the piece of furniture and it entailed a few techniques in woodworking that I had never tried before, so it was a good experience. It was a fun piece of furniture to build. And to tell you the truth, there is a bit of a story behind the wood used in building this piece. Since getting into woodworking seriously, I have pretty much dealt with one gentleman for getting my rough sawn lumber. Simmie Agin of nearby Lambertville was meticulous in his lumber. He oversaw its cutting from raw logs and then took over in the management of them while they cured. He was an artist in how he took care of the lumber. Stacked, stickers and dried straight as an arrow. I learned to appreciate that! Well, the red oak lumber that I used in this project is some of the last that I will ever acquire from Simmie. You see, Simmie died recently. It was a blow to me. I really liked him and looked forward to my visits with him at his barn where he kept the great collection of various species of lumber. I will certainly miss him. I have some more lumber from Sim, but I am still thinking of the right project to use to make the best use of what is left of my time with Simmie.

While I'm thinking, here is a picture of the sideboard, as I built it. I took this picture when Karen and I delivered it to Jim and Maris apartment.