This cabinet was designed to stand between the aromatic red cedar entry doors and the walnut entertainment center,  so we chose to use both woods in its design.  Its footprint is hexagonal to mimic the floor plan of the room and the custom entry door handles.

The walnut stiles have been plowed out with a custom router bit to trap the 3/8″ rope lighting which runs continuously through the cabinet (about 45 feet). The  3/4″ shelves have 1-1/2″ solid edges made up of walnut and aromatic red cedar, coved down to a 3/8″ thickness at the outside edge to give a lighter appearance.  The pair of doors have a tongue and groove astrigal to insure that they stay aligned and to prevent light leaks. They are held closed with rare earth magnets.  Some things we especially like about this unit are the hand turned walnut and aromatic red cedar dimmer switch knob and my walnut and cedar acorn door pulls.

My Father, Wallace Kunkel, was quite a character. This excerpt is from his monthly newsletter, Bench Talk, which was for woodworkers back in the 70’s and 80’s.

“THERE IS AN INNATE VIBRANCE IN THIS COUNTRY that will prevail through all our times of weak leadership, economic confusion, gutless politicians.  Recession or depression, there is a pioneer strength in this country that is very much alive.  Whatever comes is momentary — even though the “moment” is a year or two — and those, especially those who can work in a craftsman-like manner with their hands, will not only endure — but will be the first to surface in the good times — like a crocus in the spring.”

Wallace M. Kunkel

This desk was made to fit against a window wall in a hexagonal home office. Mike drew this desk in AutoCAD, so we were able to make a template of the top including the position of each leg in relation to the skirt. This allowed us to lay out all of the joinery, in place, on the template, eliminating errors that might happen if done another way.

The skirt of the desk was done as vacuum laminations of two 1/8” layers of cedar onto a core of solid heart  poplar. 3/4” was ripped off the top edge of the skirt and the drawer fronts were cut from the remaining. Then the 3/4″ ripping was re glued to it’s mating piece. In that way we were able to keep the grain continuous and the gaps at the sides of the drawer fronts tighter.

The legs were joined to the skirts using hand cut mortise and tenon joinery. The drawers are of course, hand dovetailed.

The top is 2” thick black walnut cut from the owner’s farm. It is two book matched slabs scrub planed with hand eased edges. The two slabs meet at a corner in the wall, at a 75° angle. They are joined with a tongue and groove joint and hanger bolts. The finish is hand rubbed lacquer.

This contemporary stone home had a unique way of bringing the outside in. Two stone walls turned in towards each other, making a ten foot wide alley.
The idea was to put a wall of glass there to separate the inside from out. Our solution was to build a sub frame of white oak and clad it with aromatic red cedar. The glass is 1/2” insulated , lo UV .
Not sure that the cedar would hold its stability, we decided to make the door and side lite parts in the stave core or engineered stile method. The cores of the parts are of quarter-sawn Spanish cedar, clad with 1/8” aromatic red cedar flitches and 3/4” solid edges.
The unique handles are hexagonal in cross section with an inlaid walnut accent stripe. The handles are mounted on custom-made brass standoffs, with Gaboon ebony plugs to hide the set screws.

This 18 foot wide by 8 foot tall unit constructed of American black walnut solid and veneer, has a 1-1/2” solid slab top with a natural edge.

An interesting element of this piece is that it sits a half inch off the floor and a half inch from the ceiling. These void areas are air intake and returns. Hidden in the center soffit are two 6” flex ducted fans that draw air from the heated floor and exhaust it at the ceiling. There are also two 2” ducts that draw heat from the center TV cabinet. The lock mitered columns enclose the ductwork.

The curved upper doors and their laminated walnut and cherry track are on a 511” radius to follow the natural edge of the top. The track is suspended from column to column with no other support.

The cherry trolley wheels were cut on a CNC router with grooves cut by hand on a lathe. The wheels rotate on ball bearing hubs.

This unit was pre finished with conversion varnish.