Pandemic Provenance

That is the new line of Beetle Kill Pine furniture from The Knotty Woodworker.


The pandemic is the catastrophic infestation of the Mountain Pine Beetle killing millions of acres of Pine trees here in Colorado and Western North America.


Provenance is the History of how something has come to be.


Thus, the name of the new line in furniture.
The first piece offered for purchase in this style is a handmade coffee table. The overall dimensions are 17 1/2" wide x 44 1/4" long x 20 1/4" high.
The table's legs are the main feature. Beginning with solid stock of 2 3/4" square, I inlaid fluted mullions on each outside face of the legs.



Each side features "bookmatched" inlays, meaning I took one board, split it on the saw, and opened it up like a book. The result is two near identical pieces. I did this mainly because the stock I had on hand for the legs displyed very little of the "blue" graining caused by the MPB.





The bottom of each leg has a 15 degree bevel on all 4 sides to create the illusion that the table is hovering just above the floor. This design for the legs came solely from my imagination. They are the only table legs that look like this, as far as I know.





I employed mortise and tenon joinery in the apron to leg fastening and on the lower runners. On the lower runners, I created a non traditional look by mortisinf the leg at a 45 degree angle so that the runners appear diamond shaped. The results are a one of a kind, heirloom quality table. Rustic in the wood choice, while the style is very contemporary. It creates a look that would be eautiful in a mountain cabin or big city high rise.














The boards use for the top were chosen for their uniformity in color. A color that reflects the Beetle Kill Pine's coloring. I sealed all the cracks that are natural in the knots with an epoxy to insure a very smooth top.





The Pandemic Provenance Coffee Table comes with The Knotty Woodworker's standard 5 year warranty on materials and craftsmanship. It will last for generations to come.





This can be in your home just in time for the Christmas Season. A gift that would say I love your uniqueness to that very special someone in your life. Each board is as unique as a fingerprint. And, this is the most environmentally responsible purchase in furniture that you can make. It has a triple coat of all natural Tung Oil. It doesn't get any "greener" than this blue table. Email or call today to make this one of a kind heirloom yours. Happy Thanksgiving from The Knotty Woodworker.

The Brother's Table

The latest Expression in Wood from the Knotty Woodworker is The Brother's Table. Born and raised in Florida, The Knotty Woodworker moved to Colorado in 1990. In Florida there remained four sisters and two brothers.
My youngest brother, Jason, recently moved to Colorado and for the first time ever, two Abneys have built a piece of heirloom quality furniture, hence, The Brothers Table.
It stands 31" in height, 40" in width and 82" in length. It has been fashioned from the heart of Beetle Kill Pine grown here in Colorado. This means it lacks the blue staining caused by the Mountain Pine Beetle. It began in Loveland, CO with the selection of harvested trees.
From there, I had the logs sliced into 4 x 4's for the legs, and into 2" thick slabs for the apron and top. Not many woodworkers are blessed with the oppurtunity to choose their tree, have it cut, and then bring it to life in the shop.
Although the trees have been cut and air dried for quite some time, I stacked the pieces in the shop with sticks to separate them to allow air drying to an acceptable moisture level.
The Brother's Table features a drawer on one long edge that is 24" in width, 3" in height and 18" in depth for silverware/board games, etc.
The top is crafted from four 10" wide planks and brought down to a thickness of 1 1/2".





The apron is 4" wide and planed to 1 1/2" thick as well. Each piece of the apron has a tenon that is 3/4" thick x 2 1/2" wide x 1 1/2" long that will fit into a corresponding mortise on each inside face of each leg.





Here is a video showing the strength of a mortise and tenon joint. My mortises are deeper and my tenons are longer and thicker than the average mortise and tenon joint, adding to the strength.





The solid legs are 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" finished thickness. The two outside faces of each leg is fluted down the center with a 3/4" core box router bit and on either side of that flute is a flute made with a 1/2" core box router bit, for a total of three on each outside face.





Simple. Sturdy. Hand crafted. Knotty. Heirloom quality. Guaranteed for 5 full years in materials and craftsmanship.
As a woodworker, I enjoyed crafting this table for my client. I wondered what would take place at this table besides meals. Certainly, many cups of tea will be enjoyed at it with lively conversation. The owners of this table are English.
How many nights of homework will be mulled over at The Brothers Table? Mother daughter talks about life, love and happiness. Family vacations might be discussed and planned at this table, built by two brothers far away from their homeland.
Will a young man sit at this table in a few years and ask a father for a young woman's hand in marriage? The craftsmanship, care and construction of this table is only the first step in achieving the status of heirloom quality. The family's gatherings will do the rest.
As a brother, having lived so far away from home, I enjoyed creating it with my brother by my side. Talking about life, woodworking, Colorado, Florida and the smiles that have occurred between the miles and years.













It's simply more than a table already. How would such a table be completed if it stood in your home? 303.246.4766

The Long's Peak Gun Cabinet

The latest Expression in Wood by The Knotty Woodworker is The Long's Peak Gun Cabinet. It is 53" wide and 74" tall and will hold 12 long arms. It features raised panel sides and lower doors, Glass panel upper doors, handmade pulls and knobs, and a tongue and groove paneled back.
A pure pleasure to create and build, I was allowed a lot of creative control to do a "Knotty Job." As has become the norm, my client was very satisfied, not just with the overall appearance, but with the quality of craftsmanship.



I made the pulls and knobs from a limb that was killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle. The burrow tracks are the texture and beauty of each one and each is as unique as a finger print. The door pulls and knobs are doweled into place through the face of the door and a set of smaller dowels are glued into those dowels from the edge of the door. Quality. Uniqueness.








Some folks might would consider the steps I take a waste of time. However, The Knotty Woodworker guarantees all of his furniture for a full 5 years in materials and craftsmanship. Five years! A brand new house is only guaranteed for 1 year.
It is not my intent to ever have to do any warranty work. The only way to avoid this is to build it right the first go around. My pieces are tomorrow's antiques, so I build them to be an heirloom your great grand kids will enjoy. I beg you to find such a guaranty elsewhere and at no additional cost.
The Beetle kill pine has a most unique beauty. Each piece is so unique and different than the next board. The result is not only extreme beauty, but knotty uniqueness. If you are not familiar with Colorado's Beetle Kill Pine, please see my blog entry located at Environmentally Responsible Furniture Making
When this wood is crafted into furniture by The Knotty Woodworker, each aspect of the grain is significantly highlighted through grain selection and board placement.






Here is a close up of the base of the Long's Peak Gun cabinet that shows the incredibly catastrophic beauty of this wood. The moulding used here is a piece 1/4" thick. The other half of the board, the "book matched" slice, is used as the molding on the top of the cabinet. Just one of many little steps taken by The Knotty Woodworker to display the elegance of this wood and to have your furniture exclaim "Colorado" to all who takes in it's beauty.


Here are a few more pictures of the Long's Peak Gun Cabinet.




























Please consider how a piece of furniture made from Beetle Kill Pine would fit into your home and how to get the best quality for your money by having The Knotty Woodworker be your furniture maker. A decision that you will never regret. The money you spend with The Knotty Woodworker today will continually spend itself into the future. 303.246.4766

FBI - CAPTURED

FBI - Furniture Built Intelligently.

CAPTURED - The backs on all of my pieces.

Let me pry for a minute. Have you ever had a piece of furniture, say a dresser or entertainment center, that had a back nailed on? Chances are it was a heavy duty cardboard material. And on this piece, did you experience the back coming off often?

My cabinet backs are made of, at the minimum, a piece of 1/4" thick MDF core material. When feasible through aesthetic needs and budget allocations, I prefer to use a solid wood back.

The Knotty Woodworker uses a building method I call a "captured back." I run a groove on the inside back edge of all sides and bottoms of my cabinets. If my back is 1/4", the groove will be 1/4" wide and 1/4" deep. If I am using a solid wood back, the width of the groove corresponds with backs thickness and is set in from the back edges enough to leave a 3/4" space on the back of the sides and bottoms.





As you see in the picture above, I have a 1/4" groove in the side and bottom. A 1/4 back will go in that slot that encloses the back of the cabinet. It will "float" in the grooves and only be attached to the top back brace of the cabinet (the brace also serves as a mounting bracket for the top above the cabinet).in the 3/4" are behind the back, I will put in a horizontal piece of material that is 3" wide.





In this picture, a back to a gun cabinet, you can see that the back itself is 3/4" solid wood. It sits in a 1/2"deep groove on the side. You can see how it is set in 3/4" leaving room for a solid wood brace.





Here is the back of the gun cabinet. See the solid wood braces helping to keep the back and the whole cabinet secure? No fear in moving it around, it will stay together.
Extra material, extra steps, extra time. The result? Extra lifespan for your furniture. Outside of a disaster like fire or or falling off a truck, that back will never come off. It is captured. Quality, and nothing short of that is what is built into every piece of furniture by The Knotty Woodworker.
When you invest in tomorrow's antiques with The Knotty Woodworker, your dollar today spends well into the future. All of my pieces carry a 5 year warranty on material and craftsmanship at no extra cost. The guaranty is captured in your furniture.

Getting In My Groove

When it comes to the joining of cabinet sides, Many methods may be employed. Since my furniture is usually solid wood construction, I often fined myself unable to use screws for fastening because of aesthetics. My typical method is putting a corresponding groove on a piece in which a perpendicular component will sit in. In it's simplest terms, it is a dado joint. This is perhaps the best joint, in my opinion for a standard cabinet bottom to be joined to a side. I took some pictures of my current project to show you what you can expect when you allow The Knotty Woodworker to build your handmade furniture. The picture below shows a cabinet bottom and a cabinet side. The dado is in the side and is almost 1/2" deep. Furniture manufacturers will use this same joint, but theirs is calibrated and machined on a CNC.









As you can see in this picture, once assembled with glue, this bottom will be very secure for many many years. Stay tuned as I will be posting more pictures of this gun cabinet and sharing my methods so you can see why your best value is handmade furniture created by hand in The Knotty Wood Shop. October marks three years in business and I am running some awesome sales on furniture, particularly My COlorado Expressions style made with native Colorado Beetle Kill Pine. Let's discuss that special gift for that special someone this fall. 303. 246.4766

Joinery

One of the most critical aspects of heirloom quality furniture is the joints. Whether it be 2 boards joined side to side to form a raised panel in a door, a rail meeting a stile on a face frame or an apron on a dining table, the joints are what will determine the life expanse of the furniture.
A coffee table will function with a scratch. A hall tree will hold a coat with a poorly sanded surface. But when the joint expires, so does the life of the furniture. The best case scenario when this happens is that the joint is broken and will only weaken further and cause other joints to give way because the broken joint is no longer functioning to support the weight, movement and other stresses on your furniture, and it is just the beginning of the demise rather than the final breath.
When a joint fails, your options are limited to


A) ignore it and let it deteriorate


B) Throw more money after your investment and pay for repair


C) Repair it yourself


D)replace it



The Knotty Woodworker combats a bad joint in many ways. For starters, at conception, the furniture is designed with only the best joinery available in my shop for each application. Let me start with what you WILL NOT find with furniture made by hand in the The Knotty Studio. You won't find construction nails or screws in any visible portion of my furniture. These are only used when they are permanently concealed.
You won't find a plastic wood grained circle sticker covering a screw head. Nor will you find cardboard backs barely stapled on. You won't find sticky drawers, poorly sanded surfaces, or loose pieces.
And, in the event that something misses my scrutiny, either in material or craftsmanship, all of my furniture comes with a 5 year warranty against defects in material or less than optimum craftsmanship - at no extra cost. Since I build furniture in such a way that it will be here in 50 years, 5 years is nothing to worry about.
Even if you buy a brand new home that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, you get a one year warranty!
I believe in my furniture. I have been trained by masters that had decades of experience and I listened well. Quality is 75% craftsmanship and 25% material selection.
The only complaints I have had in 3 years of business is that it takes too long. That is it! And sometimes it takes too long because quality is something that is sought after, it doesn't just happen. And, to be honest, I would really rather apologize for a completion delay than having to apologize for quality. Quite simply, the sting of poor quality will last much longer than the joy you will receive for a cheap purchase.




These are decorative in appearance, but are strengthening in function. See how the ends are smaller than the actual piece? That is the tenon section of a mortise and tenon joint. It is formed by cutting the work piece longer than what will be visible on the furniture. The outer area of the extra material is stripped away and a corresponding hole, or mortise, is made in the pieces which these will span. The result is an extremely strong joint with several glue surfaces. This is the most common joint used in table making. It can be used in many other areas, but different applications call for different types of joints. You can know that when you commission The Knotty Woodworker to build one of tomorrow's antiques for you, that much thought will be given to what will make the strongest connection between two pieces of wood. And that is what will be used, even in the event that I didn't charge for it. I have a long list of satisfied customers that would be glad to share with you their experience of dealing with The Knotty Woodworker and let you know how they received more than what they thought they were getting.





Here is what those pieces became. The tenons were 1" long and they extend into the adjoining rails a full inch. Quality. My furniture does cost more than what you can find in a manufactured furniture store. Except mine is handmade. Each piece of wood is specifically chosen for character and strength. And once I build a piece of furniture for you, it will never be replicated. It is and it remains one of a kind! You will never buy another one, whatever it is, unless you want two of them!
You can spend 500 bucks for a dresser that is one of thousands identically made and has no warranty once you take it home. In that choice, you may have a few colors to choose from, maybe it will be in your wood of preference, maybe not. It will be the size it is with no choice of modifying the dimensions. And, after a few short years, you will need to buy another dresser to replace it.
Or, you can spend $1200 bucks with The Knotty Woodworker, receive the highest quality available, along with a five year warranty, choose your wood species, finish and dictate the dimensions. And your grandkids will be able to enjoy it as well. You will spend money on furniture, but shouldn't it be the last time and shouldn't that hard earned money extend years into the future?

The Madison River Desk

I have been working on an executive desk. It is made from Beetle Kill Pine, one of a kind, and of heirloom quality. It was built in such a way that it will still be functional and useable and beautiful forty years from now and longer even. Here are the pictures of it in the client's home. I can build you almost anything out of this amazing wood - entertainment center coffee/end table set/ bed, dresser, etc. You can choose the rustic accents I incorporated in the desk, or I can build in contemporary or traditional styles without rustic accents - The wood itself is very rustic in appearance. View some of my earlier blogs to see the story behind the Beetle kill pine, my all natural, non-toxic finishing process and just why you should choose to order your handmade heirloom quality furniture through The Knotty Woodworker. Feel free to call me at 303 246 4766 to discuss your furniture needs. The quality will exceed your expectations, the beauty will captivate your family and friends and the cost will make your dollar go further than you imagined possible.


If you click on the images below, they will open up super size so you can see the rich detail.





The desk is 74" x 68" x 30" high





The drawer bank features hardwood dove tailed drawers. The pulls were handmade from a limb killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle.





When properly worked, end grain can be very beautiful.





There are three wire holes in the desktop for electronics. The wire chase continues underneath in the up right studs between the panels that comprise the wall. The wires then run behind the cabinet and out of the side of the cbinet in the toe kick.





Non-symetrical contours were added to replicate the natural edges of the wood as found in a log.





I had to chisel away the bark, exposing beetle burrow tracks in the "live" edge.





A beautiful knot on the live edge of the return side.





A Knot on the edge of the top. A nice contrast with the blue/black staining left by the Mountain Pine Beetles.





Mountain Pine Beetle burrow tracks in the live edge.





Doubled up "biscuits" used for alignment of the slabs and strength in the joint. Quality.





The drawer bank prior to installation.





Beetle burrow tracks in the handmade knobs.





You can see how the tracks are obvious on the sides of the handmade pulls, also.




The limb from which I made all the pulls.





I had some of the wood milled while I waited after choosing the logs personally. A sign of good working is grain selection and board placement. A step I NEVER overlook.





There is an Executive Desk and a gun cabinet in the back of the truck. I am not sure what else, but there is a lot of this wood available. What does your house need to Express Yourself?