The Knotty Woodworker

Celebrating 25 Years of Woodworking

2012-01-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

This month marks 25 years that I began my woodworking career. Fresh out of high school in 1987, I applied for an apprentice position at Sway's Wood Products in my hometown of Brooksville, FL. Since that time, I have built cabinetry and furniture in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Colorado. While working in those states (for other woodworkers) my craftsmanship has been shipped to homes in several other states.The majority of my tenure has been spent in Colorado, with my work going into homes in Aspen, Snowmass Village, Telluride, Ouray, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Buena Vista and several other small towns in Colorado.I have just been commissioned to top my Long's Peak Gun Cabinet by a gentleman in The Lone Star State. Look for pictures and details about this signature piece in the coming months! It is an exciting new year with a lot of opportunity for The Knotty Woodworker to put heirloom quality furniture into the home of my clients.Thank you for dropping by my blog and checking out the happenings. If you are looking for custom one of a kind heirloom quality furniture, I would be flattered if you called me and discussed your needs. Happy New year!

Fall in LOVEland Sale

2011-08-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

It is the time of the year in which my clients start placing orders for their loved ones' Christmas presents. Whether it is a cutting board set with trivets and a lazy susan for Mom or a wall mounted fishing rod holder for Dad or a dining table for your wife or a gun cabinet for your husband, The Knotty Woodworker has the gift and price to make this their best Christmas Ever. We can even keep your surprise gift in our shop until late December!
The sale percentages run from 5% up to 25% depending on how much your total bill is. Multiple pieces count as one total, so it is actually a great time for renewing an entire room.
The Knotty Woodworker not only offers an unheard of 5 year warranty, but our pricing during this sale delivers the utmost quality but also helps your dollar to stretch out and go further in these tough times. Go ahead and call and start being Merry about Christmas now! 303-246-4766

A bedside chest

2011-06-03T06:29:00.000-07:00
I was asked to build a small chest to sit between the two beds featured in my blog post below. It is a simple design, yet the quality is impeccable. Solid wood construction, even in the drawers.
Using some of my choice pieces of Beetle Kill Pine, the chest has a lot of brown in the grain, giving the piece an overall darker tone.
The drawers are made from 5/8" thick solid Beetle Kill Pine and features Blumotion undermount soft closing slides. They are full extension, meaning that the drawer comes all the way out of the cabinet for access.
The handles were cut from small limbs and burnished so that they looked whittled but feel very smooth in the hand.

Whatever your need is; picnic table, what-knot shelves, bookcases, etc., The Knotty Woodworker has over 20 years experience in woodworking and a plethora of fresh ideas to help make your house a home. Give me a call at 303.246.4766 to discuss what I can do for you.

Platform Beds

2011-06-02T06:55:00.000-07:00
The Knotty Woodworker builds all types of indoor and outdoor furniture. Our specialty is Beetle Kill Pine. Recently I was commissioned to build a couple of simple farm style twin beds for a home in the Keystone/Breck area. This was actually part of a bigger job that included a bedside chest as well as a coffee table for te living room.
The design is quite simple. Using plate joinery, the head and footboards are strong and sturdy and will last a lifetime. Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself that having a piece handcrafted by The Knotty Woodworker will not only be built well, the beauty will rise above other beetle kill pine furnishings that are available. With well over 20 years experience, The Knotty Woodworker can meet your every desire in buying a piece of quality furniture.
Please check us out on facebook at The Knotty Woodworker and on twitter as @knottywoodworks.

The Difference

2011-04-18T08:20:00.000-07:00
The difference between manufactured furniture and handmade furniture from The Knotty Woodworker is phenomenal. That leaves out the fact that a piece of furniture handcrafted with The Knotty Woodworker's more than 20 years experience is available at very affordable prices. My pieces are more costly than the warehouse items, but that is only in the initial purchase. The stuff you buy that comes from factories will not last, so you will have to purchase the same items again in the future. With my 5 year guaranty on materials and craftsmanship, you can rest assured that what you have me build will belong to your grandchildren one day.
It is all about consumer wisdom. You can pay $600 for a dresser at a retail outlet and in 2 years it will fall apart. That is after you "settled" for what they had to offer.
Or, you can have me build a dresser to your exact specification in wood species, dimensions, and finish and pay slightly more. Not only will the furniture be an expression of who you are, you will never need to replace it. It will be a family heirloom and last for generations. Also, since it evolved from your imagination and my craftsmanship, it will be the only one like it. That is an incredible value.
I know in these times we have to look at the bottom line and scrutinize it, that is just smart spending. However, if you look down the road just a little, you will see that the best value for your dollar along with the most satisfaction for each dollar you spend, the only intelligent answer is in a handmade, heirloom quality, ne of a kind piece of furniture from The Knotty Woodworker. Before you spend your hard earned money on less than desirable furnishings, just call and talk to me. You will be amazed. Really. 303-246-4766

Thanks for visiting

2011-03-12T07:34:00.000-08:00
Thank you for dropping by my blog. Whether you are here by accident or if you were directed here by a friend or by one of my advertisements, I am glad to have you. If you click through the "blog archive" on the right, you can see various articles I have written about handmade furniture, my building methods and stories about previous pieces I have created. You will soon discover that what I offer is Knot your average furniture. Please do take a moment and look around. Drop me an email and introduce yourself. Perhaps you need some furniture and this time you wish to spend your money more wisely than buying what is available in the stores. It's good for you, and it's good for me. Have a great day and again thanks for stopping by!

Open Shop

2011-01-13T06:34:00.001-08:00
I do suppose that it will take months settle in to the new shop. There is always a need for shelves, storage, cleaning, organizing, etc. The shop is functional, even if it could be more efficient in time. I do still have some items in boxes and somethings have left me with no clue as to where their new home in the new shop will be. But I am up and running and I am very glad and thankful for it.
If anyone would like to drop by and say hello and see the new set-up, just call me and come on by. I would be glad to meet you and show you around the shop! 303.246.4766

A new shop

2010-11-22T07:35:00.000-08:00
The Knotty Woodworker is pleased to announce that I have found a new shop to build furniture in. My last shop was 1800 sq. ft. but the layout was not conducive for efficient work flow. Half of the building was the actual shop due to a dividing wall. The other half was split as 1/3 office and 2/3 storage as the floor was badly sloped to the center to accommodate the business that the shop was originally built for in the early 80's.
The new shop is one room, 1500 sq. ft., with 20 foot ceilings, a very level floor, and an 800 sq. ft. mezzanine. As well, I have a 14 ft. overhead door.

I cannot tell you how excited I am! The new shop is located in Loveland, CO. This is great for me personally as I am much closer to my family, but it is also a good thing because of where I get most of my Beetle Kill Pine. I do expect to increase production, lower production costs and just operate more efficiently in general at this new location.

I will be moving in beginning on the first of December. This is no easy task with woodworking machinery, but I am anxious to get moving on it. After setting up machines, building new work tables and running 3 new electrical circuits, I plan to cut the first board mid-December. I have a small bathroom vanity and counter top to build and then I should have some sort of grand opening get together in January. If you are considering a handmade piece of furniture from The Knotty Woodworker, there has never been a better time to place that order!

303.246.4766

Pandemic Provenance

2009-11-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-07T21:07:00.000-07:00
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

2009-09-28T09:44:00.000-07:00
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

2009-09-15T20:02:00.000-07:00
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

2009-09-10T02:41:00.000-07:00
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

2009-08-26T23:21:00.000-07:00
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

2009-08-16T12:02:00.000-07:00
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?

Quality Drawers

2009-08-03T10:07:00.000-07:00
Many consumers purchase furniture not just for how it looks, but because they need functionality. One of the best storage components available are drawers. You can access your belongings more easily that if it is just a compartment with a door.
But doesn't it really drive you crazy when a drawer no longer functions properly? In most cases, inoperable drawers are due to low quality guide systems and probably the next poor quality factor is when the drawer box itself breaks apart.The next common quality deficiency rears its head when the drawer front falls off of the drawer box. When you spend hard earned money to purchase furniture, the functionality of each piece should NEVER be an issue.
The Knotty Woodworker has very high personal standards for what I will create, market and sell. One of the ares I will not cut corners in is my drawer system. I use the best hardware and the best drawers available. Yes, it is more costly, but the fact of life is this; "The sting of poor quality lasts much longer than the joy received from a low price."
I don't require high quality drawer glides to put money in my pocket. I do so because, as my client, you DESERVE to have drawers that will operate like brand new 25 years from now.
Blum is a company that makes all types of cabinetry hardware and they are of the highest quality available. My drawer glides are made my Blum, they are called Blumotion. These under mount slides are not visible when the drawer is open. All you see is my drawer box.

These glides have a self-retracting mechanism that works much like a shock absorber. When the drawer is almost closed, the gas cylinder is fully extended. The pressure created on the cylinder when the drawer reaches this point causes the cylinder to slowly retract, softly closing the drawer. Not only is this a luxurious feature, but it prevents drawers from being slammed shut which prevents the drawer front from becoming loose or worse, as well as it keeps the shock from the slam from weakening the drawer box joints them selves.

Any piece of heirloom quality furniture with drawers that you design with The Knotty Woodworker will feature the Blumotion by Blum drawer glide system. I would much rather apologize for a slightly higher price than to apologize for poor quality.
When it comes to drawer boxes themselves, I offer two choices. The first is dovetailed drawers made from Beechwood. These are the best that money can buy. I fully guarantee my drawer boxes and my drawer glides for five full years, and the glides have a lifetime warranty by Blum. Think about it, a brand new house carries a one year warranty!

The other option are drawers made from solid wood in the same species of wood as your furniture. These are handmade and carry the same warranty. It is very painful to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of manufactured furniture and have it malfunction after a short period of time. That is why handmade furniture from the Knotty Woodworker is your best value. Spending money with me today spends your money into the future. What I build today will be be enjoyed by your grand kids. And the price difference between my quality and the factory made pieces from a store is not all that big. Seriously, just ask for a quote!

The Knotty Foreman

2009-07-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Just wanted everyone to have a peek at my shop foreman. His name is Bunky Bear and he keeps things moving in The Knotty Workshop

The Colors of Santa Fe - it's IN the wood!

2009-06-16T11:40:00.001-07:00

The furniture I will be selling on the Santa Fe market will be made from a very unique wood. It is common in its species, but very unique in appearance. The trees were injected with a dye prior to harvesting. The result is a very unique colored wood. In the Santa Fe market, finishers expend an incredible amount of time to reach a desired effect that is vibrant and rich in color. A combination of the different colors can be used to achieve the very special look that will set your unique furniture apart from others and boldy proclaim "Santa Fe."

With this unique wood that I have exclusive access to, I can build furniture with the same effect except the color is literally in the wood. Since no piece of wood is the same, the color distribution in this unique wood is erratic and never repeating itself. It comes in a variety of colors and I can create any type of furniture you need. Call me at 303.246.4766 or email bruce@theknottywoodworker.net to discuss your very unique Santa Fe flavored furniture.

Why handmade furniture?

2009-06-15T12:00:00.000-07:00
This is a hard question to answer without sounding like a salesman. And, I am, in fact a salesman, also. But, primarily, I am a woodworker, and a knotty one at that. There are many reasons to choose custom, heirloom quality, handmade furniture over "store bought" furniture. And the reason one person chooses to do so may be totally different than another persons reason to buy handmade quality. At the end of the day, however, we have to live within our budget and sometimes this excludes some people from being able to buy a particular item.

The first and foremost advantage to buying furniture from a maker like myself is quality. As with any product, there are quality brands, and there are economy brands. When an item is produced primarily by computerized machines, the propensity for a below standard piece to enter the market is a lot higher.Quality Control is exercised by choosing a sample from several like products in a lot.That one piece may reach company standards. but 3 before it and 1 after it does not. It is not until much further down the road that the weakness is discovered, often times, after it is in the possession of the consumer for some time.
With handmade furniture, at least by The Knotty Woodworker, anyway, inferior aspects are noticed at the time it takes places and corrected right then; a bad joint, a weak board, out of squareness, etc.
This greatly increases the guaranteed quality of your furniture. I will concede that sometimes a flaw may go unnoticed, but the better than average guaranty I offer protects my clients far better than any chain manufacturer's warranty.
Simply put, every aspect of your furniture is deliberated by a critical thinking craftsmen whose name and reputations rides solely on the quality you receive. A satisfied customer may tell a couple of people they know about their experience. A dissatisfied customer will tell EVERYONE they know about their experience. There is no benefit to The Knotty Woodworker for the integrity of each piece I make to be compromised in any way. This is what makes my furniture "heirloom quality." It will be around for your great grand kids to enjoy. Have you ever been frustrated when a dresser drawer fails to operate due to poor quality glide systems? A handmade piece of furniture will offer you more than a lifetime of use.

Probably the next best cited reason that satisfied clients continue to choose handmade furniture over mass produced pieces is dimensions and finish. A custom maker only builds one piece at a time and if you want a desk 32" in height as opposed to the industry standard of 30", it is not an issue. Whereas a mass producer has to alter the flow of production, your specifications dictate the production. For this reason, most customers of handmade furniture are homeowners. There is no worry involved wondering if it will fit in your next apartment. However, a designer that his worth his salt will help the client to consider future needs in regards to the piece being created today. Custom made furniture is tailored to your needs and desires, truly an Expression of yourself.
Along the lines of individual dimensioning, is the ability to have a piece stained and finished to coincide with the overall theme of your home's other woodwork. A mass producer may offer as many as 5 or 6 stains for the same piece. The Knotty Woodworker offers you any stain you wish. With this, you can buy a secondary piece years later and have it match in color and style to previous purchases. The big plants often discontinue a style or stain after a period of time. If you decide two years later that you are ready to purchase bedside tables that match your dresser, you may become very dismayed when revisiting the chain furniture store that sold you the dresser. With this aspect of handmade furniture, you can buy one or just a few pieces at a time to complete the motif of your home.

Yet another advantage to handmade furniture is the uniqueness of your piece. After you and The Knotty Woodworker design your Expression, it will most likely be, and remain, a one-of-a-kind heirloom. This is always the case in my commissioned pieces. I never replicate a custom order. In my freelance ventures, however, the pieces I make that are placed in stores for purchase, I may very well make two or three of the same design. Even at that, however, the uniqueness is very rare. Commercial shops build thousands of the same style and size.Since I am, in effect, building the antiques of tomorrow, this very fact will greatly appreciate the value of your furniture.

Probably the main two reasons that people do not buy handmade furniture are time and expense. We live in a microwave world. Fried chicken? No problem. KFC offers it within 4 minutes of walking through their door. To have it at home, it takes an hour and leaves a mess to contend with. This transfers to our purchasing practices when buying furniture. We can go to a national department store for cheap and fast furniture. If your TV goes out and you have to buy one immediately to catch Sunday's game, you can buy an entertainment center at the same time. Microwave mentality, the give it to me now attitude, definitely causes people to buy manufactured furniture as opposed to handmade. A simple sofa table will take me four days to build and that doesn't account for scheduling. If I have 3 orders ahead of you, that very table can be weeks out.
And then, of course, there is cost. I will not mislead you. Anything I make will cost you more than what you can find in the plethora of stores vying for your business. Although, they are two entirely different products, what I make is initially more expensive. Almost always it is 150% of the cost of machine made items. Sometimes even more.
However, in light of the facts above; quality, size, finish, uniqueness, etc., you are getting far more bang per buck than you are when you purchase run of the factory pieces. A simple thought for you to ponder; How many entertainment centers have you bought? Total up the costs and compare that to one from myself. One from myself that meets your size specifications, functionality ( a drawer exactly where you want it), your stain preference, and the fact that no one has the same piece of furniture, and it is easy to see why you should buy handmade furniture from The Knotty Woodworker.

The lessons put forth above, as I predicted, make me sound like a salesman. And, as I admitted, I have to be a salesman in addition to a furniture maker. Unfortunately, when people realize that the points above are true, it is after they have already spent as much on multiple pieces of the same item as they could have spent for one Expression in Wood by The Knotty Woodworker.

Give me a call and lets discuss your needs, tastes, and budget. You will be amazed at just how affordable my work really is when you view the whole picture. 303.246.4766

Going Blue

2009-06-12T10:38:00.000-07:00
The "green" movement is upon us. Whether you buy into the theory of Global Warming or not, I would recommend to any constituent of the Earth to behave in a responsible manner in regards to the bounties that are supplied to us by the Earth. Responsible stewardship is commendable whether or not we are destroying the Earth. I find no fault in anyone attempting to preserve our natural resources, regardless of their motivation or beliefs.
The Knotty Woodworker, being responsible for his use of natural resources, is going "Blue." I am glad you are asking what that means. I will explain it. A trip across Colorado will reveal thousands upon thousands of acres of brown evergreen trees. How can an evergreen be brown, you ask. The Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) is the culprit. It is not a new creature, although it is seeing its heyday right now. The lodge-pole pine trees have been victimized by this critter for ages. Right now, however, its infestation is at pandemic levels. Thousands of acres of our forests are giving up trees to the effects of this insect's activities. The MPB burrows through the bark of a tree and ingests the bark and wood. As it excretes it's food, a fungus starts and thrives in the tree until the tree dies. The result of the fungus is a discoloration, a stain, of blue color embedded in the wood. This kills the tree and then the MPB moves on to another tree until that tree is dead. And then another, then another.

There is much debate as to why the infestation level is so high. Some say a few successive years of warmer than usual winters. Other theories include lower than usual number of wildfires. Regardless of the reason, the result is that acres upon acres of standing evergreens that are now "ever-browns." The impact of the MPB is leaving it's mark in mountainsides with a dead brown canopy of trees. The standing dead trees need to be harvested and used for whatever purpose possible.
To be responsible, we need to take advantage of this influx of lumber rather than let it stand until so weak it falls, and allow it to lay there until it fully decomposes.
The Knotty Woodworker is using this abundant lumber to create heirloom quality furniture. This is the only responsible way I can see to get through this pandemic. The impact on the environment has taken place. All I can do is minimize the impact by utilizing the wood.

So, this is how The Knotty Woodworker is going "green." I am actually going "blue." And rather than spraying the furniture with a solvent based finish such as lacquer or polyurethane, I am going a green step further by applying an all natural, 100% vegetable oil finish. What? Am I using Wesson oil? No, no, and NO!
The finish I am referring to is an oriental practice that goes back over three millenia. Tung Oil. The Chinese have applied tung oil to their woodworking projects for centuries. Tung oil is rendered from the nut of the tung tree. It penetrates the wood as opposed to varnishes and shellacs that sit in top of the wood surface as a sealer and beautifier. Tung oil offers a finish that is impervious to moisture, beautifies the wood and protects it from deterioration, which is the reason lacquer and other solvent based finishes are used.
It takes an incredible amount of time for the tung oil to dry. This is sped up by other tung oil products by mixing it with mineral driers that contain solvent based driers.
The tung oil employed by The Knotty Woodworker is unique in that it contains no mineral driers. It has a drier to speed up the drying process that is all natural itself; 100% Orange Oil (d-Limonene). This provides an all natural, low toxicity finish. As a woodworker, I can't get any "greener" than this. The finished protect is protected and beautified in the most natural way. Here is a raw wood sample and the same piece after application of the 100% organic finish.

Here is a piece of fiddle-back maple in it's natural state.

After the application of all natural tung oil. Another positive of this finish is that it emits an incredible citrus smell that lingers in the wood. A far cry better than the chemical odor of traditional solvent based finishes. Very pleasant.

The Knotty Woodworker can provide you beautiful, heirloom quality furniture with no adverse effect on our environment. Contact me and let's "Go Blue."

Santa Fe

2009-06-07T22:05:00.001-07:00

I am now offering my furniture in Santa Fe. I am going to making a few pieces this month to take down and get going. It is all part of the new direction of Expressions in Wood. First, we have registered the trade name of The Knotty Woodworker. With this comes all of the new immenities - cards, mailers and a branding iron to brand our furniture. We have a few different ideas for Santa Fe and will be sharing them soon. We are very excited and look forward to the future.