The Significance of Locker #859
Repurposed furniture: A customer came to me with a well-worn locker door. It has seen many decades of use in a high school and sported dents, dings and a little heart drawn inside with black marker. In front of this door he’d met the woman who would many years later become his wife. So, when he heard the old high school was going to be torn down he asked if he could have the locker door. He was...
Snowy day in the workshop
Always great to be in the workshop while having snowy days outside!
Quilted Cherry Music Stand Desk
I'm always looking for spectacular pieces of wood and I think this quilted cherry qualifies. I found it a few years ago and have used a bit of it. The photo doesn't quite capture the figure's brilliance. This book-matched cherry desk, with f-holes shows off the stunning, swirling grain of this piece of lumber. I've hand-rubbed two coats of finish into it and it'll need a few more. I'm working on...
Five Cherry Music Stands
Five cherry music stands atop the workbench just before they left the shop for service with Arpeggione Ensemble. The stands were customized to the chamber group's specifications. Each stand has a wider desk than normal to accommodate the scores the group uses. The pedestal pole has a simplified, Shaker look. Arpeggione Ensemble performs with historically correct instruments and works to...
Happy Birthday Buzz, Shop Dog
Wish Buzz, the shop dog, a happy first birthday! Buzz was born July 6, 2020. Given the proximity to the 4th, Marcie who runs Sunset Hill Labrador Retrievers in Hannacroix, NY, gave him the temporary name of "Independence." An English Labrador retriever, Buzz has been a joy from the day we got him about 10 months ago. Buzz is a very good boy — he’s well tempered and leaves the wood alone in the...
Walnut Baptism Stand
Amid all the dark news in the age of COVID, it was great to hear that my recently completed walnut baptism stand was used in its first baptism at the Main Street Congregational Church in Amesbury, Mass. I’m hoping 2021 brings more joyful occasions and fewer sad ones. I designed the stand to harmonize with a communion table that the church had commissioned a few years ago. Roger Cramer, an...
Judging a Music Stand’s Personality
I make music stands one at a time. While I’ve worked out the general dimensions and the like over the years, each music stand develops its own personality as it is made. Certainly, that personality is influenced by choices in wood. But more important still are the choices made as wood is shaped out of rough timber. If the choices go well, the result is an aesthetically pleasing form with nice...
Cabinet made to match a desk
This file cabinet was designed to match a Newburyport customer's existing desk. It has heavy duty drawer slides and is painted black with cherry top.
White Oak Dining Benches
A customer's son had made a table for his brother's wedding and asked me to make two, white oak benches to match. Here they are in the shop before going to South Carolina.
Desk unit with inlaid chess table
Robb Stewart of Melrose, MA sits at his newly installed home office desk, complete with inlaid chessboard. Robb knows chess. He plays in tournaments, teaches school children and is a Director of the Massachusetts Chess Association. He asked that the board be sized to his Staunton-style chess set. He also wanted a bookcase, two-drawer file cabinet, wire chases for computer and phone wires and a...
Reclaimed Hardwood
Reclaimed, antique lumber is a wonderful thing -- tight grain, amazing color and rich character. One great source of such treasures is Bingham Lumber, in Brookline, NH. Tom Bingham, third-generation owner of the mill, spent hours with members of the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers Saturday, describing how the company finds, treats and reconditions beams, barn boards and other old wood for...
Memphis musician on his Tiger Maple and Ebony Music Stand
It's always a pleasure to hear from those using my creations. I received this letter following delivery of a music stand that had been shown at the 2014 Sunapee Craft Fair in August: Dear Mr. Moore, The music stand arrived in perfect condition this past week and is beautiful -- lovely curves, trim, smoothness, and overall finish and craftsmanship. A piece of art. I am a professional flutist,...
O’Doherty Moore in Merrimack Valley Magazine
Merrimack Valley Magazine’s Home Edition features our custom shoe bench. The bench has touch-to-open doors with two shelves inside