Featured Project - BC Cabinets Finished

Here are a few pics of the cabinets. I'm very happy with the way they turned out.

The whole group.

The individual pieces.

A pair of upper cabinets.

A space for a microwave with a set of small doors below.

The "Wisp" in these cabinets is found in this center cabinet. The board above the doors was selected for its pair of catherdral patterns that originate on each end and meet in the center with just a wisp of a connection.

The contrast of the carefully selected rift sawn door frames to the plain sawn panels, most dramatically demonstrated on the above set of doors, really makes me smile. This is a concept that mass producers mess up on all the time. Their grain matching within the panel and with the door frames is often simply awful. The grain is what your eye follows, and I hope that these cabinets are pleasing to the eye.

A big thank you goes out to the customer, for pushing Wisp Woods to a new level, and to Mrs. Wisp Woods for the loads and loads of support she showed during the construction.

Enjoy!

And look closely, please.

David J. Ulschmid
Designer / Craftsman
~ Wisp Woods ~
Arlington, SD 57212

wispwoods@gmail.com

Shop Talk - Cabinet Parts

Red Oak is a fabulous wood. Amazingly strong with grain ranging from simple and straight to dynamic arching. One of the great advantages to Oak is that Oak plywood is readily available. Below is a shot of the side pieces for the cabinets I am currently building. Most are Oak, but some are Birch. All the visible side pieces will be oak, but for the hidden interior pieces, we decided to go with Birch to save some money.

Here is a picture of some face frames pieces prior to glue-up. The chalk markings on them are called "Cabinet Maker's Triangles". These keep the pieces organized and properly oriented during the milling and joinery stages.

This has been my first project using loose tenons. I built my own horizontal mortising machine (more on that below) to make the matching mortises. This has been working great. It is so much fun to learn new methods of joinery, and I know I will be using this a lot in the future.

Here is the machine. The router is a Craftsman model and is the exact same one that is in my big router table. The lower table moves toward the router on ball bearing drawer slides. These have plenty of travel, and are smooth and secure. The upper table moves left and right on aluminum track riding in grooves cut in the bottom. These are tight fitting but slide nicely when waxed.

Enjoy!

And look closely, please.

David J. Ulschmid
Designer / Craftsman
~ Wisp Woods ~
Arlington, SD 57212

wispwoods@gmail.com

Shop Talk - Rough Milling

The first tool I pick up when starting a new project doesn't have a cord or a motor. It is the dullest tool, yet it never needs sharpening. And I bought it in the children's isle of a craft store. What is it? It is a piece of chalk.

With all the lumber laid out and grouped by color and figure, I begin the enjoyable task of marking out the parts. Guided by the cut list, I search for pleasing part combinations that make the best use of the wood in an aesthetic, efficient and structurally sound way.

This step, performed with the humble stick of chalk, has tremendous bearing on the appearance of the final product. It requires vision and is a skill that is improved upon with experience and thoughtfulness.

I am proud to say that this step is what sets my work apart from the mass produced home center and discount store offerings. Those who look at the finished product closely will notice immediately. Those who don't have a trained eye will be bugged by something in that value piece that just isn't quite right. When it is done right, it feels just so harmonious that, again, you might not notice right away, but it will feel right from the very beginning.

This stack of lumber is the beginning of something great. I can feel it!

Enjoy!

Don't look too closely, the shop is a mess ;).

David J. Ulschmid
Designer / Craftsman
~ Wisp Woods ~
Arlington, SD 57212

wispwoods@gmail.com

Ben’s Open Cabinet

Find a need, and fill it!

Kitchens are busy places these days. Trying to maximize storage and functionality in the limited amount of available space can make it feel like the walls are closing in on you. The answer for many homeowners is to rearrange.

But what happens when you put a dishwasher where a fridge used to be? A unique opportunity arises to expand and customize your storage options.

Now is the time to reach out to a custom woodworker to create a design that solves your problems and makes you life just a bit easier.

The first problem to solve is, “What would we like the new space to do?”. In this case, a location for those clumsy cookie sheets, pizza pans, and other large thin kitchen items was the most pressing need.

Next, “How will we be able to match the current cabinetry?”. For this, you really can’t beat custom work from a small shop. Asking a large shop to produce to your specifications would be like pulling wisdom teeth sized nuggets of gold from your wallet. And would be as much fun as a root canal.

Small shops like Wisp Woods also take the time to build the right way. Construction details that make this a solid unit include:

Stub Tenon Joints: The face frames are jointed with time honored Mortise and Tenon construction, which means the joints will not loosen due to seasonal changes in humidity, as a screwed joint would.

Dado Jointed and Pinned Shelves: All three shelves (top, divider, and floor) are fully dadoed into the sided, and pinned with nails. This construction detail can be found on many examples of classic cabinetry.

Solid Back Rabbeted into Sides: The cabinet becomes much stronger when the a solid multi-core ply back is rabbeted into the sides. It not only keeps the unit square, but also provides a sturdy attachment method for screwing the cabinet to the wall.

Although this was a quick build, I am very proud of the results. I thank my friends for requesting this piece to be built. It has given me a chance to promote and advance Wisp Woods in the marketplace. I just know that it will provide years of extremely useful service in their home.

David J. Ulschmid

~Wisp Woods~

Arlington, SD 572121

email ~ wispwoods@gmail.com

Featured Project - Latest Piece

Bob's Cabinet

Pine and Brass Hardware

If you will allow me, I would like to start by paraphrasing a quote from James Krenov out of his book A Cabinetmakers Notebook - A person who works this way will say “Look”, but he is more likely to add, “Closely please”.

Closeup of figured pine in side panels

It is my hope that, for people who view this, my latest cabinet, it will be easy, to appreciate the beauty in its simplistic design. I will say that with Pine, it is not easy to draw attention to design details. The gentle transitions of color within the grain patterns are easy for the eye to lose track of, and any embellishment would further distract from the intended experience. I also hope that you will agree with the subtle design decisions. The countless design decisions made along this cabinet’s path to completion do not arise in the mass production furniture world, and the consequences that result from their absence speak their own language. A language comprised not of words or symbols, but of sensitivities.

Raised Panel and Knob detail

Just as it is difficult to completely appreciate a musical score to which the lyrics are in a foreign language, it is extremely difficult to appreciate certain details of wooden objects when the work is done in a different language. From one piece to the next, so many of the same elements can be similar, such as similar proportions and/or functionality, but the results can be starkly different on a deeper level. To make the correct design decisions, you must be fluent in the language. This goes beyond the ability to read or write or speak in that language, scribing lifeless symbols and muttering away, to the deeper meaning of the message that is conveyed through the tone and emphasis with which the message is delivered. Therefore in order for authors and poets, and it this case, craftsmen, to convey their message accurately across these barriers, they must break the message down to into a form that is easily understood. That’s what I wish this cabinet to represent, a simple expression of complex concepts to be appreciated by all. It is easy to appreciate the beauty because of the harmony with which the elements interact.

Side view of Half-Blind Dovetailed drawer

Most people who have seen the work of James Krenov would see not similarities between his work and this cabinet. The most important thing, for him and for I, is not that the results bring the same level of joy, but the “doing” and the “method” and the “logic” should reflect the sensitivities of the craftsman. The work produced should be consistent with the individual doing the work. No compromises, be consistent. This is what lies deep within my heart and it is my goal to convey that through Wisp Woods. I understand that not all will agree, and projects could be produced faster by other methods, by making compromises, small at first and growing as they affect other decisions further down the road, but I need not the approval of all, only the inner satisfaction of a job done well, consistently guided by what lies within and what is uncovered when working one Wisp of Wood at a time.

Enjoy!

And look closely, please.

David J. Ulschmid
Designer / Craftsman
~ Wisp Woods ~
Arlington, SD 57212

wispwoods@gmail.com

The happy craftsman!

Featured Project - Bathroom Vanity

Take a trip with me, back in time. A time before our beautiful baby daughter was born. Before I really knew how much work this old house we moved into would be. And most frightening of all, when I worked out of a single stall garage!

We were just an excited young couple, looking to start a family, and the stars aligned in what we thought was a rather fortuitous constellation. We would be buying a house from my Father-In-Law which would allow us to live cheaper and begin this new chapter in our life. We knew the house was going to take a lot of work, and we started by gutting the basement and starting over.

Being the aspiring woodworker that I was (and still am) I volunteered to build the bathroom vanity. My desire to do so was bolstered by many a disappointing trip to the local home centers. While there for other supplies, we would stroll over the the vanities on display.

"I would never build something this way.", "That is so cheap.", "Do you know what happens when this stuff gets even a little wet?". These and other more colorful musings echoes through the isles as I inspected what they had to offer.

One good thing came from all this frustration, I got to know what styles of vanities my wife liked. Like an international spy working behind enemy lines, I discretely snapped some pics with my cellphone camera, and ran back to the drawing board (aka ACAD) and whipped up a few design options. A bit of sawdust, and a pile of wood wisps later, this is the result.



I have more detailed pictures at left.

Thanks for looking and Enjoy,

David J. Ulschmid
~ Wisp Woods ~