HA! Thanks, Mark.

Ben’s pic above is almost exactly the solution I’m looking for.

I’m thinking if I do both ends of the rail, even if they don’t match the rail itself, may not look to bad. Every once in a while Craig’s List has salvaged stair parts like spindles, newel posts or whatever. I’ll figure something out.

Whatever I do will be an improvement, I’m tired of looking at it the way it is.

What started as this scaled sketch - which did not include the dentil crown molding for the top:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400100.jpg

Resulted in this. During construction, I realized I need 4 cabinet doors rather than my initial design calling for 3.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400141.jpg

A few pics of the in-progress work.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400191.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400191.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400191.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400191.jpg

And a few close ups.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400298.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400298.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400298.jpg

About 7 years ago - I converted the existing marble fireplace mantel and hearth. The den ceiling is at 18ft so the existing mantle was much under-sized and made no statement overall to room appearance.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400639.JPG

To this. The entertainment center design above was based on this same styling. The mantle wall is to the right of the entertainment center. The demo included replacing the travertine tile with the black marble.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659400639.JPG

Looks great! Do you order your doors Bob? I use Decorative Specialties. Not worth my time to make cabinet doors

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659401556.jpg
My outdoor mountain kitchen is coming along. 12v fridge and light hooked up to the solar system, works great. Makes ice in 3 hours. Next up the sink and counters

Was that question for me? I have ordered MDF doors for some projects in the past - but the entertainment center doors I built from scratch.

Very good stuff, Mark! Looks great!

Nice! Looks like it's going to be a great place to cook and relax.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659448224.jpg
Thanks, it is but I don't relax well. I'm always moving. And if I'm not moving, I'm planning my next move. It seems odd and magical to me to have flip on lights after 40 years of lighting gas lights.

Japanese carpentry especially when used for buildings is amazing. It's crazy that they cut/prep all of the wood for the build, and then move it onsite and assemble the frame an a day or two using the precut/prepped wood/joints.

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I think this is the same home as the one above.
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My understanding is that with a lot of the old Japanese temples, because they are made with joinery that can be disassembled, that they periodically disassemble and reassemble the shrines to repair them. In at least one particular case, they rebuild a Shinto shrine every 20 years, and have been since the 7th century. But I don't believe that's the norm, it's more specific to one shrine or maybe Shinto shrines.

Damn! Granted, it's "quick dovetail" (in what looks like pine) not "perfect dovetail" (in a hard wood), but still.

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And this is very cool!

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Frank is a master. I've attended several of this workshops and he demo'd the above joint at one. He can certainly cut dovetails!

I'm guessing he's done it 3-4 times.

And the way that one frame same flipped from vertical to horizontal was crazy.

Wow. video starts at 5:26. The guy is performing "kikubari" which is where you look at the characteristics of a bunch of wood and use those characteristics to determine where to use a particular piece of wood and in what orientation to build the strongest, most aesthetically pleasing home. Curvature of the wood is taken into account as it impacts strength. It's cedar, so they use the redder wood for the foundation or where there will be more water. If the wood will be exposed (visible to the owners/occupants) then they try to use wood with no knots.

This video (actually several in a series) is a 'final exam' for a carpentry school. They are using traditional methods to build 2 homes that will be connected. The wood was obtained, milled, dried in the same prefecture.

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most of you probably won't be as fascinated as I am, but in case you are

they range between 6 and 11 mins long each.
part 1 https://youtu.be/29ejilBbxyA
pt 2 https://youtu.be/so9LhkmrCkw
pt 3 https://youtu.be/m1qTomSVfX8
pt 4 https://youtu.be/7kN6Qvtgq0o
pt 5 https://youtu.be/dJwBsJQbgKo

They are using ishibadate style for the foundation. Maybe a little similar to pier and beam, they place stones (natural stones) on the ground. Then they have vertical beams sit on end on the stones. They then carve the bottom of the beam to match the shape of the surface of the stone. I saw a video somewhere that said that they'll use a chalk or ink to mark where there are high spots until the beam and stone fit together very, very closely.

https://www.woodweb.com/galleries/sa...badate____.jpg

Color me green.

I thought these were interesting.

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHP42llBVyk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm holding new inlay I made next to the vertical piece I installed on this cellarette, or mid 1800's wine box for the parlor. It's English in the Georgian style.

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...0w&oe=64CF588F

Top is new, bottom is sectioned and all around the thing 1/3 of the inlay was missing or damaged. Birch with ebony center. 1/4" wide by 3/32nds thick So the ebony was 1/8th and the birch 1/16th ea. glue is up in a 2" wide sandwich and saw off the 3/32" one by one each time a making a pass over a planer for a smooth outside surface.

Fantastic work as always!

Please forgive the hijack but this thread is well timed. I need a new tri-square and everybody says theirs s the best. So, Starrett? Johnson? reco's please?

I got nothing assuming you're talking about something like the photo below. I like the vintage stuff. But not a hijack at all. I want this thread to be about anything woodworking or carpentry related.

https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/imag...uct/t74358.jpg