Century Design Workshop

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A little planning in advance. Knowing that these panels would be finished before assembly, I needed to know that I can p...
09/26/2025

A little planning in advance. Knowing that these panels would be finished before assembly, I needed to know that I can plane and sand the frame without damaging the panel finish. I set them below the surface by about 1/32” so that I can plane the joints flush. Planing them flush in this case is safer than sanding because sandpaper has some give as opposed to a hard flat surface of a plane. However, planing can lead to tear out. As you could see on the second photo of the edge, the grain sometimes isn’t perfectly parallel to the surface, if you plane “downhill” it will tear. Since the edges aren’t visible on the rails in the middle of the door, I need to determine which direction to plane by looking at the surface. In the third photo I highlighted one of the pores, shaped sort of like a teardrop. If you plane towards the teardrop’s tail it probably won’t tear.

Here’s how I keep floating panels centered so that the gap around the perimeter remains even— 1/4” dowels that pin the ...
09/26/2025

Here’s how I keep floating panels centered so that the gap around the perimeter remains even— 1/4” dowels that pin the centers of the top and bottom in place so that the panel can expand and contract while staying aligned. The dowels are made from off-cuts using a plug cutter.

Now that the panels are stained and oiled, the doors are ready to assemble. I’m using hide glue because this is a somewh...
09/24/2025

Now that the panels are stained and oiled, the doors are ready to assemble. I’m using hide glue because this is a somewhat complex assembly being that there are 10 joints and 4 panels that need to be slipped into place. The advantage of hide glue is that should I make a mistake during assembly or if the doors need to be repaired at some point in the future, sufficient heat and moisture could soften the glue and give some hope of disassembling it without destroying the joints. When reassembling, you could use hide glue once again and it will bond, as opposed to PVA glue which doesn’t adhere well to already cured PVA glue.

In frame and panel doors, the panels will shrink when the air is dry and expand when it’s humid if they’re made out of s...
09/22/2025

In frame and panel doors, the panels will shrink when the air is dry and expand when it’s humid if they’re made out of solid wood. This is why I’m staining and finishing them before assembling the doors, I don’t want an unfinished portion to be revealed every winter. The interior edges of the stiles and rails also get finished beforehand to avoid damaging the finish on the panels later.

Here are a couple panels of quarter sawn white oak being glued together for a pair of closet doors I’m making. The stile...
09/18/2025

Here are a couple panels of quarter sawn white oak being glued together for a pair of closet doors I’m making. The stiles and rails are “dry fitted” so that I can test the fit the mortise and tenons and so that I can measure the openings for the panels. I’m using story sticks to take my measurements of the height and width because it reduces the chance of error that occurs when using a tape measures and rulers.

The first few steps of many of our projects can be summarized with these photos but as the project progresses it begins ...
08/13/2025

The first few steps of many of our projects can be summarized with these photos but as the project progresses it begins to take on its unique characteristics. What will become closet doors starts off with selecting material, ripping it roughly to width, jointing one side flat, and planing to thickness. By cutting parts slightly larger than the final dimensions, most of the movement from forces held in tension within the larger boards will be revealed. When they are then milled and cut to the final sizes they’ll remain as flat and true as possible.

A few early morning scenes captured by at the golden hour in our woodshop. These are lamp bases that had been recently ...
08/12/2025

A few early morning scenes captured by at the golden hour in our woodshop. These are lamp bases that had been recently oiled and made for . Next is a dry run (no glue, just a test) of a bent lamination that was eventually glued up and shaped into a curved octagonal bar, also for , and part of a ceramic and h**p rope tapestry made to fit on a curved wall.

Gilbert Avenue in the rain, with and , photographed by our friend who got caught in the storm while training for 🐖!!...
04/30/2025

Gilbert Avenue in the rain, with and , photographed by our friend who got caught in the storm while training for 🐖!!

Today in the woodshop I was working on an order of turned wall mounts in white oak designed by and produced for . This ...
04/16/2025

Today in the woodshop I was working on an order of turned wall mounts in white oak designed by and produced for . This batch was made from reclaimed white oak which you can see on the bottom left of the first photo in before I had milled it. I mill the rough lumber on all four sides and cut them to length so that I can route the back side to accept the hardware that is used to hang them on the wall. The slotted hole also serves as a way to mount it to the lathe as seen in the second photo. I use a reference piece to space out my calipers in key locations for consistency and then “connect the dots” making sure to keep a concave profile. While they’re fun to make and I find them on their own to be pleasing objects, the real beauty lies in Michele’s work as a whole which I highly recommend checking out. Photos by

Join us tonight from 4 pm - 7:30 pm for the closing reception of .ford ‘s “The Roads Most Traveled” in our gallery. Amb...
11/01/2024

Join us tonight from 4 pm - 7:30 pm for the closing reception of .ford ‘s “The Roads Most Traveled” in our gallery. Amber will be in conversation with CEO and photographer Allen Woods for a 6:30 pm artist talk. We’d love to see you!

Our doors are open today, 12 - 5 for .ford ‘s exhibition, “The Roads Most Traveled”. We would love to introduce you to...
10/05/2024

Our doors are open today, 12 - 5 for .ford ‘s exhibition, “The Roads Most Traveled”. We would love to introduce you to her work!

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2449 Gilbert Avenue
Cincinnati, OH
45206

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+15133766183

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