With the doors assembled they needed a place to hang and I found just the piece to build in my copy of Antique Country Furniture of North America and Details of Its Construction, The Pennsylvania German Hanging Cupboard.

In addition to sharing some of my work on WoodDance.com and hosting an archive of tools on ToolboxBlog.com, last year I created a website dedicated to projects from reclaimed and recycled materials, ReclaimedRecycled.com.

I start a recycled wood project with rough boards that I’ve stacked on shelves over the decades. In the photograph is 5/4 mahogany from a Frank Lloyd Wright original home. I begin by extracting nails and other embedded metal, then thickness plane the old finish off. These mahogany pieces are 50 years old and have several layers of varying finish. Some chestnut I recycled from a 1600′s home was covered in urea-formaldehyde foam insulation.

With my parts list roughed out from the reclaimed wood, I begin to build a place to hang these raised-panel doors I started 10 years ago. There is no more appealing a project than one involving such beautiful and easy to work materials as this recycled FLW mahogany. Reclaimed wood has a bounty of marks telling it’s age and imparting it’s history.

The Pennsylvania German Hanging Cupboard required doors almost the exact dimension as the ones I built and styled the same; beveled panels with flat rails and stiles, my personal favorite. I finished the mahogany with Amber Shellac. Still missing replica hinges, turned knobs and the latches on order, I hung the cabinet in my kitchen.

From the same Reclaimed and Recycled wood, I cut a matching shelf with some custom corbels of similar design. The glowing brilliance of this recycled-mahogany cupboard accents a board that my great-grandmother painted with sunflowers over 100 years ago.

Giving new purpose to such significant reclaimed wood in creating this replica of early American antique has been deeply satisfying. The piece is exquisite albeit simple and un-Wright.

Check out a few other recycled wood projects at ReclaimedRecycled.com.

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Inspiration for multiple handmade gifts came after turning two garden tool handles. Using salvaged cherry and maple flooring I glued up some blocks for turning on the lathe. Surprisingly, with one exception, these are the first handles I’ve ever turned.

I liked the idea of giving a gift made with love for a specific person and to keep the theme I picked up a few more kits. The ice cream scoop uses the same Cherry and Padauk combo I used on the garden fork handle. The coffee scoop and knife handle are made from Cocobolo.

My daughter seems to luck out with the neatest projects and this year I was excited to present her with something very close to what she asked for. My instructions were to make a wood plaque of the Abbey Road album cover with The Beatles above and that’s pretty much what I did, after finding a metal reproduction of the very album.

Using two pieces of reclaimed wood from a Frank Lloyd Wright house I roughed out the entire cut list. I downloaded the right font, printed “The Beatles” and transferred the letters to a slice of the mahogany. (later downloaded the Apple Corps logo to ensure it’s true shape.)

I cut out the letters first then made the picture frame and drawers. For this project I only had to purchase flocking and an 1/8″ band saw blade. I looked for little round rock buttons at music stores to use for drawer pulls but ended up using two large square Beatles pins.

This Beatles Abbey Road shelf is made from 1950 mahogany coated with Waterlox and Bartley gel varnish. The drawer interiors are coated with wine color Suede-Tex flocking fibers which really compliment my little wood projects nicely.

I was going to make the drawers big enough to hold The Beatles Mono Box Set that I got her but it is what it is. I hope you enjoy my sharing it online.