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.

For the wood, I used pieces of mahogany removed from the same FLW home. The stock is true 5/4 X 12 but riddled with nails, coated with a hardened finish, oils and some exterior stain.

As with any project, I started with a pencil and paper. Once I had my design, I ripped to width the pieces (a bit oversize) and set them to the thickness planer. I planed down both sides of the wood but concentrated on making one face the usable side. The oil painting is an inch thick so I could only take 3/16″ from the stock.

After surfacing enough roughly sized pieces to make a frame, I milled the pieces to shape and cut a rabbet on the inside edge to retain the painting. Then came the fun part; making up the design! I cut the top and bottom out on the band saw, filed smooth, sanded and viola – ready for assembly.

I didn’t want to buy anything for this project so I used some stain and new poly I had on hand. I haven’t used stain and polyurethane in ages. I made sure to let each coat dry thoroughly and sanded lightly before the next. It’s really amazing how the third coat really brings it all together. I like it and I’m the one that has to sleep with it.

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The painting is a David Chethlahe Paladin titled: Talking Gods and The Sacred Twins – 1973