Crotch Mahogany Entry

These doors feature our own “Book-Matched” 1/8” thick veneer which is vacuum pressed over Honduras Mahogany “Stave Laminated Cores”.  This method provides maximum stability and control of grain pattern, and is used when the desire is for the finest possible, Furniture Grade Door. 

The door’s overall thickness is 2-1/4”.  All of the mouldings were custom and are particular to this house only.  The crotch mahogany panels are 1-3/4” with a graceful sweeping bevel.  The sidelights are done in the traditional manor with a sash resting on a beveled sill.  Beneath the sill, the paneling steps out to provide both structural and visual support, for the beautiful 1/2” thick Starfire® glass with a 1-3/4” bevel.

The jamb is 1-3/4” at the rim and 3-1/2” thick at the door.  The arched jamb head is vacuum laminated of eight 1/8” veneers, making an amazingly stable arch.  Wilson & McCracken never uses inferior methods for our arched tops such as “kerf bending” or laminating “bending plywood”. 
 
All miters are glued and “blind dovetailed” to ensure they will never open up.
Wilson & McCracken provided templates for the stone fabricator, to ensure the arched limestone would produce the proper reveal.

We’d love to build one for you.

First Presbyterian Church 6^th Ave Pittsburgh

Called the “Tunnel Door” this local 1905 Landmark has seen substantial daily use.  The church serves hundreds of wonderful lunches daily, most customers using this set of doors.  After a few break-in attempts and many years of use, a full restoration was in order.  We installed a temporary door for use during the restoration, and the doors were brought to our shop.

The doors were almost completely disassembled, and in doing so we discovered some inherent problems with the original construction methods.  Most glaring was the use of dowel pins to join the hinge stile to the arched top rail.  Using a horizontal slot mortiser we created pockets in which loose tenons could be installed.  Other items on the repair list were to replace the bottom rails and completely restore the iron hardware, cutting away and replacing some sections. Stain and four brushed coats of marine varnish topped off the project.  The “after” photo here was taken on a rainy day, as we re-installed the newly restored doors. 

Again a dream come true Client!

Only the mantel in this room is original.  The bookshelves crown and over mantel are all new.  Details taken from furniture in the room include: The burled edged on the shelves, burled panels, carved fleur-de-lis on the doors and curved burled crown.  The lower plinths and some running carvings were matches of details on the existing mantel.  The cabinet backs are paneled and the shelf supports are a saw tooth and slat configuration, like a turn of the century cabinet should be.

Sometimes we get the best projects.  This client bought an antique cabinet for use in his master bathroom.  Our job was to design and build paneling for the rest of the room to match the cabinet.

Southminster Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pa.  The object of this project was to transform paneling into an organ chest to receive a new Austin Pipe organ.  The paneling on the wall remained and the curved portion and that above were built new, installed and finished to match.

We obtained the pick of the kiln for this lumber.  The 4″ thick walnut was virtually sap free and was some of the best we’d seen in years.  The table tops were veneered over custom 1-1/2″ plywood with ebony, maple and nickel detailing.  Our work for this church included an Altar, Ambo, Baptismal Font, Stations of the Cross and several tables.

The design was by Architect William Brocious (webrocious@verizon.net). Weaver Iron Works (weaverironworks@yahoo.com) provided and installed the iron. The iron was powder coated a metallic gray, but certain items were nickel plated for a stunning effect.