Welcome to Medullary Ray

Reclaimed Home Office Desk  Sometimes it's a phone call, sometimes I'm just driving down the road and come upon a stack of beams put out on Friday from a construction crew, sometimes I have to go hunting but inevitably I come across timber that has served it's purpose and is slated for the landfill. Most of the time I look at the wood and can see right away another use for it.  Laying out the wood for a project is a huge element in the success of the piece. Noticing the grain direction, colors, knots, splits or figure all have to do with the overall design of the piece. I rearrange until my body feels that right feeling. It's a sense. All is right. That's when I proceed to the first step.    Just because the wood is reclaimed doesn't mean it comes looking like the finished product. It all started for me when I was invited to come get some wood from an old metal mill. Friends of friends were turning this old building into a physical therapy center and they had fl...

An example of elegance, simplicity and breathtaking beauty. The Parota slab comes from Costa Rica in the Guanacaste province . We had it shipped to my shop in Portland Oregon where I milled, sanded, and finished the slab. I designed and built the base after getting the slab in my shop. I wanted to see and feel the visual weight of it and make sure the wood I used in the base was compatible in color and grain. The base is made from Shedua, the one and only wood in my entire selection that had the correct matching! The base and slab fit perfectly and are solid as a rock! Exactly what I wanted for a 220lb slab.  Here are a few detail shots of the wood. I am still waiting for photos of the table complete in L.A. The slab has outstanding ribboning and below is a detail shot of the sap wood: Above is a test fit of the base to the top. There are rails that set inside the top which register it on center, fasten it and create a very strong bond between the base a...

LIFE is FULL of NATURAL COLOR!  There's NO STAIN on this Outside Dine Table made from Reclaimed wood by Perfect45Degree The reclaimed wood in this gorgeous dine table has literally been around the world. It has crossed the mighty seas. Yes, somewhere around the globe someone cut down trees and milled this beautiful hardwood into 4" x 4" sticks so they could stack heavy railroad rails. They shipped the rails from the other side of the planet. Still an amazing concept for me when I visualize our globe and all of the land and water between me and the South Seas. Just think of all of the conversations that have taken place next to, over and under this wood. How many languages? Were the trees near a path or road? Somehow this wood has ended up here, in my town, for sale, thrown randomly into a plywood box as if it were Popsicle sticks. Five dollars each. 36"wide, 9'2" long (divided into four sections) with an angle iron base It was w...

Buy now  seats 8 comfortably, 41" wide, 85 3/4" long 29" high. Made from re-purposed fir floor beams, Jatoba, American Cherry, Walnut and Quarter-sawn fir. A good friend recently told me that when she worked in an Art Museum she met a collector who said that he really wanted to collect art so he created one by NEVER GOING OUT TO EAT. Never. All that money he saved and spent on ART. Well, this table is perfect for someone like him. And I would think he would be very happy to use a part of his collection! This is not just any dining room table! This is a piece of art waiting to inspire you each day. I'm not sure how the idea began but I was starting to mill some fir beams that I had removed from my house thinking I would make a workbench. I assumed they would be similar to the 4 x 4's that we buy today with wide grain. As I began milling and inspecting each one I soon realized that I had enough fine wood to make an interesting table. Then somehow, perhaps...

Creativity is like riding a bike. Y ou might be a little rusty at first, you may even fear falling off, but then you feel the wind through your hair, you find your balance and wonder why you haven’t ridden in years! More and more people are embracing creativity in some way because they feel the need for connection, expression and the acknowledgement of who we are. The act of being creative requires us to take risks. Most of us learn by the time we are in middle school that we had better stay comfortable and safe and not take any more creative risks. Somehow, transitioning from stick figures to realism is a daunting task. Go figure! We Americans want successful results right away. Do you know some people spend their lives drawing the figure? Somehow, as our brains develop, we never make it back to the drawing table and we continue playing it safe. Making furniture is already a bunch of hard work, why make it even more difficult by changing the design? I could be mak...

I NEED TO SYNC MY iPHONE WITH THE DESIGNS IN MY HEAD. They have finally figured out the wireless sync, so why not? I’m sure someone is working on this right now. I know it may require some intense filtering but sometimes I wish I had this feature. My screen may look like this at times:                                           by Thorsten Nass   Beautiful isn’t it? See more of his work here: http://www.videodraws.me/ I ALWAYS HAVE SEVERAL WOODWORKING PROJECTS GOING AT ONCE One is a jewelry box, or at least that’s what I think it is going to be. I have decided that I will make my own hinges for this and I want them to be sculptural accents made out of the hardest wood in the shop, Vera Wood.   Its green and blue and amber which will accent the fir box nicely. HOW DO I MAKE IT ART? The way I go about ...

Zoom!      Pow!      Sha-zam! I’m catching my breath, bent over holding an aching back and looking at all that sawdust I now have to clean up. Whew, I’m beat! This is ‘me at work’. I sure do make a lot of messes and often I turn and look hoping that I will be able to see some manifestation of all of my calculations, problem solving, testing, gluing and sanding. Nope, I still want more to look at. Seems these days that I set out a task to do and quickly discover that I have to do ten things in order to accomplish my goal. This is why I feel like I'm taking ten steps back for one forward! I can't help but wonder if this happens in your line of work too. How do you get through it?!  Please tell me, I want to know! I often hear from people that my line of work must feel so good because you can actually see a product at the end of the journey. This is true and it does feel good if you like wh...

Yesterday as I was painting I came to a wall where I had installed two beautiful coat racks. I made them out of scraps of Jatoba and Wengé . They are so rich in color and more beautiful and well made than anything in that room. I couldn’t just paint the wall off white. I consulted with our in house artist, Megan, and we chose a rich color to accent the racks.  When you surround yourself with beautiful woods skillfully designed and built cabinets, furniture and more, you will naturally want to extend their vibrancy into other aspects of your home. I think this is further evidence that our surroundings have a profound effect on our spirit , which in turn supports our ability to live and work creatively. Hire me to build your next project!