Projects of Harry Godau

Harry Godau of Sutton, Ontario, Canada hgodau@rogers.com

"I have not done a lot of wood working this summer but here are a few items I have built in the last year or so.  All these item were designed and built by me for an archery club I belong to. I did have some help with the installation of these items especially with the road sign."

"The kitchen is 3/4" Melamine for the cases, visible side panels and door panels are covered with 1/4" oak veneered plywood. Face frames and door styles and rails are solid oak. The finish is four coats of clear Urethane."

"The trophy cabinet has acrylic panels on sides and doors, the rest is mostly solid oak."

"The road sign is all cedar with asphalt shingles on the roof sections. The panels with the logos were made commercially."

"The bottom case work on this Dining Room Cabinet is oak veneered ply-core the rest is all solid oak. Several coats of Polyurethane is the only finish on it. 

The beveled glass in the side panels and the doors as well as the glass shelves in the upper sections were specially ordered to size."

"The candle sticks were recently made on the Legacy Mill for emergency gifts. The materials vary on these."

"The deck set replaced some old metal chairs and a cheap plastic table. Itis all white cedar with multiple coats of Sikken stain."

"The horse is one of two built for two grandsons a while back. It is cherry and maple finished with several coats of polyurethane."

"The sled served well when our children were small and is still in service for the grand children. It is mainly maple with oak slats. The runners are metal clad."

"The candleholder has been made from oak and walnut. These have been glued up so they alternate around the perimeter. The holder is about 12 inches in height. It was made on a Legacy Mill. This was my first attempt at hollow spirals. The finish is three coats of high glass polyurethane."

"This is a bedroom set for my youngest (2 years old) granddaughter. It has been built from mainly solid cherry, although the table tops and the cases are 3/4" cherry veneered particleboard.  All of the doors, the larger drawers, the sides of the desk and the head and foot-boards for the bed are raised panels. 

The upper cabinet of the dresser unit is for displays. It has Lexan panels in the doors as well as Lexan shelves.  The bed posts and the trim on the corners of the individual units have been turned on a Legacy turning mill.  The bed posts are made in sections - the turning mill only accepts 48" long parts. The upper canopy frame of the bed is not shown. It has a curved section to be suitably covered with lacy material, to form the canopy.  It took about six weeks to build, all on weekends and occasional evenings. The finish is water based polyurethane - three coats - and four on most visible parts.  The finish is sprayed on with an HVLP system."

"The design is strictly my own. Grandma helps out with this, with additional help of catalogue photos and a couple of visits to furniture stores to get ideas. If you like more details on the turned parts let me know.  I'll be receiving pictures from my daughter after it has been set up properly in the room."

"Here are a couple of items to match and complement the bedroom furniture.  Both the chair by the desk and the chest (to the left of the bed) are made from cherry.  The chest has some veneered plywood at the back, the bottom and the top.  The top has been trimmed with 2 inch wide solid cherry."

"My upholstery skills need some improvement still, but the seat turned out not too bad."

"The furniture took a long trip. They are now in Maryland, U.S.A."  

"The old cement step at the front door had sunk so much, that I nearly needed a ladder to enter the house. Rather than trying to lift it, I decided to build a porch. I used pressure treated lumber for the hidden frame work. All visible lumber, except the lattice, is white cedar. All has been finished with two coats of clear cedar stain. I again made use of my Legacy turning mill to produce the posts and spindles."

"The hallway was renovated with wainscotting, new railing, cabinet and mirror a few years ago to create a medieval atmosphere. The new ceramic tile floor has been laid just recently, it replaced a ten year old carpet. A 5/8” plywood sub floor was glued and screwed to the original base floor beforethe tiles were laid. The design was partially stolen but modified to incorporate my ideas. A wet tile-saw helped greatly to cut all of the special cuts in the design as well as around heat registers and door openings."

"The cupola has been built based on plans from ‘In the Workshop’, although I made a few changes to that design as well. The base has been modified to be straight rather than tapered and has been covered with roof shingles instead of being painted. The roof has been changed to a concave shape from the plan’s straight shape. Both the roof and the base is made from cheap construction grade chipboard, the louvered mid section is white cedar with a couple of coats of clear cedar stain. The louvers have been lined with screening on the inside to hopefully keep birds or other creatures from invading the space. The weathervane was a gift from my daughter, therefore the incentive to build the cupola. The whole thing was installed on a 8’ x 16’ garden shed we build a couple of years ago."

"The desk is extra large, 66" wide by 40 inches deep to double as a conference table in need.  The wall unit behind it is a total of 11 feet long by 85" high.  All has been built from ¾" oak veneered particle core panels which were trimmed with ¾" x ¾" solid cherry for some contrast.  The desk has 9 drawers, six shallow ones in one pedestal and 3 various depth in the other."

"The wall unit consists of four parts, two bottoms and two tops. Each bottom portion has three drawers in one section, the other two sections have adjustable shelves behind the doors.  It took about 70 hours to build, the design is strictly my own."

"These wagons have been built from cherry and maple for a bit of contrast, the handles are accented with walnut.  The total design was my own, the wheels were purchased lawnmower wheels from the local hardware store.  The steel axles were made from black pipe bored and tapped at the ends to fit shoulder bolts to attach the wheels.  For winter-use the wheels can be replaced with individual runners, these pivot on the axles to absorb some of the shock when going over undulating terrain.  The runners are made from maple with steel flat bars on the bottom.  (No picture available).  The pivot of the front axle has been sandwiched with UHMW plates to provide ease of turning."

"Some more recent work, after a two year begging/ threatening period from my wife, is a candle stick and a coat tree for the front hall.  Both are made from walnut using my Legacy Mill to turn the rope molding and the fluted bulb shape of the coat tree.  The stock was laminated from ¾” lumber to get to the finished diameter of 3 ¼ inches.  The legs and coat hooks were mortised into the uprights.  An umbrella stand is an integral part of the coat tree consisting of a turned dish type bottom and a ring supported by a couple of vertical braces.  The candle stick is about 36 inches high, it is essentially the same as the bottom of the coat tree.  A turned cup on top serves to hold a pewter candle holder. The finish on all projects is four coats of Flecto outdoor water-based Urethane."

"The wishingwell has been made from 2x4s and some left over cedar boards. The roof is just plywood covered with cedar shakes."

"This computer centre has been custom designed to fit the space.  It has been built from pine-veneered panels with solid pine edging and face frames.  The L-shaped desk consists of two pedestals, one with three drawers; two of these are deep enough for file folders, the other pedestal has a roll up tambour door with an adjustable shelf on the inside."

"The desktop is made up of two parts plus a lower section for the keyboard.  The rounded corners of the desktop are made of laminated solid pine strips. The wall unit consists of a one-piece lower section with four frame and panel doors and an upper three-piece bookshelf.  Recessed tracks make all shelves individually adjustable.  The three pieces are bolted together and sport a one-piece crown moulding on top. 

The centre section has a cleat to allow fastening the unit to the wall for added stability.  The front of the desk has been covered with a vanity screen, which has been built to match the cupboard doors and the bookshelf design.  Plans consisted of some self-made sketches showing basic dimensions only.  The only details I usually take some time for, are accurate cutting layouts for the sheet stock, mistakes there can be expensive.  The tambour was a first attempt for me, with some downloaded instructions this part of the project was a breeze."

"This tabletop is made from mainly 3/4" oak pc core panels and solid cherry and walnut for the star and trim.  The star is made up of 3/4" solid stock, the sections are glued and held with Kreg Jig pocket screws.  The inlay between the sections is walnut only 1/8" deep x 1/4" wide.  Solid cherry trim around the perimeter has been doubled to give the illusion of a thicker top."

"The base is turned from solid oak, build up from 2x material.  The centre is hollow, the wall thickness varies from two to three inches.  The final diameter of the base is 91/2", the tabletop measures 60 inches across the flats.  A six-arm spider is used to join the top to the base, the top is removable.  Two solid oak legs are lap jointed to make four legs and screwed and glued to the cut outs in the base.  The table has been finished with five coats of urethane.  The design is my own."

"This is a conference table for an office.  It is 97 inches in length and 40 inches wide.  It has only three legs and is fastened to the cement floor with anchors.  The customer wanted no interference with legs to be able to roll chairs around the front.  The table has a particle core cherry veneered top edged with solid cherry trim.  The large radius edge was laminated to form the solid 1 1/2" x 3/4" trim.  The table's skirt and legs are all solid wood.  The fluted design was on three sides of the front leg only.  Two coats of rosewood stain and four coats of polyurethane created the desired tones the customer specified."

"The oak hutch had been ordered for a wedding present.  It is about 54 inches wide, the bottom part is 18 inches deep, the top about 12".  All side panels re PC oak veneered sheet stock, the face frame, doors and drawer fronts are solid oak.  The panels in the doors and the shelves of the upper unit are xan instead of glass.  The drawers were made of 1/2" birch plywood with dovetailed joinery.  The hardware was a special order from a supply house in the states.  The unit has been finished with multiple coats of water-based polyurethane."

"The broom closet has been on my to-do list for a long time.  It has been custom fitted to house the vacuum cleaner and a variety of household cleaning utensils.  A widened base acts as support to keep my valuable archery equipment off the floor.  The carcass has been build from oak veneered PC panels with solid oak facing and rails and stiles for the door. The door panels are 1/4" oak plywood."

"A vanity has been made to fit a two-piece bathroom in my son's basement. Limited space in the bathroom required the backsplash to be cut off of the purchased formed countertop.  The bottom right door is a dummy, it would not be able to open since the toilet will be in the way.  Since only the front is visible, various left over panels have been used for the carcass, the face frame and the rail and style flat panel doors and drawer front are pine. Several coats of water based polyurethane should keep it nice looking for a long time."

"This folding table has been built to some plans of a similar picnic table. Modification to the plan included changing the top from a slat type round top to the square solid design.  The design had to be changed to match the heights and width of an existing dining room table. This table is used as an extension to the dining room table when all the kids come home. The top measures 40" x 40".  The construction of the base is all solid oak, the top is oak veneered PC board with solid oak trim.  The pivot hinges are hidden, purchased from Lee Valley. Three coats of water
based urethane takes on any kind of spills the grandchildren can dish out."

"Here is a photo of my latest project. The floor replaced a worn carpet in our dining/living room. I got the ideas from photos on some flooring websites and developed the layout to fit the room on the computer. The material is pre-finished 3/4" thick x 2 1/4" wide oak hardwood flooring in different shades. The pieces were all made in the shop and fitted into the regular strips. All 340 square feet took nearly four days, most of it spent on the designs."

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