Commissioned 2007 $3,600.00

OSB, Koa, Copper, Ebonized Sapele, inlaid Pecan knots

Polyurethane finish

The Quilted Hem-Fir Burl with Pecan knot project started out as an angry response to manufactured cabinetry & furniture using minimum quality materials but foisted off as something of … quality (dovetailed plywood?). It evolved into a lark as it started coming together and ended up being a surprisingly interesting piece.

To begin with there is no such thing as Quilted Hem/Fir Burl. I called it that only to imply snooty ostentation and pretense. OSB stands for Oriented Strand Board. OSB is made with large flakes of softwood which are mixed with glue and compressed into sheet material of various thickness. OSB is used widely in residential construction for wall & roof sheathing, sub-flooring etc. It is amazingly cheap, stable, and strong. I suppose you could also make a case that it is a ìgreenî product since a significant portion of the flakes come from what was formerly waste wood. OSB when sanded and finished does have a strong pattern that looks nothing like quilted maple but if anything is random, not unlike burl.

What is Hem/Fir? I see it stamped on construction lumber and I erroneously thought it was just tough to tell between Hemlock and Douglas fir at the mill so it gets stamped Hem/Fir. A friend in the business set me straight, as follows:

Hem/Fir is Hemlock 'Tsuga heterophylla' which is a ìtrue firî as opposed to Douglas fir which is a ìpseudoî fir, as in 'Pseudotsuga Menziesii'.

The Hemlock is generally whiter than Douglas fir but lacks the high structural integrity of Douglas fir. Although it is fine for 2x4ís and other framing lumber, it is not suitable for laminated beams and trusses. Cleared that right up!
Each drawer is housed in its own case, each of which is dovetailed together, ridiculous when you consider the tremendous stability of the material but looks pretty cool and worked surprisingly well. I felt driven to include a phony element of randomness found in authentic wood so I inlaid identical Pecan knots in exactly the same location on each case. Each case front is framed in Koa which along with the Pecan Knot is the only traditional lumber in this piece.

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