Making the MADE Cabinetry & Hardware

We are excited to share some photos of the bases for the latest run of the MADE lathe. These custom African Sapele mahogany cabinets are handcrafted at Brookfield Woodworks.

Meanwhile Al Collins has been busy making hardware for the lathe and hand tools. He started out by roughing the blanks down to 1.25” round. From there he drilled and installed the threaded inserts, so as to not risk cracking if they were installed at a smaller diameter.

After cutting the blanks to dimension, Al set up form tools in separate holders in order to feed in to each dimension, allowing easy transition to the five different form tools to feed in to the next dimension.

When all five operations were complete, Al parted the knob off the blank and started the process again.

Once finished, the faces of the drawer pulls were decorated with barleycorns on the Rose Engine. First the tops were faced off and then Al set up the MADE lathe to pump on a 24 lobe rosette. The eccentric cutting frame was set to scribe circles from the center to the outer edge. The cutter was ground and sharpened to an inclusive angle of 112 degrees. This angle is known to produce the best light reflection.

The handles for the curvilinear lever and other hand tools are made to the same dimensions. Al started by roughing the blanks to size, and cutting them to length. After which he drilled the handles to accept the tang of the hand tools and then mounted handles on a mandrel. To make each identical to the other, he used a duplicator of his own design. It follows a pattern that is located on the platform and reproduces the shape on the blank. The next step was cutting the tiny bead at the small end and blending everything together. After some light sanding and steel wool, a rich finish was applied.

See the MADE lathe in action as Al uses it to decorate the drawer pulls!

Thanks for sharing your photos and videos with us Al!