The Uncommon App: Woodworking Portfolio

By Danny Spatz

Newton South High School Class of 2017

A Queen Anne Lowboy made of walnut, with mahogany veneers for the drawer fronts. The majority of this project I built during a week-long class at the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts taught by Phil Lowe.

A federal side table, inspired by Steve Latta’s Fine Woodworking Magazine article. This project sparked my interest in period furniture designs, and I took on more projects from around this time period.

The drawer is veneered with crotch mahogany, and has cockbeading and stringing.  I did not have veneer thick enough for the stringing, so I sandwiched two layers of veneer to make it. All of the inlays, banding, molding, cockbeading, and dovetails were done by hand.

This shadow box is one of two boxes that my neighbors commissioned to hold their kids’ Harry Potter magic wands.  The boxes are lined with colored felt that corresponds to the wand’s owner’s house from J.K. Rowling’s series.

Another small jewelry box made of mahogany.  I precisely fitted the tray so that when it is placed in the larger box, it sinks down on a cushion of air.

A pair of nightstands for my bedroom.  One made of curly maple, and the other of cherry. The cherry nightstand I French polished.

A twin sized bed made of cherry and resawn tiger maple panels for the headboard.

This jewelry box was my first serious woodworking project.  I built it the summer following my eighth grade year when I felt confident enough in my dovetails that I could build something that incorporated them.