The term cope is probably familiar to you, it’s the term given when cutting crown moulding or skirting board profiles so that one piece perfectly matches the profile of the other intersecting piece. Typically this profile is cut with a coping saw.
Cope and stick construction is a technique used in making panel doors and window frames. Rails and stiles are given a decorative profile, using paired router bits.
As a woodworker and avid ‘upcycler’, I am always loathed to see wood go to waste. So, when a friend said they had some wormy maple they couldn’t use I knew I just had to have it. Instantly I knew I wanted to make something with it that would show off the worm holes to create a beautifully organic effect in the piece.
Hank Gilpin has been designing and building fine art furniture for almost 30 years. A native of Connecticut, Gilpin graduated from Boston University with a degree in photojournalism. He served in Vietnam as an army photographer, and returned to the States with the intention to study photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. A random choice of electives led Gilpin to woodworking, and his first teacher (and future mentor) was Tage Frid.
Atlas Obscura offers a look at a stranger collection of books. These books are housed at Padua University and are made entirely from wood:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge said it best –
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.