Four kinds of piece, one way of making them.

Solid slab or plank tops on hand-shaped bases, sized to the room they are going into.

A table starts with the room: how many chairs, which wall the light comes from, whether it has to come apart to get up a stair. The top is a single slab or bookmatched planks, flattened and finished in the studio. Bases are trestle, pedestal or four-leg, joined with through-tenons or wedged bridle joints so nothing depends on a screw.

• Six to twelve seats; drawings show the exact size before any wood is cut
• White oak, walnut, ash or cherry from regional mills, kiln dried in the studio
• Hardwax oil finish that can be repaired at the table, not sent away

Sideboards, bookcases, wardrobes and built-ins with doors that close like a good drawer.

Casework is where joinery shows. Dovetailed carcases, frame-and-panel doors that stay flat through a Georgia summer, drawers on wooden runners that need no hardware to run true. Built-ins are measured on site and delivered in sections that bolt together in the room.

• Freestanding or built-in, measured on site
• Doors and drawers fitted by hand, then fitted again after the finish
• Interiors in a lighter wood so the shelves read in low light

Dining chairs, stools and benches, shaped for sitting rather than for a photograph.

A chair is the hardest thing in the shop and the one people touch most. Seats are carved from a single thick board, back spindles are riven and shaved so the grain runs straight, and every chair is sat in for a week before it leaves. Sets of four to ten are made together so the wood matches.

• Sets are cut from the same boards so the color matches
• Every chair is sat in for a week before it leaves the studio
• Seat height and depth adjusted to the table it will live with

Cutting boards, boxes, trays and mirrors from the offcuts of the larger pieces.

Nothing good leaves the shop as firewood. Offcuts from the tables and cabinets become end-grain boards, dovetailed boxes, valet trays and small mirrors. These are ready to go, or made to order in a few weeks, and are the easiest way to own a piece from the studio.

• Ready-made pieces are listed on the Work page as they come off the bench
• Made to order in two to four weeks for most small pieces
• Same woods and the same finish as the large work