Andrew's Wood Design, on a stormy day
In the remote rural hills West of the small town of Penn Yan in Western New York, you'll find a small out-of-the-way cabinetmaking shop called Andrew's Wood Design. Andrew Sensenig is a young Groffdale Conference Mennonite man who left his apprenticeship under his great-uncle Alvin Horning five years or so ago to go out on his own.
A TOP reader (I don't recall who now) told me about Horning's Furniture not long after I moved to Penn Yan, in a comment. I paid the shop a visit, and eventually ended up ordering six pieces from Alvin—a custom-made bookcase/stereo cabinet, a pedestal card table, a glider (a type of upholstered rocking chair), two wooden chairs, and a beautiful Mission-style couch with burgundy leather cushions. Four of the six were built in Lancaster County and "imported" here from Pennsylvania by Horning's; and the first two pieces I mentioned above were built by Andrew when he was an apprentice at Horning's. After Andrew built his new shop with help from family and friends and struck out on his own, I got into the habit of visiting his showroom every so often. I enjoy seeing what he's been up to, and we always have good talks.
In the picture of the shop above, the building on the left is a horse barn and a garage for a buggy. Old-Order Mennonites, like the Amish, feel that reliance on the horse and buggy promotes a slower pace of life and a greater sense of community. The family house is out of the picture this side of the driveway.
Here's the showroom. Some of the furniture on display is for sale, other pieces are finished commissions awaiting pickup. Sometimes, between jobs, he'll build a series of small pieces for display and sale—recently, for instance, he turned out a number of coat-racks that are now for sale in the showroom (three are left—two can be seen in this picture). Very sturdy. I'm always tempted to buy things I see when I visit—even things I don't need!
The shop is adjacent to the showroom. Sometimes you'll see Andrew and Norma's small children playing in the shop—their young son has already built his first project, a toy tractor, with a little help from his dad—but Andrew's work is mostly solitary. I sometimes drive past at nine on a Winter's evening and I'll see the lights out in the shop burning bright.
Spices
A while ago I asked Andrew if he would build me a spice rack for my kitchen. I was getting tired of rummaging through the cabinets for specific spices and I couldn't find an attractive shelf that fit my space.
Andrew doesn't advertise. He gets business via word-of-mouth. You can tell how far out he's booked by the "Current Lead Time" clock in the showroom—at the end of October, when this was taken, his lead time was the end of March, so five months out. I've waited a little longer than that for him to get around to my spice rack.
Andrew made the Current Lead-Time clock so new customers won't take it personally when he tells them he can't start on their projects right away!
He knew I wanted to see him building it, though, so when he got the parts all made me called me so I could come out and watch.
He had already cut and shaped the pieces when I got there. I had chosen cherry as the wood, with brass rod stock. Gluing is done on a heavy bench, but he does it right on the wood top—any spilled glue is either wiped up while it's wet or scraped off after it dries. Every now and then he simply sands and refinishes the butcher-block top.
The plans I had approved months earlier were lying on a nearby table. We went back and forth several times finalizing the design and measurements.
By the way, Andrew normally has to turn down commissions for such small projects. Little projects like this don't pay his time. There's a certain overhead involved in running a shop this size, and he needs to work mostly on larger pieces—for one thing, the proportion of client-time (such as working out these plans with me) to working-time is more favorable on bigger projects. The more days he can spend doing nothing but working, the better. He did this for me as a favor to a friend.
When I was there, he was in the middle of making a narrow twelve-leaf(!) dinner table, a traditional wedding gift for young Mennonite couples starting out. Newlyweds will normally be given the table with six, eight, or twelve chairs. However, he doesn't depend on the Mennonite community for commissions—many Mennonites inherit furniture, or already have woodworkers in the family! He mostly makes bedroom sets, dining room sets, and large pieces of custom furniture like armoires and entertainment centers for mainstreamers. He also makes commercial pieces, such as a really stunning reception area for a local business that incorporated a receptionist's desk, client consultation counter, and storage cabinets and drawers with with an array of slots for papers. A very handsome piece, custom designed to fit the space it was intended for.
On my spice rack, the top and bottom crosspieces are held in position with connectors called "biscuits." The slots are cut to fit with a special power tool. Because Andrew mostly builds much larger furniture, he seldom uses his biscuit joiner. When glue is applied to the biscuit, the moisture in the glue makes the biscuit expand so it fits the slot tightly. When the glue dries, the joint is very strong. Believe me, this is going to be one well-built spice rack!
Gluing the first side isn't difficult...
Lining everything up to assemble the other side is a little touchier. But this is a very simple project for Andrew.
Everything will get clamped...
"A shop can never have enough clamps," he says with a chuckle. That's all for this project for this day; now we have to wait overnight for the glue to dry.
The next day
On the way back in, I couldn't help but stop and take another picture of the amazing live-edge table currently in the showroom. It's made of hickory, black walnut, ash, cherry, steel, and epoxy.
Although he doesn't claim to have one, just from observation I'd say tables might as well be Andrew's specialty. I've seen some amazing ones waylaid in the showroom over the years on their way to their new owners' houses. It's always fun to stop in at Andrew's to see what's new; you never know what you're going to find.
Here's our destination today:
...The spray booth. In the foreground is part of a custom oak Murphy bed that's awaiting varnish. And by the way, those aren't windows in the spray booth: each opening contains two fluorescent bulbs, which you'll see more clearly in one of the photos below. Viewing the reflected light at an angle makes it easier to inspect the varnish as it goes on so he can judge the thickness of the coats he's laying on. There's also a powerful fan behind the latticework, and plenty of fresh air for ventilation. Today it's cold in the finishing area.
I spied this king-size bed waiting over in the corner of the finishing area. I mentioned that bedroom sets, dining room sets, and large freestanding pieces of furniture are the shop's bread and butter, but Andrew can do, and has done, virtually anything for clients, including replicating furniture from old photographs, building furniture to clients' own drawings, making new pieces that match the style of owners' existing furniture, or dreaming up things that are original.
Getting back to the spice rack, first the piece is sanded...
Then he asked me if I wanted it signed. Of course I said yes. When putting the shop's name on a piece, he makes no effort to make the lettering perfect or regular; he just writes in pencil in his own handwriting and then, with a sure hand, traces what he wrote with a router tip about the thickness of a Sharpie. I'll show you the result later, after it's stained. Each piece made in the new shop receives a sequential serial number, too. The spice rack is project no. 311.
Next, after I choose a stain color from samples, we go to the spraying booth with the spice rack. First any remaining sawdust is cleaned off the piece with compressed air. Then, stain is wiped on quickly and liberally, then wiped off, which creates a smooth, even coloring.
The stain reveals excess glue—but only on this one dado joint. A quick pass with fine sandpaper removes the excess glue, then the area is touched up with stain.
After a short wait for the stain to dry, finally it's time for the first coat of varnish, which is sprayed on. The stand the piece is on rotates, which allows Andrew to turn the piece with his right foot as he works the sprayer.
The spice rack will be sanded again, then get a second coat of varnish.
This was my final trip to the shop, to pick up the project. There was one more step to finish up—installing the hanging hardware. These are actually the wrong kind of keyhole hangers—these are for surface-mounting, and we went ahead and countersunk them—but they were all I could find locally. But now you can see the routed "signature."
And the finished project... 
Ta-dah! I wanted it to be nice but not gaudy. It's not so important that it should call attention to itself, but it should be nice enough to be satisfying when you do pay attention to it.
I deliberately chose cherry and a medium stain because this will redden and darken slightly with exposure to sunlight over the coming years. Cherry ages beautifully. I have a cherry table in my front hall that was built in 1850, and it looks more like mahogany now.
If you should want one of these...well, you can't order one. Sorry, but as I said, Andrew isn't able to accept little jobs like this. However, he accepts commissions for larger pieces of furniture from new clients, and can ship furniture all over the U.S. Almost everything he does is custom, and he can accommodate your cabinetry desires in any way you want. If you'd like to inquire about a project, here's his card:
In case you might be wondering, I have utterly no pecuniary interest here. I'm just a friend, and a customer. I paid his asking price for the spice rack ($100).
Well, I do have one little interest, if I'm honest...I'll put in a little plug here for spices! Turns out spices are plant foods on steroids, so to speak, with concentrated amounts of the phytochemical goodies that God's plants give us. They're loaded with antioxidants. Who knew? Not me, prior to about two years ago. I never could really taste them all that much, so I just skipped 'em. Wrong move, turns out. Spices are great for you. I go through a lot of them now. So don't neglect your spices.
And if you ever call Andrew, please tell him Mike Johnston sent you.
Mike
(Thanks to Andrew)
Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks to all our Patreon contributors!
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Romano Giannetti: "The table in foreground in the shop photo is simply stunning. Probably too big for my house (European sizes...) but what a piece of art."
James Bullard: "I love that table in the view of his showroom that has 'rounds' between two live edge boards. I'm guessing that the space around them is resin? and betting that a table like that is expensive but if I was ever to come by a substantial windfall I'd come down and have you take me around to his shop."
MarkB: "More photos of his work/workshop, please! As an erstwhile cabinetmaker, nothing is more pleasing to my senses than a craftsman's hands turning wood into heirlooms. Even a clean and new shop like Andrew's is a joy to behold, despite the 'standard woodshop image' being a dark and dusty place, with a wizened man, in a leather apron, surrounded by weathered tools, making nothing but a hard stare at the lens...."
MikeR: "What? No cinnamon (except in the garam masala), no turmeric!"
Mike replies: The cinnamon (I use Ceylon cinnamon) lives on the dining table, and I use turmeric root, which is kept in the freezer. I grate it onto my salads and throw the end stubs into my fruit smoothies. The turmeric root I buy comes from the country of Fiji! Supposedly the best way to keep turmeric root is in a bucket of clean dry sand, where apparently it does very well, but I haven't progressed to that.
David Dyer-Bennet: "Very nice bit of workmanship there! But where will you keep the rest of the spices?"
Mike replies: That was my cooking-enthusiast brother Charlie's thought...he sent me this picture of some of his spice racks, which cover the entire back side of a closet door. I gather this isn't everything. I do have a few more in a cabinet and on a rack above the stove, but as I mentioned I've just gotten into the whole spices thing, so I'm a newbie.
