There are lots of places where you can buy doors, but there are NOT lots of places where you can buy custom designed and custom built doors. It takes a special person who not only has an artistic flare, but also vision for what a finished door or other wood project should look like and then ... have the skills, the determination and the patience to bring it all together. This is what I call a true woodworking artist and such is Arnim Rodeck. When you first meet Arnim you wonder how on earth, someone of his small stature can maneuver such larger timbers on that massive work table he builds these large doors, fireplace mantels and other projects on. Many of the doors he builds occupy 12 foot wide spaces and of course are 7 or 8 feet tall, and some even taller.
If you have ever had the pleasure of making a door, you will understand how important it is that all the parts fit together precisely. Then, remember that in many cases these doors are shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles away and often need to be installed by local finishing carpenters, so all this needs to be taken into account.
There is nothing more outstanding than when you approach a house and the door you are going to enter the house through, literally takes your breath away. It is very majestic to have a front entrance door that not only reflects the environment the house has been built in, but also the unique tastes of the owner. That is the kind of art that Arnim creates. If the house is built in the mountains, those mountains with their wildlife will be reflected in the door, if the house is on lake, river or ocean, then those features will be artistically used to create the door.
All that is on the artistic side, but if you are a woodworker, you are even more impressed with the joinery and the detail of how the door is made. How the 12 foot curved pieces are all finely laminated and glued together so that they look like one solid arched beam. The custom weather stripping slots that are built into a custom insulated doors that he has designed, that help to make the door solid, environmentally friendly and able to last at least as long as the house itself while maintaining the strength and wear and tear that all doors need to be able to withstand.
So, what's secret ... read on ...
I know you would all like to know the secret of each of Arnim's pieces, but then it wouldn't be a secret. Arnim builds a special hidden feature into most of the pieces he builds. Sometimes it is a hidden compartment somewhere in the piece, sometimes it is another hidden feature, but all of them are unique to each piece.
In terms of secrets of building, the first thing that Arnim considers with each piece he builds, is wood movement. All experienced woodworkers are aware that wood is always moving depending on the amount of moisture in the air. To help mitigate this Arnim seals the wood with a variety of different finishes, depending on where the door will end up and what sort of door it is. Often he will use a combination of finishes to satisfy the long term viability of the door, for example it would not be unusual to use varnish like product on one part and some sort of an oil finish on another. Another revolutionary idea when it comes to build structures like this.
If you want to be further inspired, I suggest you check out his website ... www.shamawood.com
I think you will be as impressed as we were
Copyright – Colin Knecht
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