Northend Hardwoods recently received a set of photos of a beautiful Walnut Case designed and built by Joe Shields, a regular customer of our Williston store.

Prompted by a discussion with an influential and helpful graduate professor, Joe, a hobbyist woodworker, offered to design and build a curio cabinet to display historical items related to Radiology. “The professor had collected quite a few radiology artifacts over his career; some dating back to the origins of radiology, over 100 years ago,” said Joe. “The building that he was storing the items went up for sale last year and he wanted to bring the items “home” to the radiology department here at UVM/Fletcher Allen.”

Joe laid out a spectrum of woods from White Oak to Teak, and the professor chose North American Walnut. Working nights and weekends between December 2009 and March of 2010, Joe was able to complete this beautiful piece.

“All the wood (solid walnut, walnut ply, and birch ply as a secondary on the interior of the base) came from Northend Hardwoods as did the glue. The joinery is mostly mortise/tenon, dado, and biscuit construction, so there are very few metal fasteners. The glass came from Riverside Glass (locally) and the brass-works and lights came from Rockler online. The finish is a satin poly for durability as the cabinet now sits in a public space.

The base of the cabinet has two large full extension drawers that serve as locked storage and the glass shelves up top are adjustable to accommodate varying sizes of the displayed items. Panels viewable from the front of the case are book-matched. The cabinet was built in two parts (base and glassed top) to allow for transport. Dimensions are 7 feet tall by 5 feet long and 2 feet deep.”

Joe added, “be sure to extend my thanks to Adam for all his help, advice, and patience as I was piecing this project together.”

The cabinet and artifacts are currently on display in the Radiology Department at Fletcher Allen in Burlington, VT.