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All the pieces on this page were done between 1979
and 1986. The gun cabinet and kneeling bench were
done entirely by hand except for the use of a table
saw for the initial sizing of the wood. The gun cabinet
is made of Sassafras. I hand-picked it from material I
was using to make a stairway and kitchen at the at
the same time for its various grain characteristics.
The Cabinet was made for a extremely rare collection
of guns which will be donated to a museum after the
owner's death.  Handguns  sit on glass shelves
supported by the little Walnut supports seen at the
sides of the cabinet. The back of the cabinet  is
finished to enable the flexibility to set it in the middle
of a room if necessary. There is a wire for the display
lighting inside the right rear post. All of the Walnut is
from a 1914 Springfield rifle gunstock blank. This
whole cabinet was put together with a minimal amount
of metal. Most everything is put together with
dovetails and thru tenons. Everything I was making
during this period was designed so it would be easy
to repair 150 years from then. I was restoring a lot of
investment antiques at the time and I knew where it
could possibly break and I wanted to eliminate that
damage if possible.
The kneeling bench was originally intended to be  a
gift for Notre Dame. Unfortunately the gentleman who
commissioned this project passed away during its
construction. After his family decided they did not
want to pay the commission. I decided to used the
kneeling bench to pay the first six's months rent for a
new shop building. The owner of my new shop
building then donated it to a local church. The cross
was cut out of one solid piece of Oak which created
many weak points, knowing from past experience that
it would eventually want to break at these points. I
used repair techniques I have used on the many
investment antiques in the past. If you look closely at
the cross you can see where I reinforced the weak
points with walnut dowels.
I completed Sandi Patty tour bus in 1985.  It was built at the peak of her
recording career. The interior of the bus was designed by Jelani Design,
from Texas who also designed the interior of Adnan Khashoggi's airplane.  
For those readers who do not recognize the name,  he was an arms dealer
supposedly connected to the Iran-Contra affair. Everything used for this
bus interior was of the very highest quality.  The drapery and upholstery
material cost in the hundreds of dollars per yard.  This bus could easily
compete with any of the most luxurious buses created today. It has been
leased to such superstars as Paul and Linda McCartney.
For its size, this door is the most expensive piece I
have made in my career. This door was appraised
in the high 5 figure range  when it was installed in
1984. The art glass was designed by Judy
Miller,and was on the back cover of one of her
glass design magazines, House Tours II, 1985.
Some of the colors in the design are actually
semi-precious stones because they do not make
glass in those particular colors. Once I was given
the basic design of the glass, I designed the door
around it. The door is made of Walnut. The tree
limbs which hold the glass  are made-up of Walnut
veneer (in some places, 75 pieces thick) with Oak
veneer mixed in for contrast. All the pieces were
made in forms which had to be destroyed as the
limb grew in size. When we cut the first limb in half
to make the inside and outside pieces, I had no
idea what it would look like. It was magnificent. It
was like looking at King Tut's tomb for the first
timel. I also made the Walnut and Oak Parque
floor which you see at the bottom of the picture.
The doors to your left were made in 1986.  They are of
no particular design importance except for the fact that I
accomplished something that everyone said could not
be done (I hate it when someone says "it can't be
done"). I laminated the two species of Oak & Walnut
together.  As you can see, it worked just fine and such
a severe environment as a sunroom, which is also a
glass show room, After 21 years these doors are stiil  
like new.  These pictures were taken in July of 2007. I
am pretty sure that these are also Judy Miller stained
glass designs. I also made window trim for rectangular
glass designs as well as the oval that you see  That
way different styles can be used for display.
This small display standard was made in a numbered
limited edition of 20.  The standard is used to hold
different types of bevel glass presentation pieces for any
occasion.  This particular piece was presented to  a
Loyola Law school graduate. I used the same technique
of mixing Walnut and Oak veneer as on the door above to
achieve the contrasting presentation.
All furniture pictures by
GENE PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY