The Cabinetry

The basic design of the organ is simply a flat board with the keyboard and three windchests bolted to it. So far, all of the fasteners (mostly brass screws run into metal inserts) have been hidden from view by various bits of trim. A cherry wood façade is placed in front of each of the windchests; the decorative ends of the keyboard are also cherry -- I copied the design for them from Audsley. The music rack is cherry, too -- hand carved. I am not working to any specific design, other than a general layout. I'm inventing the details as I go along.

Music rack

The scrollwork on the music rack is a design I copied from the door of a tavern in Baltimore. (Perhaps is was the building next to a tavern -- I don't remember!) When I first saw it, I thought, "This might look nice somewhere on the organ." So I whipped out my digital camera and took a picture.

The digital image was then printed on regular paper. I used spray photo-drymount adhesive to affix the paper to the wood and cut out the pattern on the bandsaw. After that, it was Dremel mototool, electric carver and dentist's drills and a lot of hand work.

Overview showing music rack... work in progress. Not shown in the picture are the carved supports for the "outrigger" pipes. (At the time of this writing, I don't have any overall photos of the outrigger pipe supports -- check back later as I get more done)

Here I cheated a little bit. To get a jump on the carving, I used the router (clamped upside-down in my vise.) Can you tell my router bit is dull?

After the router, the rough spots were cleaned up with the sander.

The electric carver makes short work of the detail work. Marvelous tool. I never used one before this project.

Here's the central part of the pattern on the music rack after most of the rough-cutting has been done.

The fine detail I cleaned up with a dentist's drill ...

... and a little extra sanding in the the contours. Here, I ran the Dremel at about 1/3 - 1/2 speed for more control.

Cutting the slot to assemble the scrolls for the "outrigger" pipes

Fitting the scroll ...

Other details of the cabinetry ...

Making the columns

The columns are made in 2 parts, all cherry. The capital is mitered (quarter-matched); the column itself is turned.

First, I roughed the shape using the tool-post router

To make the columns, I needed cherry dowels. I started with square stock and turned it on the lathe. To make the turning neater, I devised a tool-post router by attaching a $29 trimmer from Harbor Freight Salvage to an aluminum bracket clamped in the lathe's tool post. Works pretty well, especially when it comes to cutting the angles on the pipe feet. (seen elsewhere on this website)

Next, I cut the decorative bead at the top and bottom. (The cutter was made to the requisite radius, and ensures all the beads will look alike)

Finally, the main diameter of the column was turned. After this, a little sanding and the turning work was done.

I have made ebony finials for the top of the capital which thread on the screw seen here. Also visible is the brass corner bracket set below the molding -- to lend strength to the corner. There are 2 on each side, one on the top and one on the bottom. Click HERE to see the finial construction.

Same as the photo to the left -- viewed from the opposite direction and taken before mounting the screw for the finial was installed.