Bill Henzel

Dining table of eastern black walnut

A dining table made of eastern black walnut modified from a design by John Burchett that appeared in
Fine Woodworking magazine, December 1994.

The vertical supports were custom fit to the curved upper and lower supports.

Underside of dining table showing supporting stretchers

Dining chair of eastern black walnut

The chair is made of eastern black walnut and is modeled after the Maloof high back chair combined with Windsor chair elements. The back legs, seat and back supports are based on the Maloof high back chair and the stretchers and front legs that contain a tapered tenon that fits into the bottom of the chair seat are of traditional Windsor chair design.

The stretchers combined with the strength of the Windsor chair front legs compensate for the lack of an arm rest that are integral to the Maloof High back design.

Altar in front of church

The Altar was designed by Mathew Hoffman who also designed the altar at the Basilica of National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.

The arches and vertical pieces all have their grain running in the same direction. The cherry plywood panels float behind the beech arches. The top is made of marble epoxied to the wooden base. The altar is located at Saint Elizabeth of Portugal church in Milpitas. .

Showing solid construction of altar before marble top.

Altar is constructed of cherry and beech

Wooden bench based on a design in Fine Woodworking

The bench is made from maple with a top that was based on a design that was featured on a cover of Fine Woodworking. The cabinet base came from a design that appeared in American Woodworker. I wanted a traditional bench top with lots of clamping capability but also would be able to have lots of storage. The top is 1.75 " thick surrounded on 3 sides with a 6" thick bread board. The front bread board is joined to the side breadboards with hand cut dovetails. The side bread boards have mortises that fit into tenons in the top. The front vise is from Woodcraft and the twin side vise is from Veritas. The cabinet is made of 3/4" maple plywood with solid maple edging.

All of the drawers and pullout are on full extension slides.

The bench sits on 3" casters and can be moved very easily. Small blocks keep the bench immobile during use.

Wooden bench showing storage

Garden gate

The garden gate is made of redwood. The tree motif is made of 3 layers of ¼” redwood using Titebond III glue. The background is made of ¾"" redwood.

I made a set of wooden pull toys for children. Each of these toys moves up and down when pulled. Designs are based on David Wakefield's book Animated Toys.

Wooden pull toys- beaver, gorilla, kangaroo

Wooden pull toys- brontosaurus, skunk, walrus