Lazy Susan - Unexpected father/son project

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This was my first project posted on a different site. This was done in the fall of 2009.
 
This is a lazy susan with a story. My parents were visiting this spring. My dad has been making a few different project using these diamonds. I told him I could use a lazy susan. It needed to be fairly large. I told him 30 inches across, maybe only 28 would work. He went home and got to work. More than 400 diamonds later, he sent me the result. It was a very pretty design, but only 24 inches across (he ran out of wood and was sure it was big enough). We used it for a while, but it needed to be bigger.

I cut off the rounded edges of the mahogany and put a relief on the back side. Then I added an MDF backer to extend about 3 inches on each side.
 
The existing border made a nice transition from the center pattern, so I came up with a diamond border to add. I used mahogany salvaged from the lazy susan and a couple pieces of oak and walnut from the wood pile. My contribution added another 100+ diamonds.
The diamond border trimmed to width and accent strips added to each side. The accent strips are oak, walnut and salvaged mahogany. I had managed to use every bit of mahogany that I trimmed off the original.
The walnut was resawn to ¼” thickness and covers the rest of the MDF.
We now have a 30" lazy susan, but the part I like is that my dad and I got to build it "together" - even though we live 2000 miles apart!

My dad has since passed and this is one of my favorite pieces in the house.

17 Comments

Great story Steve 8^)

Your "family room" extension is seamless, fine work melding the two craftsmen's work into one.

I've been doing some similar work with shapes like that and aside from the cutting, the assembly is mind-numbing.
Thanks for showing us this!
Great story.  Your dad did a great job with the original, and you finished it off nicely.
It looks like it was designed like that from the start. 
Nice piece to keep the memory of your dad fresh every time you use it.
Thanks for sharing.

Figuring out how to do something you have never done is what makes a good challenge.

A true treasure.    Have some of my Dad's projects and all are treasures.   Yours is better as you and he did it together.     Wonderful pattern and looks really great.    

Ron

Lots of work and precision there Steve. Have you ever tried marquetry? You have the necessary attention to detail for sure.
Nice piece, great work!

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Thanks guys. My dad made several of these - all around 12" in size. He wasn't sure that a 30" lazy susan made sense until he saw it. He has a good eye for laying out the patterns.
Paul - I did one project that would be classified as marquetry. I used a scroll saw and a lot of hand fitting. I'll get that one migrated over soon.
Beautiful project and background story.  
Wow, that's very nice!

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

love the story of how you and your dads work came together as one beautiful lazy susan.nice work steve.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

That looks great Steve. Nice collaboration 
Beautiful project and a wonderful story.

Main Street to the Mountains

Great story! Huge lazy Susan!

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Thanks everyone! My parents would winter over in southern Texas (McAllen/Pharr area). My dad had a print out of the project posting and would share the story with his friends.
This 30" size is a good match for our 54" round table. Wouldn't want it any bigger but it allows a fair amount of real estate for passing things around. Over the years we have learned a bit about Lazy Susan Etiquette. Mainly to not rotate until every one is done using the dish in front of them!
Great story; excellent work together.
Extra ordinary display of workmanship and Beauty. You Were blessed and Great story is added value.

-- Soli Deo gloria! ( To God alone be the Glory)

Steve - What a treasure that is!  Both the story and the workmanship are amazing.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

“Fake quotes will ruin the internet” — Benjamin Franklin