An “arsenal” of new equipment was used to manufacture this library, which has the capacity to hold approximately 7,200 books.

Anyone who has acquired 1,600 books certainly needs a grand place in which to store them. The resulting luxury library fabricated by C.M. Wood Works Inc. was this year’s Residential Furniture, Built-In category winner.

“The project was the vision of the home owner, who has read all of the 1,600 books in the library,” says Chris Mazurk, owner. “The distressed face-frame cabinetry with inset doors was chosen to give the room an ‘Old World’ feel. Even as the cabinets and millwork had an old feel to them, an arsenal of new equipment was used to manufacture and finish the library.”

Mazurk says that the project was challenging for many reasons, including the fact that the job site was located 400 miles from the shop. “Running back to the shop for a missing part or to the job site for another measurement was out of the question,” he notes. Because of this, Mazurk was extremely meticulous in planning for the project.

“There [were] some ‘Old World’ techniques that I used to create a job of this scale. I spent 16 hours laying out the job on story poles onsite just to make sure I knew where all of the door, window, stairway, floor and firebox openings were.”

Once he got back to the shop, another 50 hours was spent refining the story poles. “I use [the story poles] to see how all of the parts line up,” Mazurk adds. “Everything from the columns to the coffers, the countertops to the crown and everything in between has a unique relationship to other parts in the room. The story pole helps me see in full detail all of the relationships.”

But once the project was fully conceptualized, the “new world” of modern equipment kicked in to help him create the project.

Equipment in that new world arsenal includes: a Masterwood CNC machining center, Delta and Powermatic shapers and feeders, a Holz-Her 1270 automatic panel saw, an SCMI SI 16 W sliding table saw, Delta Unisaw, Porter-Cable routers and DeWalt sanders. M.L. Campbell custom mixed stain, Amazing glaze and Magnamax pre-catalyzed clear lacquer were used for the finish, applied with a Kremlin air mix gun.

Raised panels, mouldings and veneers were used to create this luxury room for books.

“I prefer to use veneers, even though the tolerances are 1/32 inches,” says Mazurk. “There is minimal expansion or contraction in a room with so much wood. Plus there is continuity to the project. I was able to use consecutive sheets to glue up the 5-inch-wide backs. We cut the flitches in two panels in such a way that all of the flitches lined up and were able to get the backs to match on each wall of cabinets.”

Flitches of veneer for the columns also were cut to match the others in the room. The project was finished with minimal distressing and shading with Amazing glaze, which Mazurk says “made the whole glazing process less time-consuming, while achieving the ‘Old World’ look.

“It was a long process, but it was worth the effort,” says Mazurk. The result of his hard work is an ‘Old World’ library that has the capacity to hold an additional 5,600 books.