Craig Thibodeau, a renowned veneer craftsman based in Virginia, couldn’t win just once in the 2024 Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge. Judges awarded Thibodeau, a past winner in the contest, not only the Grand Prize, but also declared he tied for first place in the hotly contested Specialty Products category.

Thibodeau, who operates CT Fine Furniture in Altavista, Virginia, captured the Grand Prize with his “Roentgen Inspired Puzzle Desk.” Not only is the piece an elegant desk, but it encompasses a massive puzzle with mechanical mechanisms and hidden doors and drawers.

“Designed for a client whose primary request was for a puzzle that would take months to solve, the desk features dozens of mechanical puzzles and a variety of automated moving parts built into the overall framework,” said Thibodeau. “The idea for this piece was to create a desk that from the outside looked like a traditional David Roentgen style desk (restyled slightly to suit the puzzles inside) but from the inside once some exploration was done would reveal itself to be much, much more than just a desk.”

Accompanying the desk is a 200-page storybook written and illustrated as part of the desk’s creation. It tells the story of a pirate ship captain from the 1780’s and his battles with various world governments. The task is to retrace his journey by solving a variety of sequential mechanical and logic puzzles through use of the provided clues, the hand drawn treasure map and a variety of period-correct equipment to find the location of a massive, buried treasure. Along the way you’ll find and disassemble an old naval dirk and flintlock pistol to make use of their parts and need to learn how to use a compass and astrolabe to determine when and where his ship stopped. 

The two marquetry images created for the desk each reveal a series of additional clues used to solve puzzles and hide a few other surprises as well. Finding the final treasure reveals there is another object somewhere waiting to be solved and clues to an even larger treasure.

Measuring 72 inches wide by 34 inches deep and 60 inches high, the desk features walnut burl, walnut, satinwood, ebony, and miscellaneous marquetry woods.

“Inspired by one of my favorite desks built by David Roentgen in roughly 1780, this puzzle desk is by far my most complex mechanical piece to date,” said Thibodaeu.

The Grand Prize winner receives $1,500 cash and other category winners receive $500. All awarded entries also receive publicity in FDMC Magazine, among trade groups and on WoodworkingNetwork.com.

Judges award a tie
For the first time in the history of the contest, judges declared a tie in the always competitive Specialty Products category. Judges scored Craig Thibodeau’s “Oak Puzzle Box” a tie with “The Winning Card” by Jeff Grossman of Artistic Wood and Marquetry in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thibodeau’s “Oak Puzzle Box” measures just 13 inches wide by 10 inches deep by 9 inches high styled roughly after an old campaign trunk. Materials include English brown oak, fumed white oak, quartersawn white oak, and wenge.

“This piece for me is the embodiment of 10 pounds of stuff in a 5-pound box as there were many times along the build when I wondered why I had made it so complex,” said Thibodeau.

Grossman’s veneer painting “The Winning Card” tied for first place in the Specialty Products category. Measuring 21-3/8 by 18-1/2 inches and ½-inch thick, the piece uses marquetry to reproduce a painting by Frank Bennett. Woods used include walnut and cherry burl, walnuts (American, European, Australian), mahogany, olive, harewood, anigre, aspen, ayan, beech, birch, sycamore, satinwood, mansonia, obeche, afara, avodire, bubinga, chestnut, magnolia, and opepe.

Grossman used exclusively traditional European methods of cutting only with a scalpel, and using only natural veneers.
Thibodeau and Grossman will each receive $500 cash prizes.

Cabinetry
Weston Peters of Peters Cabinetry in Brookville, Ohio, won the Cabinetry category with “Walnut Burl Island.” The island measures 108x48x34-1/2 inches and features walnut burl door panels with walnut hardwood.

“The client presented inspiration photos, and it was our job to work with the contractor to create an island that captured their vision,” said Peters. “The walnut burl veneer from Oakwood Veneer was the perfect element to add depth and dignity to this heirloom piece.”

Josh Florkey at Kircher Design Build in Brookville, Ohio, provided initial design guidance and was the contractor for this project.

Marquetry
“Table for Six” by Ramon Valdez of Ramon Valdez Fine Furniture in Bloomfield, New Mexico, won first place in the Marquetry category. 

The table measures 60 inches from any corner to any edge. Made primarily of wenge and purple heart the table uses many other species for the marquetry. 

“The design began with the need to fit a tricky space,” said Valdez. “Round wouldn’t quite fit, nor would square. A triangle seemed perfect, but ouch! So, I softened the sides and later discovered that this shape is called a Reuleaux triangle.”

The starburst is composed of 24 veneer segments. In addition, the wenge crest rails (chair backs) are veneered, allowing use of a single, solid wood chunk to create a pleasing arched grain pattern, front and back on each crest rail. 

“The center of the table and chair crest rails, boast hand cut marquetry, showing six different species of branches in the fall season,” Valdez said. “This unique decorative effect is only possible with the wonderful world of veneer!”

The project was years in the making with the chairs coming first, then the table taking shape. Each side of the table features a hidden, pivoting and locking drawer. 

Student Project
“Cloud Desk” by Marcus DiMaggio, a student at the Krenov School at Mendocino College in Fort Bragg, California, captured first place in the Student Project category.

This desk features a veneered tambour made from black walnut and madrone. Except for the solid wood legs, the entire piece is veneered. The piece measures 46 inches wide, 29.25 inches tall, and 24 inches deep.

“My primary objective with this piece was to make the junctions between the tambour staves so seamless that the doors in the gallery appear to be a single piece of wood,” said DiMaggio. 

“When the tambour doors open laterally, the curved track guides them to a concealed pocket behind the gallery. Because the doors present as a single piece of wood, I was able to showcase the incredible “cloud” graphic that occurrs naturally in the madrone veneer.”

To make the seamless tambour doors, 140 maple staves were sawn out and straightened by hand. Veneer was laid over the tambour staves and glued down. The challenge was then to separate the staves without disrupting the grain pattern. 

Once the staves were separated, they were numbered to maintain their natural orientation and carefully shot straight, removing as little wood as possible. The staves were then meticulously laid out in their proper order, butted to one another on their jointed edges, and their position arrested with canvas glued to the back side. 
 

Award winning judges
Two past Craftsman’s Challenge award winners joined Woodworking Network Editorial Director Will Sampson to judge the contest. 

Paul Schurch of Schurch Woodwork in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, is a multi-time winner, having captured the grand prize and several category prizes over the years, including in the specialty category with a dress made entirely of veneer.

Marc Sanderson of Wilke Sanderson, an architectural millwork firm in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, is also a past grand prize winner. His company is known for spectacular projects across the country, frequently making prominent use of veneer.