Beech Pulpit #1

If you will notice on the right side of the blog, there are some links to some of my favorite websites.  Soveriegn Grace Baptist Church is one of those sites.  This is our church that my family and I attend.  We are blessed to be a part of the body of Christ, and blessed to be in fellowship with such wonderful Christian people at Soveriegn Grace.  Our Pastor is truely gifted in preaching and teaching and we have grown under his leadership in many ways. 

I may never have the gift to teach and preach as our Pastor does but, I am able to cobble some wood together and do what part that I can for the Lord. 

I have started building a pulpit out of beech for our sanctuary.  I have never built one before or designed a piece like this.  It isn't very complicated but there are some skills that I am learning, like steam bending, as I go along. 

So far I have made it to the point of glueing up the five panels that will make the shape and body of the pulpit itself. Now I am ready to start adding the trim detail to make the panels have some character, more than just flat panels. 

Here is what the panels look like at where I am now. 

Here are pictures of some pictures where the basic design came from.  This is a pulpit that our Pastor has seen before and likes the design of. 

Each section is simply a frame and a flat panel.  The framework is constructed with loose tenon joinery.  The panel is 3/16" thick MDF with beech veneer on both faces.  The arches, corner details and trim are all beech.  The arches were my first try at steam bending, I am happy with how they turned out.

In these photos, you may be able to see how the details of the panels are constructed.  The corners were stack cut on the scrollsaw.  The pieces are separated and then specifically fit to each corner in the panel. 

After I have all of the details fitted to each of the panels, I will make sure to label each piece for each panel and take them apart to join the panels together.  The details will be the last thing attached to the project before the final sand and finishing so I don't damage them too much when I am working on the main body of the pulpit.

Next will be joining the panels to make the casebody.