The Grand Simcha Entry

This is
The Simcha Grand Entry
The Door, Sidelights, and Transom
are all vertical grain Ribbon Grain Mahogany
with a overlaid Hand Carved Tree of VG Redwood Laminate
The Carving is by Ken Davis of Mendocino
The Door is 42" x 84" x 1-3/4"
with 2 - 22" sidelights and a 20"(high) transom above


Here is the completed entry. The door has 5 ball bearing hinges due to the weight		Here is The Simcha Grand Entry installed on its' beautiful home

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Here is the left sidelight

here is a close-up of the door

and the right sidelight

here is the completed transom

here is a conceptual rendering

The original drawing for the carving.

Check out the hand carved detailing

Close up view of a limb from the transom.

Another view.

Look at the detail in the carving on this sidelight.

all of this is hand carved on a laminated cross banded VG Redwood planks

So much detail in the trunk of the tree.

The door has dual paned tempered glass, using a semi-obscure glass called Seedy Reamy

This door will look spectacular at night also.

The glass adds a very distinctive look for the background.

CLICK on Images to Enlarge

Here's my sweetie

Below is the provenance of the making of this grand entry

The lumber used in this door has very tight grain.

Getting the lumber ready.

More ruffed out lumber.

Fitting the door.

Time to get ready to glue up.

All the corners are cleaned using a toothbrush

Gluing up of the door.

More clamps please.

This door has got to get flat.

Cleaning the corners with a tooth brush to get out all the glue.

The door is glued up and three more pieces to go to get ready for this beautiful entry.

Sidelights done and now we wait for about 72 hours for them to dry.

The transom is finally glued up.

Now we wait for the transom to dry.

All of the pieces are out off clamps and ready to be sanded on.

This is a photo of the rough lumber.

Planing the lumber down to size.

All of the pieces are resawed into thick veneers

Re-sawing the lumber to make veneers for the panel that will be turned into a carving.

and each board on the face of the carving will come from the same Redwood tree

A stack of veneers to be glued up to create a panel for the carving.

Gluing up the veneers.

Here is the full face of the carving wood

Nice tight flat panels.

More panels being glued up.

Even more panels being glued up, WOW, This is a big project.

These are for the sidelights

Coming out of clamps.

Time to clean them up with a little TLC.

More!!!!!!! Your right I forgot the transom.

Getting them done.

Just a little more to go.

Running the panels through the dimensional sander.

Look at those thick veneers

Looking good!!!!!!!!!!

Now they are ready to be glued up again!!

Gluing the veneers together to create a strong thick panel for the carver to get to work on his art work.

Rolling on the glue.

This piece is ready for glue.

We use plenty of glue.

Wrapping the glued panel up so we can put it in the vacuum press.

Nice and tight so the glue wont leak out.

More to go.

Here the panel will set in the vacuum press for about 72 hours.

Another panel in the vacuum press.

and yet another one.

Panels out of the vacuum press and ready to be sanded.

The original drawing.

The Transom panel which is to carved.

The rough drawing on the panel.

What a transformation.

Sidelight drawing on a panel.

The rough cut out.

The left panels rough drawing.

Ready for the fine carving work to start.

And it begins.

A very time consuming project.

Such detail!

Fine hand sanding the edges and corners.

More hand sanding on the molding detail.

Are we having to much fun? You bet!!!!!!!!

We begin the slow process of oiling the door,sidelights and the transom.

Look at the beautiful ribbon grain mahogany come to life.

This transom will be stunning.

Hanging to dry.

Getting the lumber ready for the jambs.

This jamb system is ready to be sanded and then oiled.

They are looking good.

The jambs are set to dry for 3 days before being oiled again.

and again.

Pre fitting the transom

Pre hanging the jambs.

Everything must be precise.

Fitting the glass into the sidelights.

The long awaited carving gets its first oiling.

Look at the carving come to life,and it still has 3 more oilings to go.

The oiling really brings out the detail in the carving.

Each piece is given special attention.

Now they dry and wait for the next oiling.

Time to fit into the door with the glass.

Looking good.

The last item to arrive and be oiled.
The transom

The finished Transom.

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