oak Archives - Graves Light Station

Keeper’s suite almost finished

By Keeper November 19, 2016 November 21, 2016 Restoration, Today's catch, Woodwork

Nat Town puts finishing touches on the Keeper's Suite.

Nat Towl puts finishing touches on the Keeper’s Suite.

The master bedroom is almost ready.

The antique wooden floor of the 4th level is reconstructed, restored, and polished. The curved, white glazed interior bricks are perfectly clean. Faithful oak-and-bronze reproductions of the original 1905 casement windows have been in-place and functional for a long time. All the old paint and rust are gone, and everything shines like new

Master cabinetmaker Nat Towl from NMT Woodworking is just putting the finishing touches on the Keeper’s Suite. He’s been working on it for months after building our mahogany kitchen bench and doing other work.

The Keeper’s Suite is looking mighty good.

Nat used the same style quartersawn white oak as the original Graves furnishings with a little upgrading for modern lighthouse keeping. If we can squeeze one more work day we just might finish that room before year’s end.

The curved Murphy bed flips up to the wall for plenty of space during the day. Cabinets and shelves provide storage in the 13-foot diameter room. Take a look.

: The Murphy bed under construction at NMT’s shop.

: Folded out and ready. All quartersawn white oak.

: Plenty of compact storage space on either side,

: Nat Towl puts the finishing touches on the Keeper’s Suite.

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Oak ceiling is put in place

By Keeper June 16, 2015 June 16, 2015 Architecture, Today's catch, Woodwork

G installs the new 5th floor ceiling, an exact reproduction of the original, surviving parts of which were left in place.

Remember the oak ceiling we showed being built on Nantucket back in April? It’s now installed at Graves Light.

Karl Phillips puts the new oak ceiling panels in place.

Master carpenter Karl Phillips built perfect replicas at his Driftwood Construction shop, based on surviving original panels and the original architectural drawings.

Karl and G put the new oak panels in place up on the 5th floor library of the lighthouse. G is performing the trimming and shaping.

Karl did most of the other woodwork at Graves, too, including reconstructed oak windows based on the original casement design, interior oak window panels and sills, interior oak doors, and the mahogany staircase handrails.

As we’d previously noted, we decided to leave the original damaged ceiling panels in place, covering them with the new ones to give some future renovators a surprise.

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Refinishing the old oak floor

By Keeper June 9, 2015 June 7, 2015 Today's catch, Woodwork

Busy day on station. We finished painting the watch deck this weekend, and managed to cover everyone in black paint.

Then we sanded and coated the bunk room floor in anticipation of the arrival of our new bunk beds this week.

That old oak floor sure does look fresh, thanks to Jack, Emmett and Matt. Meanwhile, Wyatt and Paul took care of the rest of the watch deck.

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The oak ceiling is almost ready to be installed

By Keeper April 23, 2015 April 23, 2015 Architecture, Today's catch, Woodwork

At his Nantucket shop, Karl Phillips works on the new oak ceiling of the 5th floor of Graves Light – a perfect copy of the ruined original.

We’re getting wicked excited about a winter project that’s entering its final stages.

The oak ceiling of the Graves Light living quarters are being reconstructed, just as it would have looked in 1905.

Down on Nantucket, Driftwood Construction’s own Karl Phillips is working day and night, this time building the amazing paneled oak ceiling for the 5th floor study.

Karl already built perfect oak copies of the original casement windows, window sills, window paneling, and interior stairway doors.

He’s been using the original 1903 architectural drawings to rebuild the ceiling. But since parts of the original ceiling are still in place (despite their heavy damage), Karl was able to take measurements right off the original.

For the fun of future generations, we think we’ll install this new ceiling to cover the original old one, so that in another 100 years, people will have something to discover.

Take a look at the pictures of Karl’s latest work.

: At his Nantucket shop, Karl Phillips works on the new oak ceiling of the 5th floor of Graves Light – a perfect copy of the ruined original.

: The 5th floor oak ceiling comes together at Karl’s Nantucket shop.

: The ceiling is 13 feet in diameter, made of white oak.

: This is what we found of the original ceiling before we began renovation.

: This is the original 1903 US Light House Service architectural drawing for the oak ceiling.

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Rebuilding the inside of Graves Light – on Nantucket

By Keeper March 14, 2015 February 6, 2016 Architecture, Restoration, Today's catch, Woodwork

Making exact copies of the interior doors of Graves Light at Karl Phillips’ Nantucket shop.

The snow and ice haven’t stopped the renovation of Graves Light. We’ve been using the winter months to reconstruct precise reproductions of the original interior woodwork.

Lots going on at the Nantucket workshop of Master Carpenter Karl Phillips.

Karl has finished replicating the interior stairway oak doors, and the deep oak sills of the windows that he built last summer.

One photo shows the sole surviving original interior door, rebuilt and stripped down to the wood, flanked by two reproductions to be installed in the spring.

The original door itself needed major repairs, but it provided us a good template to work from. Original 1903 US Light House Service architectural drawings of the doors helped ensure faithful reproductions.

Karl also built nine new oak windowsills using one rotted original sill (in the foreground of the gallery picture below) as a guide.

Just wait until he installs these with his oak paneling – still under construction – to fill in the deep window pockets!

: The original interior stairway door is shown, still on its hinges and covered with a century’s worth of paint, before sandblasting and re-painting began in 2014.

: The new oak window sills that master carpenter Karl Phillips built at his Nantucket shop in early 2015. A fragment of an original sill, used as a template, sits at the foreground.

: Stripped and rebuilt, the last surviving interior stairway door (center) served as a template to make two reproductions.

: 1903 architectural drawing of the oak interior stairway door at Graves Light.

: Making exact copies of the interior doors of Graves Light at Karl Phillips’ Nantucket shop.

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Authentic replacement windows restore original design

By Keeper August 9, 2014 April 23, 2015 Architecture, Glass, Today's catch, Woodwork

Karl Phillips of Driftwood Construction in Nantucket looks at how he’s going to install the white oak casement window he built to restore the Graves Light windows to their original appearance and function.

From a rotted original casement window frame, master carpenter Karl Phillips and his friend Will Phelps built nine replacements in his Nantucket workshop, and installed them at Graves Light in early August 2014.

First we removed the historically inaccurate and aesthetically displeasing block glass windows that the Coast Guard installed decades ago to replace the originals, and then installed the casements.

Part of the installation was filmed for “This Old House.”

: Karl Phillips of Driftwood Construction in Nantucket looks at how he’s going to install the white oak casement window he built to restore the Graves Light windows to their original appearance and function.

: Karl and fellow carpenter Will Phelps lift the white oak casement window in place.

: The oak casement is an authentic return to the original window appearance and function, replacing unsightly and historically inaccurate mid-20th century glass blocks.

: Fitting the window is a time-consuming task, as the granite stone contains curves to protect against water seepage, and the oak frame must be trimmed with precision.

Tag: oak

Keeper’s suite almost finished

Oak ceiling is put in place

Refinishing the old oak floor

The oak ceiling is almost ready to be installed

Rebuilding the inside of Graves Light – on Nantucket

Authentic replacement windows restore original design

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