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Show Doug Christiansen specializes in creating beautiful, hand-crafted wood furniture By Greg Hall Doug Christiansen has a love-affair with wood. He fell in love with wood long before he fell in love with his wife Sandra. However, How-ever, he has the same affection affec-tion for both, and enjoys working each day with Sandra San-dra as well as spending a good deal of time in his wood-craft shop. Together, they run a family fam-ily business called "The Natural Finish." A quick look around his shop shows that Christiansen Chris-tiansen does more than just work with wood. He's an inventor as well as a craftsman, and has created cre-ated many of his own tools which he uses in his work. He calls each tool by name. Robbie, his steam bender, which he made from an old wooden beer keg. Max, a dual drum sander, and Recs, a rail end-cutter. He also developed a style cutter he calls Ben Hur, named after a former employee, and Seca, a tool he uses for shaping wood. Oscar and Rubbles, the two family dogs, also spend equal time in the shop keeping keep-ing Christiansen company. Christiansen's ability to make his own tools, as well as his unique methods of creating beautiful furniture prove that he is not just a man who loves to work with wood. Simply put, Christiansen is an artist, and his medium is beautiful wood. His works have been featured in "Utah Valley Magazine as well as "Fine Woodworking and "Sunset magazines. Fine cabinets, and desks made of Australian lace wood, as well as attractive mantles and arched entry Relax in 12 seconds flat When your body is relaxed your mind becomes creative and clear. It works! FREE HYPNOSIS introductory class weekly. Discover your mind and what hypnosis is and is not. L&L HypnosisMotivation Center 52. E, Main St, Ste. 3, American Fork CALL TODAY (801) 772-0229 f RSH PICKS "-IO W New ( 1 ;756-288 mm iimniniMWM inlaw online and sign a Guest Book See the obituary section at www.HarkTheHerald.com Craftsman doors have all come from Christiansen's wood shop, but his forte, and the one thing he does best, is create graceful, steam-bent rocking rock-ing chairs. "When we steam bend the wood, we're dealing with wood that isn't the least bit straight. It's the most technical thing we da said Christiansen. It is also one of the most beautiful things he does. Once Christiansen chooses a piece of fine wood for a rocking chair, he then cuts the wood into a number of thinner strips. Using his home-made tools, he steam-bends steam-bends each strip to the desired shape, and laminates lami-nates them together to create cre-ate a strong, but finely designed curve of wood. Not only does the curved wood create a rocking chair with fine lines and an appealing shape, it also adds a great deal of strength to the chair, acting as both the frame and the design. Other pieces of steam bent wood are used for braces under the chair, as well as for the back, legs, arm rests, and even the seat itself Christiansen's steam-bent steam-bent chairs are both lovely and practical. He also adds other small touches to the chairs such as adjustable, threaded, wooden stoppers that prevent the chair from tipping too far forward. His chairs have curved, rear-sloping seats, which are more comfortable than the traditional flat seat, and curved lumbar support built into the chair for added comfort and back support "These are pieces that only I can do - no one else" said Christiansen. Compared with other custom-built curved rockers on the market, Christiansen Chris-tiansen feels his rocking chairs are superior in both design and style. "Sam Maloof is a very well known designer in the of the SEflSQn Peaches, All Varieties of Apples, Local Watermelon, Pumpkins, Cantaloupe, j Bartlett Pears, Sweet Corn, Squash Summer & Zuccbini), Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Red Potatoes. Visit the obituaries field of fine woodworking. His rocking chairs sell for thousands of dollars, but mine are a better design. And they're cheaper Christiansen Chris-tiansen said with a grin. Christiansen also uses his steam-bent methods when he makes other furniture furni-ture and cabinetry, but it is the rocking chairs where his craftsmanship truly shows. Each chair is unique in style as well as form. For example, the rocking chair Christiansen made for his daughter Stephanie, has an S-curve for her name. Given the quality of his work, it's not surprising that others have heard of Christiansen's ability. One day, Karl Furr, noted canon soloist with the Utah Symphony, Sym-phony, drove his 1921 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into Christiansen's yard. The wood trim on the cream colored antique car had been damaged in a fire. Furr asked Christiansen if he could repair the wood trim. The end result was a beautiful steam-bent mahogany wood finish that looked as good or better than the original trim. Christensen and his wife Sandra enjoy running "The Natural Finish." STEEL ROOFING & COVER THAT LEAKY ROOF! tk Iti, MlJJhhS fST - cJEET rrT CutTotengfe ,4' .VM 24 ga Heavy kMhCiMioa-MiaKMM WHITE TAN We 181 Souti 1200 EcsWeri Store t MH01V MUCH LIFE INSURANCE DO YOU NEED?" CALL WE CAN JoAnn Adams 52 E. Main Suite 1 Am. Fork 756-3503 Allstate FINANCIAL ANvCftt Financial t Hw imrtwWng nm Ibr Athtat Life tnnimnce Company and It Mihdiart-Abtat Mihdiart-Abtat Ufa taurine Company. Horn OH Northbraok. Wnoii. O 2001 AKitaM ImurvK Company ASY TO CLEAN LIFETIME WARRANTY kh f L 1 v - il r snri I I 21 . . k . .-. I m r Ra3al u.nii WJ tu v-. J J f?S " ..f..'v Sandra handles the bidding, bid-ding, ordering of supplies, and the office work. Doug handles the steam-bending and cabinet-making part of the business, and his attention atten-tion to detail speaks for itself. "I don't run the business like a bean counter would. I have a feel for what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. It's part of SIDING - SAVE $$ FINISH YOUR BUILDING! -i i r a nil -MS. W W a. C. N GREEN WHITE -TAN BROWN -BLUE -IVORY GRAY - CLAY - BRONZE Duty 12 -24' L - RED -BlUE-GKAT accept jZM C rs" Hours: M-F 8-5 SAT 8-NOON US. HELP. J Cilen Pack 140 S. Main Cirove 785-1255 2l6F.;Muin6 I ihi 768-8853 11 t 1 Guaranteed Low Price Call For Details wad, utc 1 American Fork New Utah - " i the carma of the business," said Christiansen Greg Hall can be reached at gandf" mstar.net SPORTING GOODS WESTERN WEAR 3SS South Statt Omn Man - Sat 9am -8pm Bgmingtofu COUNTRY Fire Arms Ammunition Accessories 226-7080 mwv.gunnies.com mm SOUPS BACK! 492-1 Wake up feeling rested! "SrWUftPEDIC orlu? KfJT PRESSURE RELIEVING fclr SWEDISH MATTRESS AND PILLOW NASA technology has contributed to America's best sleeping system. Try it todayl In the ACE Hardware building 785-222 f HOURS: Mol-M. 7 im. - 7 p.m. Sat 8 im. -1 p.m. a 330 FALL FURNACE SPECIALS! NO INTEREST NO PAYMENTS FOR 6 MONTHS Thursday. October 2. 2003 - Page 5 Doua Christiansen makes adjustments to one of his custom steam-bent wood rockers. Christiansen specializes spe-cializes in creating beautiful, beauti-ful, hand crafted furniture, using a steam-bending method he has developed himself. Photo by Greg Hall. i .'. yi olio's ! Happy DirlUag, I 1 1 Cleary Building Corp. QutlHy Custom SuMbigs CMrSO.iXO &Mn$ Sdd 3W Bt$ shppngandnstafefarcf oistmfnngineBBdShciiBS Comtwcri ReadenM Hcrst Agioiij - acliew .MnUitor ot KM. Gran II rts SM - Fi reucd aid be wnrar ti e nioiy C H u Jbr you buktig nee todaf (801) 465-0300 Pay son, UT rn etoarybuidlno cm ammi Toll Free 1-800-373-5550 bum wM prMI) feaAin (to $btimtk It tpttttd PHONE ORDERS WELCOMEI 580 E. State Rd., Am. Fork Credit cards gladly accepted. 762 SOUTH MAIN PL GROVE ; f.'i Get Ready For w The Cold Weather, Wp'vp Hnt 1.. 'V r n i)9aM 3fmvei Heating & Air Conditioning "Quality Service At A Fair Price" "Simply ttw Best for Less" Orcm 225-7088 Springville 489-7088 MonM 1785 N, 1, . Spanisn Fork Saturday JM (801) 798-3363 COPY - "'-ji.ii.ii.fct, a, iL m itm nift 1 i ihi hi hi |