Turnings that Really Turn Heads...
Does your front porch lack a certain luster? Is the beam in your dance floor sagging with the weight of inadequacy? Or perhaps you just need something special for the new home that you are designing. Whatever the problem, Blue Ox is here to help. Blue Ox columns are hand turned using the age old method of story-sticking to insure that each column is a masterpiece in its own right, and all our columns are custom so you can get the absolute perfect column for your renovation, restoration or new construction project. Check out our idea gallery for a few sample patterns or send us an email for more information..
(At right): Turnings from the lathe room wall. Drawing by Dan Brett, from his book Tales From the Blue Ox.
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A Column for Every Need...
Many different kinds of columns come out of the lathe room here at Blue Ox. From solid wood to staved pieces, from our most popular redwood to rich black walnut, from 6 inch spindles to 24 foot columns, from straight rounds to finely carved ornate turnings; we do it all. Our craftsmen have decades of experience with columns that have been shipped out around the world, and will be more than happy to take time from their busy schedule to discuss the details of your project. Historic parks and cathedrals around the nation have utilized our experience. Let us put the Blue Ox team to work for your home or business.
(At left): Custom column turned by the Blue Ox Millworks for the Schramsberg Vineyard in Calistoga. |
An Uplifting Tale; The History of Turnings
Most of the custom wood columns produced at Blue Ox are turned. This ancient process utilizes a very simple concept. Instead of keeping the wood stationary and moving a saw or a chisel through the wood, turning keeps the tool stationary while the wood spins along a single axis. This provides a symmetrical column and allows for a wide variety of decorative elements. Turnings have been used throughout history as decorative pieces, furniture parts, and architectural supports, and early turnings have been found as far back as 1000 BCE in the architecture of Ancient Egypt.
(At right): Custom columns and Spandrel for the Simpson-Vance house in Eureka. |
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Supporting the Cause of Quality
In the Victorian era, turnings played a vital role in nearly all elements of architecture. Finials, columns, balusters, and many other decorative and structural elements were almost exclusively turned on lathes. Victorian turners are almost unrivaled in their creativity, and Victorian era turnings are filled with complex bead alignments, straight tapered fluting, spiral fluting, reversed flutes, hollow turnings, and other elements that give most modern craftsmen nightmares.
(At left): 12 foot column reproduced for a structure in Fort Bragg, California.
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Upholding Craftsmanship
Today, most columns are mass produced in a few generic patterns. Custom turners are still scattered across the countryside, but very few have the equipment for large jobs. Here at Blue Ox, we have a full lathe room with a variety of lathes, and our 1890 Fitchburg lathe can turn columns up to twenty-four feet tall. We will custom match your needs, even doing complex patterns or hand carved elements. Or if you just need to know a bit about architectural patterns, master craftsman Eric Hollenbeck will put his research library to work for you. We support craftsmanship wherever it happens, and are more than happy to supply information for those strident soldiers of the do-it-yourself war.
(At right): Three of the six Blue Ox columns that guard the entrance to one Eureka home. |
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Have a specialty project but need the raw materials? Blue Ox works with contractors and architects across the county, supplying columns that act as support for new structures. Our mill and moulder shop (with the world's largest collection of Victorian moulder knives) make it possible for us to provide tapered columns of up to thirty feet. Especially popular in earthquake country we can custom plane and glue columns so that only vertical grain is utilized. These columns have passed the most strident structural tests that the state of California can produce, and still stood tall. As of 2007-2008, Blue Ox is one of 18 shops in the country that has achieved the certification of the American Institute of Timber Construction as a laminating shop capable of producing structural laminated all vertical grain columns. Call Eric Hollenbeck at (800) 248-2459 for more details or send him an email, here.
(At left): Custom columns built for Tanglefoot construction. The design incorporates over a hundred tapered columns, aligned to look like trees along a forest path. |
Blue Ox is more than just another manufacturer, we are a Victorian architectural job shop. That means that we oversee every step in the creation of your architectural elements. We have our own mill so that we can mill up all our lumber to dimension, just like they did in Victorian times. We do the design work, we mill the lumber, we do the scroll work and turning, we hand carve, and we assemble the product so that all that needs to be done on site is to attach it and paint or stain it. And we're an environmentally friendly shop in the heart of redwood county, with access to a wide variety of fine woods in any grade.
(At right:) Blue Ox created custom columns and newels for this new residence in Healdsburg. |
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The Ox can Help
Whether your needs are structural or decorative, the fine craftsmen at Blue Ox Millworks are ready to help. Come to us for any restoration, renovation, replacement, or new construction. Send us an email and ask about specifics for your project, or call the Blue Ox at (800) 248-4259
(At left:) Custom barley twist staved columns with hand carved detail work, manufactured out of poplar for a job in San Jose. |
(Below): Eric poses beside our 1890 Fitchburg lathe.  |
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