Historic Reproduction of Moulding & Millwork for Richmond’s Old City Hall (1894)
Restoration, Reproduction, CNC Machining, Hand Carving, Craftsmanship
The project, full of complex, hand carved moulding and millwork, presented distinct challenges for the modern woodworking industry that Tektonics is well positioned to handle authentically and efficiently.
Putting our design, 3d modeling, CNC capabilities, and hand carving skills to work, our team measured and reproduced the parts digitally, produced the blanks in White Oak and Poplar, CNC machined and hand carved the final touches of the reproduction parts to help keep this historic building looking true to the Gothic Revival style it is known for.
We used original parts from the building to 3D model replicas that were then validated with 1:1 elevations and programed in our CAM software for CNC carving on our Multicam Routers.
Using our CNC routers to efficiently mill the bulk of the detail we completed the the final steps with hand carving to ensure all features were crisp and accurate. The final parts are nearly indistinguishable from the originals.
The final details were then carved by hand in our woodshop for accuracy and to reduce time.
Nearly all of the parts had small patterned details that would take an enormous amount of time to CNC mill completely. By roughing out these details and leaving the finishing touches for handwork we developed the right balance of machining to hand carving was an essential part of creating these pieces economically and accurately. This allowed us to improve carving and sanding time after machining. The small features were created with a 0.06” diameter ball end mill. Any tight corners were then perfected with hand carving.
At Tektonics we love working on jobs that utilize all of our strengths while creating parts that benefit local organizations. We enjoyed seeing the renovation of our Old City Hall in progress and look forward to the public enjoying the refreshed interior of the building.