Special Request Build

We sometimes accept jobs that are one foot in our wheelhouse and one foot out.

For this job our customer wanted to display their objects (Mackerel Plows: hand made fishing knives from the late 1800’s See More Here) safely but be able to remove and replace the objects. They did not want any glazing or hinged front.

Custom Bracket Idea

The difficulty for us was realizing the simplicity of the ask. We were being overly protective for our customers need.

Rubber Bracket Test

We over thought the whole process and designed and made custom soft rubber hangers. They were not exactly functioning the way we had hoped. We had imagined the brackets disappearing but they did not.

After some back and forth with our client we ended up using rubber coated shoulder hooks. We tested and found that they were working perfectly fine. Ironically, this was the initial idea. We were certain we could come up with a better solution but it turned out simple was better.

Simple Solves

We ended up testing and eventually using rubber coated shoulder hooks. The black rubber will help prevent marking the wooden handles and doesn’t really get in the way of the design. See the video below.

The hooks are screwed into fabric covered birch ply. The ply has pocket holes drilled for screws to attach to the deep perimeter Peruvian walnut frame. Finished with a French cleat for installation. See the video below for the finished job.