Healing through woodworking and recreational therapy

When Tom Murphy was a resident of the Community Living Center (CLC) at the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, he had an opportunity to work with Recreational Therapist, Cameron Will to create a custom bookshelf. Tom worked on designing and making his own bookshelf for 6 months while living on CLC. His goal was to create a piece of furniture that he could submit to the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System Creative Arts Festival and Competition and to display proudly in his home.

Tom’s bookshelf has several unique features that make this piece stand out. The first one is the Sailor’s knot. The Sailor’s knot is placed right in the front and center of his bookshelf. Tom was creative with how he used the black paint to accent the engraving detail of the Sailor’s knot. Tom utilized an origin shaper to cut out the design and to adjust the black paint using painter’s tape around the knot and black spray paint.  Once the paint dried, he sanded the top of it to give it the look it has today.

The second part that makes Tom’s bookshelf unique is how short it is. Tom was in a wheelchair and wanted to not only have access for himself but also for his wife Mary to be able to utilize the space on top of the bookshelf. He chose to have sliders for feet on his bookshelf so Mary could relocate this piece easily in their home.

Tom used birdseye, curly, ingrown bark, and hard maple for this project. Every board was positioned in a specific order and location. The joinery that was utilized to complete this project was Mortise and Tenon along with Z-clips for the top. Tom has over 100 hours into just the sanding of this bookshelf alone.  

Unfortunately, Tom passed away this May. However, his bookshelf was on display for this year’s Creative Arts Festival for everyone to enjoy.