Bill Gildea pictured with his wife Reen (left), is a self-taught woodworking entrepreneur of Custom Nautical Art, creating works of art for homes and yachtsusing exotic woods and shell marquetry. A woodworker since 1996, and being around boats since he was 16, has led him down this creative path. His natural talent also encompasses working on and restoring boats and motors, and being a recording engineer in Boston’s South Shore area. Combining technology with hand craftsmanship, Bill uses graphic patterns from the internet, and constantly developes his woodworking abilities by studying the teachings of Norm Abram and Tommy MacDonald.
Printing out images of boats, and aquatic graphics for corresponding project sizes, Bill tapes the designs to the veneer medium, cuts the shape through the paper into the 25-30 mil material consisting of 10 mil veneer, 10 mil paper backing, and 5-10 mil of adhesive. Some designs consist of construction paper covered with epoxy, and brought up to the same thickness as the veneer and applied to the substrate. After the project background is completed, he drops the veneered assembly pieces into their perspective cut-out placement areas. Gildea uses a miter saw, a router for the edges, veneer cutting blades, hand knives, straight edges, and a homemade walnut radius cutting tool to create all of his products. Bill early on, learned to fashion all of his works with limited tools because he could not always afford expensive tools or have anyone else to do the work for him. Here is a video rollover example of the process:
Bill uses 3/4″ Baltic Birch, light & dark Bermise Teak with solid teak edges, or Marine Plywood as a base for all his creations. Veneer inlay materials consist of (blue) Abalone, (white & black) Pacific Oyster Mother of Pearl, Santos Rosewood, Anigre, Birdseye Maple, and Kewazinga or Bubinga. Bill mentioned a new copper inlay material he may be trying out as well. Here are just a few of Bill’s nautical artisan woodworking talents,
Other craftsmanship from Custom Nautical Art:
Look for additional Custom Nautical Art photos on Bill Gildea’s Facebook page.
Listen in to our interview at the New England Home Show, where Bill gives a special message to their daughter, Master Sgt. Rennie Henry, who is serving our country:
Now that you’re inspired by Bill’s work, show us your artisan talents on these social media sites: