Altars
Freestanding or against the wall, with a solid mensa, fielded panels, and a carved or inlaid cross where you want it. Built to the height your clergy actually stand at.
Typical60–84 in wide · 39–40 in highLead time8–12 weeks
Handbuilt in Wichita, Kansas
We build custom altars, pulpits, lecterns, and communion tables in solid hardwood. Every piece is sized to your chancel, drawn for your approval, and finished to match the woodwork already in your church.
Built by hand in the heartland
We are not a catalog company with a factory somewhere else. Every altar, pulpit, and table is milled, joined, sanded, and finished by hand in our shop in Wichita, by the same people who talked with you on the phone.
From the middle of the country we deliver to churches in every direction, and we drive most of them there ourselves.
What we build
Most churches come to us for an altar or a pulpit. Many come back for the rest of the chancel, built in the same wood and the same profile so the whole front of the room reads as one set.
Freestanding or against the wall, with a solid mensa, fielded panels, and a carved or inlaid cross where you want it. Built to the height your clergy actually stand at.
Enclosed or open, with an angled reading surface, a hidden shelf for notes and water, and cable routing for a microphone and tablet. Sized so the preacher is seen from the back pew.
A lighter piece for readers and lay leaders. Pedestal, column, or paneled, matched to the pulpit so the two sit together as a pair.
Trestle, turned-leg, or paneled tables, often with "This do in remembrance of me" carved into the apron. Deep enough for the elements, light enough for two people to move.
Pedestal fonts with a removable basin, and full immersion tank surrounds with steps and rails. Stone or metal basins sourced to fit.
Prayer rails with upholstered kneelers, credence and offering tables, hymn boards, and clergy chairs. Whatever finishes out the set.
Woods & finishes
All of our pieces are solid lumber, hand-selected for grain. Other species are available on request, and every finish is hand-rubbed oil or catalyzed lacquer, tinted to a sample we send you before we spray.
The most common choice for traditional sanctuaries. Quartersawn shows the ray fleck that Gothic-revival pews are known for.
Warmer and more affordable than white oak. Takes a stain evenly and matches most mid-century church interiors.
Starts salmon and darkens to a deep red within a year of sunlight. Fine grain that carves crisply.
Rich, dark, and formal. Often left unstained with an oil finish so the natural color carries the piece.
The classic wood of older Episcopal and Methodist chancels. Stable, straight, and holds a high polish.
Bright and modern. A natural fit for contemporary worship spaces, and it takes a clear finish beautifully.
Send a photo of your existing woodwork and, if you can spare it, a hymnal rack or a piece of trim. We mix the stain by hand in our Wichita finish room, build a sample on the same species, and mail it to you for approval before the first board is cut.
Every coat goes on by brush and rag, not a spray line, so the color sits in the grain the way it does on the pews you already have.
Send a photo of your pewsHow a commission goes
Most altars are in place ten to fourteen weeks after you approve the drawings. Pulpits and lecterns run shorter. We will give you a firm date before you pay a deposit.
A phone or video call with whoever is leading the project. We talk through the room, the liturgy, who uses the piece, and what the building committee has budgeted.
You receive scaled elevation drawings, a wood and finish sample, and a fixed price. Revisions are included until you are happy. A 50% deposit starts the build.
Lumber is selected, milled, and joined in our shop. We send photos at rough assembly and again before finish so there are no surprises on delivery day.
Pieces are crated, insured, and delivered. For altars and rails we set them in place ourselves, level them to your floor, and stay until you are satisfied.
Built to outlast the building fund
Church furniture gets used every week for a century. These are the choices that let it.