New Wave Custom Woodworking has been a leading manufacturer of custom high end furniture and furniture frames, cabinets, bars, bar stools, turnings, hand carvings, drapery poles, finials and antique reproductions since 1991.

Originally, New Wave started as a small one man shop in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Since then, it has grown to a 55,000 square foot facility with over 15 full time employees, and some of the most technologically advanced equipment the woodworking industry has ever seen.

In early 2006, New Wave became the first woodworking company in the world to adapt Polhemus FastScan technology. As a result, we are able to reproduce furniture, carving details and other intricate designs in wood and other materials to within 20 thousandths of an inch. Click here to see our Youtube video that showcases our "Scan to Mill Technology."

This hand held technology also allows us to go anywhere in the world and take a digital 3-dimensional scan of almost any object as long as a source of electric is available. Once scanned, we can provide the customer with a digital copy of the file for digital archiving. These files can later be used to render 3-dimensional details in computer generated renderings. These same files can also be used to generate tool paths for our CNC machinery. These tool paths allow us to produce a replica or a thousand replicas of the original scan.

This technology recently allowed New Wave Woodworking to reproduce eight volute carvings for The First Congregational Church in Burlington, Vermont. The volutes from the steeple that were provided were original to the church and over 140 years old. Needless to say, they were delicate and had an historical significance to the church and the city of Burlington as well. Our CNC Division was able to reproduce the volutes to within less than 1/32 of an inch to the original carvings.  We still use tape measures, however, digital calipers are core staples in employee tool boxes. Because of the non contact nature of the Polhemus FastScan, we did not have to worry about damage to the antique originals. Since the last two remaining original volutes were damaged, the CNC Division at New Wave was able to scan the two remaining volutes and digitally repair the missing pieces to create eight historically accurate reproductions in Cedar. The volutes were just a small part of an ongoing restoration project of this beautiful Vermont church.

In addition to FastScan Technology, New Wave is breaking new ground by offering its client base the ability to see some of their designs in the virtual world. This exciting collaboration software called Yugma, (pronounced yoog-ma) allows clients to attend on line conference calls from anywhere in the world as long as an Internet connection is available.

Imagine, designers, architects and customers interacting in real-time, seeing three dimensional renderings of furniture parts such as turned legs, carving details, and dimensional aspects of their projects to include proportionate details. These on line meetings can be also be recorded and saved for quick reference. 

Our first test run of this software actually saved one of our customers the time and expense of having an armchair rebuilt. The client received a photo rendering of the project and approved the leg design. During the test run of our Yugma software, the client noticed the leg would not work for his specific application and asked us to change it. We made the change on the 3D model during the on line meeting and the customer signed off on the job! 15 minutes on line, saved our client over 400 dollars. In that 15 minutes, we helped the client load the software, took them on a quick tour of the software, their project in the CAD software, and made the changes required by the client. All of this was done, before the first piece of wood was ever cut!

New Wave owner, Rudy Schemitz has, and will continue to push the envelope when it comes to innovation in the woodworking industry. New Wave currently employs two state of the art 3D laser scanners, virtual carving technology software and controllers, two CNC Routers with 4 axis capabilities and of course, our flagship 10 Spindle CNC Carving Machine pictured above. Coupled together with our innovative approach to interacting with our clients, New Wave is on the fast track to changing aspects of the woodworking industry forever.

From a simple sketch or a detailed CAD Drawing, New Wave has what it takes to make a one of kind custom piece, and the ability to put that same piece into production the very same day.

Bottom line... We are not your grandfather's wood shop.


Volute photo courtesy of Douglas R. Viehmann of
G V V Architects, Burlington, VT.