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Sam Sponaugle started at Mill Cabinet Shop October 15, 1984. With 16 years of experience in construction, he joined the team as lead installer. During his years in installing, he also worked throughout the shop deepening his knowledge of the trade. Following shortly after the devastating fire and the restoration of the shop, Sam moved into a new role. Eager to learn and grow, he went to Blue Ridge and took computer classes. He credits Pat and Randy with teaching him the finer points of the CAD system.

“Sam has a unique insight into design as a result of his many years in installation. He is able to anticipate special considerations a job may require and meet those needs in advance creating a smooth design and build process,” commented Randy Stover.

Sam’s favorite part of working at Mill Cabinet Shop is “meeting new people and helping people design kitchens.” Indeed, any client who works with him can be sure he will take a personal interest in their tastes and preferences and invest time into their dream. He treats the design process as much as an exercise in the client’s self expression as an opportunity to create a masterful end product.

When he’s not in the office he is enjoying nature, hunting or farming. He has also served as the pastor at Elkton Church of God since 1986. He has a wife, two married daughters and two grandchildren.

In October of 1998, Mill Cabinet Shop suffered a devastating loss as fire ravaged the building. With determination and the support of the community, we rebuilt with amazing speed. Below is the text of 2 articles published about the fire in the local paper, The Daily News Record.

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Fire 15 Fire 16

By ALAYNA DEMARTINI News-Record Staff Writer Fire destroyed a cabinet shop near Bridgewater early Tuesday, starting in a spraying area and tearing through the building.

It had not been determined Tuesday night what started the fire at Mill Cabinet Shop Inc., said John Huddle, Rockingham County’s fire investigator. The fire was reported by a neighbor about 1 a.m., and most of the flames were extinguished by about 5 a.m.

The damage amounted to several hundred thousand dollars, Huddle said.

The blaze started in a room where cabinets had been sprayed with lacquers, and it also contained heaters, blowers, electrical outlets, fans and light switches, Huddle said.

Huddle said he is uncertain if lacquers started the blaze. The owners of the business told fire officials that most of the lacquer containers were stored in an outside facility and less than 50 gallons were in the building, Huddle said.

Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dave Goering said the business owners are Randy and Lee Stover.

Huddle said no one was in or near the building at the time, but arson has not been ruled out.

“We’re not far enough in the investigation to rule out anything,” he said.

Goering, however, said there was no suspicion of arson.

The cabinet shop’s storage building, which contained a few hundred gallons of lacquers, was about 100 feet away from the main building; it received heat damage, but did not catch on fire, Huddle said.

Industry standards require that lacquers be stored in an outside building.

At this point in the investigation, it seems to be that the cabinet shop owners “were doing everything right,” Huddle said. “It doesn’t appear to be a question of them being lax in what they were doing. We don’t know exactly what happened.”

Mill Cabinet had been open since the 1950s and employed about 25-30 people, Huddle said.

The building was filled with flames when firefighters arrived. About 40 firefighters from Clover Hill, Rockingham County’s Hose Company No. 4, Mount Solon, Weyers Cave and Bridgewater fire departments responded to the call. The Bridgewater Rescue Squad stood by, Goering said.

When firefighters arrived, they were able to confine the flames to the spray room, but then the fire rolled over the top of them, spreading throughout the attic area. The flames were fueled by sawdust, Huddle said.

The building is about 13,000 square-feet and shaped like an L. Not a lot of cabinets were stored in the building because they are generally sent out as soon as they are made, Huddle said.

The first fire crews to be sent home left just before sunrise, he said.

This morning, fire officials were scheduled to return to the scene to complete the investigation.

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Shop Fire Traced To Equipment Area

By ALAYNA DEMARTINI News-Record Staff Writer The fire Tuesday morning at Mill Cabinet Shop Inc. was traced to electrical equipment above a spray booth.

But John Huddle, a Rockingham County fire investigator, said he could not determine if the blaze was caused by faulty electrical equipment at the top of the booth, the site where finishes were applied to cabinets.

The electrical equipment was turned over to the insurance company, which may be able to determine whether there was a problem with it, Huddle said.

The fire scene seems to indicate the fire did not originate with lacquers, although lacquers may have fueled the fire a little bit, Huddle said.

Less than 50 gallons of lacquer were left in the business on Dry River Road near Bridgewater, Huddle has said.

“Just because you have lacquers in there does not mean that caused the fire,” said Huddle, who ruled out arson as the cause.

The fire was reported by a neighbor about 1 a.m., and although it was under control by 3 a.m., it continued to burn in some areas through Wednesday afternoon.]

Huddle estimated that damage was in the $750,000 range.

“When you get a fire of that magnitude, you can’t put it out until you start hauling the debris away,” Huddle said.]

The site was pretty well cleared by Wednesday afternoon because of a lot of support in the community, Huddle said.

Mill Cabinet’s office manager Pat Shiflet, whose uncles and grandmother own the business, said they plan to rebuild, and it likely will be on the same site. The shop employs 25-30 people.

He said construction could begin in as early as three weeks.

What is a CNC Router?

CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control. A CNC Router is a machine that has a bunch of different cutting bits that allow it to shape and cut a wide variety of different materials. All of this is controlled by a computer. It can cut or shape wood, light aluminum, composites, and plastics. The computer tells the machine what tool head to use and what path that tool head is supposed to take.

The coordinates that the tool head is told to follow are sent to it from a separate CAD (computer-aided design) program. This allows the machine to be able to do big sweeping cuts or fine detail routing.  Almost anything that you can draw can be uploaded to the CNC to be routed.

CNC router tables can range in size. They can be small to fit on top of a work bench. These are generally light duty and are geared toward the hobbyist. They also come in industrial size. The one we have at Mill Cabinet Shop is a five foot wide twelve foot long. They do make them bigger, but they are generally for specialty industries.

 We use the CNC router to for interior and exterior decorative trim pieces, repetitive routing projects, furniture, cutting out complex shapes, and big signs.

A CNC router can reduce waste, frequency of errors, and the time the finished product takes for completion. For example, CNC routers can perform the tasks of many carpentry shop machines such as the panel saw, the hand router, and the boring machine. It can also cut mortise and tendons.

We are glad that we can offer CNC routing services to the area. Give us a call or stop by and let us help you on your next routing project.

Lee Stover walks us through one of Mill Cabinet Shop’s handcrafted kitchens in Harrisonburg Virginia and shows us some before and after shots of the kitchen’s transformation.

The newly remodeled kitchen features white shaker style doors, handcrafted butcher block counters, and an entirely new cabinet design to optimize every inch of space. Mill Cabinet’s custom finishing is on display as well as you’ll notice that the inside of every cabinet is finished with the same care as the outside.