first fall open studio

this weekend is the first vermont fall open studio weekend .. saturday and sunday, october 1st and 2nd, 10-5 ... there are a few fewer participants than in the typical spring event, but there are still plenty of things to see. just in our area, bennington to west pawlet, there are 19 artistss studios you can visit as well as some incredibly beautiful vermont foliage. the peak viewing according to the foliage experts usually happens around now or a little later, and take my word for it, it looks pretty good and will be even better in a couple of days. stop by if youre in the neighborhood. look for the yellow signs and then pick up a map with a driving tour at the first studio you stop at ... for more background, heres a link from the spring event with more pictures and info .... the usual suspects will be here: kit will be showing her handmade jewelry, penny viscusi will have her local pastel landscapes, banjos by will, metalwork by sam, and ive got a ton of projects completed and in the works in the woodshop ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
in the shop now ...
an expanding cherry table with a curly maple and ebony inlay
a sideboard to go with it
a steel and black round expanding table
a recent fish in montana belt buckle by sam ...
iand will is making a new neck for a circa 1900 banjo using the original inlay design that he found in a picture on the internet ...
and these projects are waiting to be shipped ... a fumed, quartered, eucalyptus table base
a 17 elm slab table
and a 10 footer too ...

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in case you are not familiar with it, the guild of vermont furnituremakers has a blog going also. i hadnt posted anything on the guild blog for a long time as i have been too busy with my own and its summer. i recently wrote the post below there to sum up the run of big tables we have been making in the last few months. i have included the appropriate links to each of our posts with the photos below. at those links, you can see more photos and process comments on each piece.

in the last three months,weve had the opportunity to build a somewhat amazing series of large tables, and, since i have all the photos organized, i thought it might be nice to collect them in one place so here they are ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

this is a 10 footer we delivered to stowe last week. (7/30) it has our standard shaker style steel base that we offer in natural steel, the blackened finish above, and a rainbow finish, which is kind of unpredictable, but generally bronzy in color.

this is a view of the base routed into and bolted to the bottom of the slab top ... we have the steel pieces waterjet cut from 1.5" plate steel and then we drill, tap, grind, polish and finish them ...

and here is a desk with a secret compartment and our new trapezoid steel base with a natural finish in 1.5 x 3" tubing ... 44 x 66 x 29 high.

cool view from the end ..

and a secret compartment, accessed using this folding brass, sam made, tool in its own secret compartment.  currently its on view and for sale at the art and industries show in housatonic, mass.

this 40" x 12 table went to the chicago area about 3 weeks ago (4 or 5 weeks by now) and also arrived at its destination last week.

it had a new for us, expresso finish, which was expertly top coated with magnamax lacquer by steve holman of holman studios, another guild of vermont furniture makers member.
heres one that went to london this past spring ... we crated it up with the legs disassembled and arranged flat on the bottom of the crate and shipped it via truck to an international agent in new york city. it arrived about 20 days later and costs only a little more than it would cost to have shipped it to say, seattle. pretty amazing ...

and this one we made for our show at the southern vermont art center back in february. it sold
at the show and is now happy in its new home in guildford, connecticut.

this was an unusal one that we made back in may. the slab was split completely into two pieces when we bought it with the slab for our show, above, so we got a deal on it ... will and trevor stitched it back together with about 20 butterflies, most on the top, some on the bottom ... good as new .. this table has a base with polished 5/8ths" rebar, a funky new thing we have been fooling with. its currently with six chairs trolling for clients at the vermont visitors center in guilford on route 91. no takers yet.

this is what the slabs look like when we buy them on the internet ... the client gets to see them (sort of) before we buy them ... #3 here is currently in the shop being turned into a 9 table, headed to the boston area next week now that it too is finished.

so far, so good

ok .. all finished now ... we had to move it to the garage so we could finish and photograph the 60" wide slab detailed below. i was pleasantly surprised by what a good photo studio the garage can be ...

i was able to sit on almost the top step of the stairs to the upstairs of the garage and shoot down on the table top. something ive not been able to do anywhere else. its a nice perspective that also minimizes the reflections ...

and now, the widest one yet ... +/- 63" wide in the rough, cut to 60 x 96 ...

the boys are at it here with the 3.5" makita power planers ... its a noisy, tedious job ..

and here it is, in my garage ( the shop is kind of crowded right now) on the mocked up trapezoid base ... it has to be all finished and on its choice to aspen at the end of next week (8/14) ... its gonna be tight ...

finished now (8/20)... time for the formal picture later today ...

 probably we should have brought in the professionals to shoot this one.

tough photo ... big table ... little background paper .... hard to get everything in focus ... GREAT piece of wood though ... 60" wide ... amazing

and weve done three coffee tables too with smaller slabs .. i think this one was 38 x 54" ... you can see the other two at this blog post ... and this one

and then, for one of our original claro table customers who came to us back in 2010, we made this unusual (for us) 3 x 11 copper clad table ... the copper is glued to a thick wood base and then nailed on with 15" copper slate nails whose heads jim gently beveled with a drill on the edge sander ... we have a 40 x 60 coffee table version in the shop, awaiting the liver of sulphur patina ...

the base is reclaimed, distressed oak with a gray paint finish

if, after all this, youd like to see more of our claro walnut pieces, heres a final link that will give you access to the whole category and some of the other tables we have made in the past three or four years..

whew! long post ... time for a guinness ...
8/12/2012 .. ahhh, forgot the one below definitely another large table ... 4 x 8

our blog post link here

 set up temporarily in the shop yesterday for a final test run ...

 for the test run, we used a piece of blue felt left over from another project so we can stretch the real camel color felt only once when we install it next week ... and, weve got another pool table coming up next month ... lots of stuff here ... thanks for sticking with me if you made it to the end ...

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how much does a claro walnut slab table cost

""  BTW did you make the pool table attached to this email?  One more question, I suspect I will lean towards 10 feet (need to confirm with decorator).  About how much would the table run me? ""The above question typically arrives with the first or second email inquiring about a slab top table ... It is kinda like how much is a house? or how much is a new car?  The answer, obviously, is, it depends .... on what? ... heres a list. 
Size:  The most popular size request I get is for a table about 4 wide and 8-10 long.  Obviously, that requires a pretty big tree, something on the order of 5 to 6 feet in diameter, as the slabs in the immediate center of the tree contain the pith, an unstable area prone to checking and humping the centers of the slabs from that part of the log.  The best and widest slabs come from about 6-10" on either side of the dead center of the tree.  Since about 4 wide is the most popular requested size, that also puts pressure on the supply end for slabs of that size, making them more expensive than something in the 36" wide range, before they even arrive here at the shop.  Once we agree on which particular slab you like, then we can start discussing the finial price
Thickness:  The next item on the list is table top thickness.  Think about it;  3" thick?  twice as much wood as 1.5" thick .. 1/2 as many slabs from the log; twice as long to kiln dry them ... You do the math.
Finish:  How rough/smooth, twisted, humped, etc. is the actual slab when it arrives.  Thats something that is difficult to tell from my suppliers website, though Im learning what to look for.  Goodhope (and i only shop at Goodhope) is VERY good at drying these things, so usually I expect them to be fairly flat, but its still a process to get the big ones ready to finish.  Does the slab require butterflies to decorate and/or stabilize the cracks?  Are you insisting on no cracks? (good luck), or would you like the cracks filled smooth and even with the rest of the slab?  These are all things that add to the cost of smoothing and finishing the rough slab.The Base:  In our shop, we offer many different designs with many different prices and we are alchoices open to new concepts.  Our waterjet cut Shaker style bases are our most popular and typically range in price from $3500. per set in natural steel finish to $3900. per set with a rainbow or blackened patina shown below.  for a brief tour of possible bases we have already done, check this blog post.

summing up quickly, our claro walnut tables range in price from (very occasionally) as low as $5000. (smallish table, 32-35" wide x 72" long, simple welded base) to $20,000. or so for really big ones.  most of the tables we make fall into the $10,000., to $15,000. range.   the details above, plus shipping and set up in your home, invariably determine the final, fixed price.  just as every days different, every tables different too.  and, every maker is different too.  granted, i dont have a fancy storefront in a big city, or a huge inventory of finished tables to pick from, but the prices listed below in an article in this weeks new york times home section (which actually prompted this blog post) made feel a little bit like a chump from the sticks up here in vermont.  we do what we do, and try to give our clients a fair price for a product thats the best we can produce.  here is a link to some testimonials from our recent clients ...click the photos below to enlarge them ...

gold leafed bases anyone?  we can do that ..

 

too rich for your budget?  we also do reclaimed wood tops with steel bases (much less), and we also can use other woods like elm and cherry, ( different supplier here) and glued up narrower slabs of new wood, like this big ash table.  i cant say we can alchoices make your dream table fit your budget, but were usually willing to at least give it a shot ... emails fine, a phone call is good too ... 802 867 5541

we also make quite a few claro walnut slab coffee tables ($2750. - $5000.) and some claro walnut slab desks, typically from about $5000. to $10,000.

a complete overview of our claro walnut furniture can be found at this link

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