another post and beam pool table

this is what a set of pool table supplies looks like when it arrives here at our shop ... well, its actually not alchoices quite this beat up, but we have had a couple sets of slate arrive in more than one piece ... better luck this time.  no lost pieces; no broken slate.  click the photos to enlarge them, though youll have to bear with me as i learn adobe lightroom.  my ancient photoshop 7 program stopped working with the last windows upgrade .. i am NOT happy about that.  image/adjust/autolevels .. i am really missing that one.

roughed out rails and cushion wood and cushions above

 

 miracle of miracles .. it is to be exactly like the one above that we made and 

installed about this time last year.

were even using the same drawing, materials, and cutlist.

 here we go .. the new guy chris, finished the slate support frame last thursday ..

 

 and here he is beginning the assembly of the base

 all together last friday ..

 and today we added the slate frame and the slates below

 as of the end of the day today, we had the rubber cushions glued on to the poplar, and 

tomorrow well get them bolted to the slate and add the curly maple rails ...

i love a pool table project ..

and just sos you know were not loafing, weve got some other stuff going on in the shop too .. 

a 12 cherry chest of drawers above, with bookcases and ebony and quartered cherry details

and this 9 curly maple trestle dining table with an inlay.  trevors got that one in the finish room now.

more on those projects later ..
for more pool table posts, click on this link

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a barnboard vanity

we installed this barnboard vanity last week.  challenging project in that you have to go with the wood as it is.  if you joint and plane it flat, there goes the patina.  and what a patina it was.  some light hand sanding, and a little very diluted aniline dye on the fresh surfaces made it look like a pretty thing.  no finish, as its been outside for a hundred years just fine ..click the photos to enlarge them.

in the second photo down, i have moved the sink to be centered on the space from the corner to the window trim.  we had originally thought to center it on the door, but no longer think thats the best place for it.

  i had just enough stock

we had originally planned to include some molded details around the panels per the designers request, but they would have exposed more fresh wood and most likely been a distraction from the patina itself.

there was another complication as the whole thing had to be installed in pieces since it went wall to wall in a small room ... it broke down into base, left half, right half and then the face frame and doors last.  

fun project!

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A Quick Windsor Repair

We do this repair pretty often ... Broken bow .... We set it up so we can rout accurately with a small laminate trimmer, first the fromt usually, then the back, which is a little more complicated. we glue the repair pieces on as we rout. This bow was hickory and we had some ... Rout, glue, rout, glue, file trim, sand, color ... Will did this one and it went by so fast I didnt even get pictures of the intermediate steps... The chair was a worthy example though and it looked good when it was done ...
Broken
Front view finished ... A good save ..
Repair zones ... one side is usually longer than the other to (hopefully) eliminate new weak spots
Close up .... cant hardly tell ...

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Waterjetting

Ahhh .. Waterjetting .... Another highpoint in technological innovation for me .... Heres a short excerpt below from the fascinating Wikipedia entry describing their history and applications ... Cutting food? Hmmm... wonder what thats about ... Click the pictures to enlarge them.

Materials commonly cut with a water jet include rubber, foam, plastics, composites, stone, tile, metals, food, paper and much more. Materials that cannot be cut with a water jet are tempered glass, diamonds and certain ceramics.^[4]

Water jet cuts are not typically limited by the thickness of the material, and are capable of cutting materials over eighteen inches (45 cm) thick. The penetrating power of these tools has led to the exploration of their use as anti-tank weapons but, due to their short range and the advent of composite armour, research was discontinued. Anti tank weapon ... Whod a thunk it?Matt Santwire of A L Melanson in Rutland at the controls. Importing the files that we created in Dorset, emailed to him, which he then toolpathed at the computer in his office and then sent to the computer you see here that controls the cutting ... Thats a lot of computing, trust me ... The machines surface is actually flooded and the material is under water when it is cut. Since there is no force the material is held in place usually just by gravity on the supporting bars you see in the top photo.Findng home, the starting point for the computer file ...

These are the parts of the ducks which will be inlaid in the finished kingsize bed we are working on a couple posts below. Looks like it was easy when its done ... Wasnt ... All the little bridges were drilled out and the tabs sanded or filed off on the edge sander...
Other products we have made with the waterjet ... our aluminum windsors ... the back is springy like an old lawn chair ...
The base for the claro walnut table we just finished ...
1.5" thick cold rolled plate steel ... Tough stuff ... Took an incredibly long time to polish it ... cant imagine cutting it any other choice ...
This is the first sample center inlay we made on our first trip to Maelansons. We discovered that the cuts are ever so slightly tapered as the jet spreads out slightly once it penetrates the surface, so we cut all the inlays upside down. That was a handy feature when we fitted them into the routed pockets on the headboard as they tightened up as they went in.
First sample of the center ducks in aluminum, back side ... You can see from the cad drawing that the image has been flipped ... good trick ...
Into the finished headboard sometime next week .... The polishing and fitting of the individual inlays and metal parts was done by Trevor, Will and Sam, coloring of the finished inlays was by Sam. Jim lent a hand in the early stages ... A total team effort for sure ...
Trevor cut the pockets for the inlays using our cnc, using a 1/16th" bit and a 1/32nd" bit for the final pass on the outline ... Amazing .... Stain color looks a little funky here because of the light .. Its going to be real nice I think when its all done ...

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Selasa, 31 Januari 2017

Finished Sack Back Windsor

This is the Sack Back Windsor chair I made during my week long class at the Windsor Institute in late July. You can read about my experience in a previous blog posting. I chose the traditional milk paint finish and the color is a deep Windsor Green. Once the paint was dry, I finished it with danish oil to give it a nice sheen.

chair sanded and ready for the milk paint

Another view

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Off To The Marble Mill

Our client for the black vanity sent us the specs for the sink she had chosen and in looking it over, I noticed the highlighted sentence below ... After talking it over with my marble cutter, Johnson Marble, in Proctor, Vermont, we decided it would be safest if we got the actual sink and faucet since the top was going to New York City ... We have time to do it right, but not time to do it twice .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ... We started by cutting a section out of the cardboard so we could trace the inside outline of the sink bowl.
Cut some holes for the faucets ... Interestingly, the pipe for the faucet was not in the center of the fixture and was a different size .... glad we checked
looking from underneath
Set it up right side up and then we had our finished template ...
Off to the marble mill, a fantastic old facility adjacent to the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor.
Coming in the front door .. Its a great old industrial space ....
Looking back the other choice from the far end...
Showing the honed finish
A rough slab of Danby Montclair, with nice black/brown markings ...
showing the layout .... I forgot to take a photo of the building from outside, but its very cool the choice it relates to the rest of the site ...

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Senin, 30 Januari 2017

tune up that bandsaw

we just finished a project for a local interior design firm that involved making 12 new feet for 2 big couches whose feet were not really in proportion to the rest of them, or to the room where they went ... the new feet are 7" in diameter, 7" high. we glued up some blocks from8/4 and made a sample and a template for the duplicator and had at it. before will could start turning them, i cut them to length and round for him. will had recently tuned up the bandsaw, adjusted the guides, etc. etc., but i didnt realize what a good job he had done until i cut the blanks ... square ... straight ... cut after cut, through 7 " of maple ... click the photos to enlarge them ..
in response to the comment below, i am posting a link to the bandsaw blades we use. THE most important part of the tune up is a new blade from doall. weve tried many brands i wont name, but these are, in our opinion, THE best. i have to go to the shop to find the exact info ... next is to adjust your guides close to the teeth and square your fence to the table and the blade ... fussy stuff but worth the effort. see the last photos below.
this is how they lined up across the top of a stack 3 high ... barely a 32nd difference across the tops.
the chips flew during the rough out stage ...
and made quite a pile ...
first coat of stain ... after distressing we used a second coat of english brown mahogany lockwood water stain. then a coat of oil/poly, then gel stain on the lathe spinning on low speed. the final coat of satin poly was brushed on with the feet on the lathe, and then they were transferred to the finish room to dry where you see them below.
all in, all done ... they will be installed to the couch frames with 2 - 8" timberlock screws per foot
in the photo above, you can see a stack of 9 - .1" veneers cut sequentially and sanded after from one piece of 8/4 walnut. and 4 - 10.5" wide curly hard maple slices also from one board.

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