woodworking tools tips

Completed the second of two nightstands for our bedroom. This project has been on the list for longer than I can remember so I am getting closer to finishing the bedroom furniture. The cabinet sides, top, and door frame are solid cherry. The sub top, divider, and bottom panels are Baltic birch edged with 1/4" cherry strips. The hand cut dovetails are still a challenge for me but I am getting better, practice makes perfect I guess.

There are faster choices to cut tenons but for me none more enjoyable than cutting them by hand. These are the rails for the base. Each leg has 2 mortises that I drill on the drill press and chisel to size.

This is the finished base prior to finishing. The corner blocks add strength and also a choice to attach the cabinet.

Edge jointing the cherry to glue up panels for the cabinet with a No.6 which for me is a good size plane for this type of work. The Stanley No.386 attachment works great in keeping things square.

Assembled cabinet with the door installed. The hinges make the door adjustment a breeze.

Another view of the finished nightstand. The finish on the cherry is Tried & True oil, 2 coats, and I add a light coat of wax. The base is finished with General Finishes Black. I wanted a nice contrast between the base and the cabinet.

The next project for the bedroom will be a dresser that matches the style and finish of the nightstands. Need to get this done before it warms up and the golf courses open up :)

Sabtu, 12 November 2016

stuff in the works

well, 2012 is certainly off to an interesting start ... we finished a stool this week for a client/friend who recently finished this needlepoint project after working on it off an on for a really long time (she claims 15 years, off and on). so, she is really excited to cross it off her to do list after all this time and will be picking it up next week. click the photos to enlarge them ...

next up, next week well be transforming this 8 foot claro slab into a dining table that will then be shipped to england .. imagine that .. its not my first international shipment, but they dont come along everyday .. well crate it up, get it to an agent in boston, and off it will go, i presume, by boat. the house will be finished in april so it should get there in plenty of time.

the leg structure is a new design and were anxious to see it all come together. its 1.5" thick steel and it will be blackened like others we have built in the past ... theres a model of the completed table around somewhere ..

and after that one, we have a show coming up in february at the southern vermont art center (why put things off til the last minute?) and were starting to work on our pieces for that effort. i havent done a show for a while and its alchoices a good exercise. the slab above is going to be probably a dining table or maybe a coffee table. im working on the room layout below. the flat art on the wall will be by marta johansen, and old friend, and were trying to make things that will complement and not interfere with her work.

its not a huge room, but it looks like well have room for a couple of mirrors in the corners, a bureau, a bench and low console, and the claro slab above in one form or another... well have to see how we do ...

the bureau is nearly complete ... all the cherry for it came from the same log and it has nice figure.

four drawers and steel legs, like half the bureau we made as part of our bethlehem steel series below.

and, im working on a tapered corner mirror belwo that will mount on a wall in the end, but for the show it will have to have a freestanding base.

again, some nicely figured irion cherry...

it will be kind of like this one, only with natural cherry and some steel details.

my other mirror piece, which i have so far only mocked up, will have a fish eye type convex (security) mirror which will (hopefully) reflect all the drawings and furniture in the room in one peek. the base and rod support will need a little more thought and a little more heft, maybe employing some polished firewood ...

i turned and painted this on the lathe from mdf as a prototype. and will added a little gold leaf yesterday morning to set off the mirror from the dark background .. gold leafed mdf ... ha ha ha ! told you you can do a lot with mdf ...

and wills side business, seeders instruments, has banjo #8 in the works .. picolo style; cherry and walnut ...

he also got a repair/restore job from one of his clients. its about a hundred years old and needs some work ... seeders instruments to the rescue ... more on this stuff as it progresses ...

and sams stretching a bit to create this half oval balcony. bending flat stock in a horizontal plane requires a great deal of patience, adjusting and care.

he made the oval frame where you stand and the bottom and top of the ailing using the same jig.

bending rectangular flat stock in a horizontal plane requires a series of saw cuts and a bunch of grinding. plus the stock has a mind of its own as it is welded and if youre not careful your piece gets longer as you go ... fun ...

then theres the challenge of keeping things square as you fit and weld and the fine challenge of bending thick stock to fit around thinner stock ... home stretch now ... i saw it had primer on it yesterday ...

also, weve got a couple built in bench projects in the works. one is straight and straightforward, and was primed yesterday, while the curved one is more complex and still in the estimating/approval, finish details stage.

cardboard and 1/4" mdf; micro pins and hot glue ...

a little resawn foam for cushions ...

for the straight bench, the designer added the back after he completed the drawings so it was left to us to decide on the angle ... our mockup was a little too vertical ( in the end we ended up with about a 1/2" seat pitch, front to back, and a 15 degree slope off of that. it seemed to look good with the mahogany side tables trevor was working on

the tables below have a hidden drawer

and were working on a new postcard/handout design .. getting close to ordering them. im about out of my old 30 year anniversary ones from two years ago.

ill be teaching a short workshop course on digital design and fabrication at green mountain college in poultney this spring. lucas brown, the head of the furniture program there has designed a one sheet desk and stool. after a couple of prototypes and subtle programming adjustments, trevor is nearly finished with his classroom run of 22 tables ( +/- 288 total pieces) .. they are pretty cool, slip together, and require no fasteners to assemble. the concept is similar to others weve done for vew-do balance boards and wagathas dog biscuits.

and lastly, i passed this slab of claro walnut on the stairs on the choice out the door yesterday ... i have to make a quick poplar mockup, cut it down a little, add some butterflies, finish the wood and steel, and send it off to greenwich village ...

whew, how do i keep track of all this? you might legitimately ask ... well, i dont sometimes. its a constant juggle and shuffle and as time goes by, i rely more and more on my guys to figure it out, help each other, and work as a team to keep ALL of us on track ... im lucky to have em ...
have a good weekend ... guild of vermont furniture makers meeting at my shop today.

Selasa, 08 November 2016

The newest additions to the hand tool arsenal

Waited for the UPS guy to deliver this week and deliver he did! A LN #4 Bench Plane plus a Rip Cut carcass saw and a Cross Cut carcass saw are the newest additions to the hand tool arsenal. First the plane, I have never felt anything like this in my life!! I have Stanley planes sharpened and set up and I thought they did a good job until I used this #4. For those of you that have one you know the feeling, for those of you that dont, save your money and order one when you can.
Now the saws, it is a real pleasure to work with hand tools that are set up and sharp. I have a LN dovetail saw, so I thought I knew what to expect when I handle these carcass saws. Again, I was quite surprised as to how easily these saws cut.

Senin, 03 Oktober 2016

opening the cherry dining table

i wrote a pretty long blog post about this table a couple of weeks ago, but i never detailed how the runners worked. we had to do a little creative engineering to get the pedestal to open at the right moment, but, in the end, it all worked slick.
this just in from the tables owner ...

there is a you tube video showing the opening and closing the table at this link here

heres how it worked ... click the photos to enlarge them ... above, you can see the channels we routed in the top of the column base. the purpose of those was to stop the first set of runners that the table top halves are attached to after they open far enough to insert only the first leaf. with more than one leaf, we wanted the base to open so the center leg could support the four foot span required for all three leaves.

we added little aluminum pieces to the bottom of the runners and those stop the first two runners after about 9" of travel. you can hear the stops engage in the video. the second runners were screwed to the base top itself and engage to open the pedestal once everyhting seen below is unlocked.

there is a central locking device which sam fabricated in the metal shop to secure the base of the pedestal when its closed ...

this shows the two halves opened to the one leaf position

as usual, we burned through some mdf mockups figuring the whole thing out but, as usual, it was worth it ... great client .. great project ...

Jumat, 23 September 2016

inventory reduction sale

in my most recent post, i mentioned i might be having an inventory reduction sale. well, here it is. a show ive been in since january is closing on sunday. a gallery i was in in massachusetts got flooded. and, im working with a vermont website to market our wood and steel pieces in the future, so ive got to have a few pieces for them to show when their gallery opens in may. soooo, in the meantime, all this stuff is ready to go, and i would love to move at least a few of these pieces to new homes. its getting kinda crowded around here. here goes .. click the photos to enlarge them. for info, email dan@com or call 802 867 5541 during regular business hours

the slab above is the top for a table i made last spring to display in the vermont visitors center in guildford, vermont on route 91. it has since been to massachusetts, (flooded out), and in the process acquired a very small dent, which may or may not steam out. the polished rebar base for it, ( a couple photos below) is kind of abstract, and i would consider adding a set of our regular shaker steel legs or some other type of welded steel base instead of the funky rebar ... as is though would be the best price.

and heres a new bridges bench, our third in the series. instead of flat stock, this one sports welded rebar vs ... a little bridgier than the flat stock .... 15" x 54" x 17.5" high ...

maple burl and welded steel ... 31 x 54 x 17

painted reclaimed chestnut and steel side table

a claro walnut coffee table ... still in massachusetts, but available +/- 44 x 55 x 18

the bullseye chestnut mirror is still around ... wall hung in the finish room now, but ready to go either choice ... on its pedestal or wall hung, or both/either ... cool object ...

cool object ..

heres the top slab with its rebar base in the guilford welcome center ..

the six ladderbacks are still available too.

and then we have this table, currently with the chairs below, at the helen day art center in stowe .. show closes sunday .. pick up next wednesday ....

and last but not least, we have the bethlehem steel bureau below .. steel legs and pulls by sam .. wood by will .. nicely figured cherry ...

mellowed after a year to a warmer color than shown here ... about 40 high, 18" deep drawers ...

woodworking tools tips

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Rabu, 25 Januari 2017

Cherry Settee with Hand Woven Seat

Senin, 19 Desember 2016

Cherry and Maple Nightstands Complete

Sabtu, 12 November 2016

stuff in the works

Selasa, 08 November 2016

The newest additions to the hand tool arsenal

Senin, 03 Oktober 2016

opening the cherry dining table

Jumat, 23 September 2016

inventory reduction sale

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