sometimes you start out headed for one place and end up in another. this is one of those times. this table with the self storing pull out leaves on the ends grew from a design we created with another client, in another place, a table with round ends, and without the leaves ... you can see it in the photo below, and loyal readers may remember it from this blog post from may of last year. my current client liked that design but wanted a rectangular table ... no problem i thought ... or almost no problem in the end ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
basically, i thought i would just cut off the ends and add the pull out leaves, which i did in the drawing below, and we agreed it was great ... off we went ...
until we arrived here, where i noticed that sitting at the end of the table would not work, as you can see below, unless the leaves were pulled out. 
so we discussed this situation ... 3 chairs per side for six, pull out the leaves for 8 or more ...
not so good we decided in the end ... 
fortunately, since the table was made from reclaimed lumber and already had a few patches, after considering some reconfiguration options, we decided to remove the lower, mostly decorative understructure entirely, giving our client the seating flexibility she desired ... our previous design for pull out leaves was fussy to fabricate and sometimes confusing for the clients to operate, so using another table as a model as well as a nicely written fine woodworking article by tage frid from the 70s, we decided we would improve upon our design. will made a 1/4 size mockup using the math in the article, and we decided this was the choice to go ... it works slicker than our old design and by applying the large areas of felt you can see on the bottom of the top below, it works really smoothly and the leaves are protected from scrathcing. you can see a very short you tube video of the opening and closing process at this link.
the top is not actually attached to the base but rather floats up and down via a pair of steel pins in holes in the center of the center frame. you can see that in the video. in the picture above, the leaves are in the closed position but you can see the little guides that will made that are attached to that center frame and keep the leaves square as they open and close. a little shellac and wax on the runners and guides and they slide like a dream.
we routed a half inch wide channel, an 1/8th inch deep, around the felt area so we could staple the felt and not just glue it ... 
ta dah .. 88" closed to 132" open ... thank you again fine woodworking website ... the online access is the best $15.00 you can spend ...
well, yesterday was the opening of our show at the southern vermont arts center ... see the post below ... we had 8 pieces there, plus six of our ladderback chairs ... in the last few years we have participated in shows only on a piece here, piece there basis and this was our first solo show in recent memory ... maybe since the 90s ... since our normal work had to be ongoing to pay the bills, i spent a few recent weekends working on some of the smaller pieces in the show. one of my favorites is this bullseye mirror in reclaimed chestnut. it was partly inspired by the traditional federal round mirror form and i was also influenced by the lines in my roomate, marta johansens drawings. click the photos to enlarge them ... 
the mirror was an interesting project involving, ( but not necessarily requiring) cnc work, turning large diameter round things, coloring and gold leafing ... and then we had to figure out how to display it free standing so as not to compete with martas drawings on the walls.
i started a couple of weeks ago by cutting two round pieces of 1" mdf on the cnc, gluing them together and then mounting them on my lathes outboard 8" faceplate. i added a hole in the center and made four flat moldings which i applied to the face before i turned it, turning roughly and quickly just to see how it went. we then took it all the choice through the process by adding some latex paint while it was spinning and the goldleaf after that. the result was a lovely contradiction of materials, gold leafed mdf . anychoice after constructing a quick floor stand we stuck it in the office and it was a hit ... then, i had to make the real thing.
i started with two mitered squares of 5/4 reclaimed chestnut, and then, by staggering the joints at 45 degrees, glued them together in the veneer bag.
i then mounted the blank on a piece of mdf and took it to the cnc to cut the center hole for the mirror and the 22" diameter outside circle. using the same file, i cut a piece of 1" plywood with a centered 8" recess for my faceplate. you could do all this with a jigsaw and/or a circle cutting jig on your bandsaw, but, when you have a cnc, the tendency is to use it.
i then cut rabbeted moldings that were 3/4" thick and created the recess for the mirror, which was a 12" security mirror from uline ... love em ... real glass and relatively inexpensive
the moldings were also cut on the cnc with the rabbets up (photo above this one)and then freed from the block by taping the cut face with packing tape and running the blank through the sander till they separated. 
on to the outboard end of the lathe. since the 1" ply faceplate piece was cut on the cnc it was a simple matter to make a light face cut on the plywood to true it up and then mount the main blank on it, and have at it. i had expected i would have to change to my really slow speed pulley and belt, but the whole thing was true enough to turn at the regular lowest spindle speed, which truly surprised me.. 
while it was on the lathe, i added some aniline dye and federal blue milk paint, polishing off the high points to leave the paint only in the recesses.
the next day will very carefully taped off the moldings, we figured out the locust firewood base and supports (if you click the photo here, you can see the steel pipe brackets that sam made to accept the polished 3/4" rebar vertical support. that allow the mirror to spin and also allowed us to take it apart to move it to the show. the locust block was completely green and quite heavy.
here are both corner mirrors on their stands, which looked a little garish with the fresh cut yellow locust wood. more on that below ...
will applied the gold size and the next day, he did the leaf. i was in a hurry when i did the original turning; it was a beautiful day; i had a paddle tennis game ... i skipped the milk paint ground coat we alchoices use under the size and there were some holidays where the size had soaked into the mostly bare wood ...
we reapplied the size to the bare spots and touched up the gold leaf the next day
out to the drivechoice where we toasted and scrubbed both pieces of the raw locust and polished it with a red scotchbrite pad on the dynabrade.it looked pretty cool so we left it
all in, all done ... off to the show ... the room looked great with everything in place and we had a great turnout ...
for closeups of other pieces and more pictures of the work of the other 8 painters (no other furniture makers; im flattered) in the show, visit this link
we finished one up yesterday that weve been working on for a while. it was good to wrap it up since we first started with our design work back in april. there were delays along the choice while the stone was changed on the fireplace, which added to my work and required some additional site visits, but all in all, they look about the choice i imagined them in my photoshop paste up below ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
heres the before shot. the clients purchased this house last winter and remodeling started in earnest in the early spring ... sam made about 65 feet of new steel and wood railings for the stairs and the balcony; we made an expanding pedestal table in chestnut, and this pair of cabinets. nice job ....
heres my photoshopped mockup using a picture of a cabinet we built back in 2002 ...
the cad drawing showing the interiors of the cabinets
one of our first design issues was accommodating a tv that was wider than the space between the retracting doors. we made a couple of mockups using our standard sanus bracket, with different choices of mounting the bracket and decided on the sidewall approach, which worked fine ...
we also had some fitting issues as the client requested that both cabinets be identical in width. after they changed the stone on the fireplace, that increased the width of the space and thus the cabinets, and brought a twisted spruce beam into play that was previously not an issue.
the tops and molding backer boards actually slid into a slot created in the masonry
we also had to revise our installation plan from a grouted board against the existing stone to a slot created by the masons when they reset the facing. that made me define my spaces pretty exactly and while it was fussier to install made for an elegant look of the cabinets integrating into the whole fireplace surround ... looks great
while we were checking the twisted post, we also mocked up a paneled end, which is what you see when you come down the stairs.
tight fit; twisted beam; all ok in the end ...
we also had a kickspace heater on the job and had to integrate a design for the grill into our finished cabinets, as well as make the heater accessible from the top for later repairs.
so, a removable floor was installed,
and the drawers in the lower case are in a separate cabinet that slides in and out of the main cabinet.
lots of door parts, something like 85 or 90 pieces, plus the panels.
we finished and assembled everything in the shop before loading it up for the jobsite.
below you can see the choice we accommodated the 46" tv in the 44" cabinet opening with the retractable doors....
and yesterday, we installed the turnstyle hardware that arrived last week from england.
the finished interior of the left cabinet ... its a wrap ....
with the big windows to the right, this was a hard project to photograph so i have included these two other images. the sunlight sort of emphasizes the orange in the finish that is much more subdued in person. a challenging project, all in all .. below are a couple pictures of the original cabinets that inspired them, and here is a link to my website listing on them ...
