My wife and daughter bought this sign for me, its on the door to the  basement area. I carved that little guy years ago .

Well, it has been a busy few weeks since my last post but the shop is at the point where the tools both hand and power are back in a place where they can be found, and more importantly used. 

Overall view walking into the shop area

I had finished two of the walls with bead board plywood and thought I would stop there but after looking at it, I decided to remove the blanket insulation on the two concrete walls.

Replaced the blanket insulation and replaced it with the rigid panel insulation, added fir strips to attach the panels. The outlet/wire mold went in earlier and the lights now operate on a switch at the bottom the the stairs. Two circuits were added by choice of a sub panel in another area of the basement. (Thanks Cuz)

Removing blanket insulation

Fir strips and rigid panal insulation

Another view during construction

Turning area, chair patterns, etc

Carving bench & clamp storage 

Carving on the wall above the bench

Overall I am pretty happy with the outcome, what you dont see is utility tube I added on the backside of the wall where the lathe sits. There was plumbing in this area for a roughed in bath, and given we have 3 already, this worked out to be a great area to add the tub (evidently builders dont add those anymore). The other added benefit to that area is gives me a lot of area to store wood and other suppliers. Even with the one window, there is plenty of light. As mentioned in an earlier post, the first big project is building the new workbench. The dust collector is on order but the shop vac is working as a back-up for now. I havent decided on the ceiling yet, maybe later, well see. 

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Ready !!!

well ... so much hype ... so little snow ... out of the wind, it looks like we got about 6 inches of new snow ... we did have some drifting but it wasn;t as badd as they said it would be ...
2/3/11 ... coulda been worse
OK, Im ready ... My entire day has been spent listening to the TV, the radio and everyone I came in contact with telling me how much snow we are going to get tomorrow ... Ill let you know when its over .... Weve got a lot in the yard already ... The table to the left of the benches above is 19" tall as you can see by the yardstick ...
10:30 P.M. .... Not a flake yet ...

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Bango 3

Well, ok, now were rolling. The first banjo we did together and it took a while to figure out and build ... Most of a summer of spare time, actually. Number 2, Will did on his own and that one also took a while, but not as long as the first one. Number 3, on the other hand is rolling right along. The first picture in this series is from 11/17... Less than a month of spare time .. Pretty good. Its a Christmas present from a grandmother to a grandson and it looks like it will be on time ... Click the photos to enlarge them ....
The photo at the top shows the traditional neck to body dowel stick joint. This required a drill press set up with the table on the 4.5 degrees and skewed out of vertical ... an anxiety ridden set up for sure ... He hit it right though ... good to go ..
He started, as usual, by turning the pot, which he bricklaid in cherry and walnut...
This banjo is being referred to as a mini ...and at 8", the head is pretty small.
Next the head and hardware arrived ... Its brass and now its antiqued, which is a pretty classy look. The plywood is left on the pot until its drilled for the hardware ...
Since the head is small, the scale is shorter so he had to cut a new indexing jig on the cnc ... That fits into this jig that guides the saw to cut the slots for the frets.
The one on the right is a steel one for a standard scale banjo.
Next is the neck and the truss rod. The pot to neck angle is 4.5 degrees and its set off from the perpendicular a little to align the cent of the neck with the g string ..
Good fit ... no, perfect fit ...
Heres the finished fretboard and the peg head with the swann inlay ... thats his last name ....
All for now .... Next step .... string it up and add the finish ...

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Its A Wrap

the big island is in its new home ... after a month or so of awaiting finish sample approvals and then actually doing the finishing, delivery and assembly, were done ... it was nip and tuck getting it out the front door, but we got it, and, it looks great on site, perfectly proportioned to its new room, which is, actually, quite a bit larger and at present, emptier than our shop ... it was a challenging and engaging project on a lot of levels and i look forward to seeing it with the appliances, sink and granite as well as the rest of the furnishings for the room in place ... onward ...
click the photos to enlarge them ...
from the dining room side ...
the piece is lightly distressed at the early stages of the finishing and we sanded the broken edges a little more aggressively than usual as the finishing progressed, creating highlights on the corners and a softness than is often found on well used antiques.
carry it in ... set it down ... perfectly level over the entire 16, both choices ... we jacked the shop floor up to all level before we started because, having worked with this builder for almost ever, we knew it would be this choice ... with the design as it was, there was no place for shimming anychoice ... all good ....
here trevor is installing the steel granite overhang support. its 1 x 3 x 1/4" rectangular tubing stiffened with the box beam cross pieces visible in the photo below.
the finish schedule was a variation of our typical finish process using lockwood dyes, minwax fast dry polys, gel stains and wiping polys. see more finishing posts here ...
we made a couple different sample boards before we got what we wanted ... i cant remember the last time we used stained quartered white oak for a piece and im pretty sure we havent ever done a distressed, stained version of it before ... im happy with the results. on the sample we gel stained before the seal coat which, in my opinion, requires a longer dry time before the top coats and is slightly harder to manipulate on the unsealed wood ... next time i would do as we regularly do and seal the second coat of stain in before applying the gel layer. it was a big finishing project and took a long time but as in cooking, what step/ingredient would you leave out? in my 30+ years of experience and research, there are no shortcuts to a deep rich finish, only many, many steps ... ask the experts ...
there are a few earlier related posts for this project at the links below ...
turning the columns
getting it all together, attaching the columns and cornice support structure
finish process and delivery photos

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Stuff Ready To Go Right Now

For the past several years, I have been sort of out of the show circuit for a number of reasons. Too busy being the main one ... This year, however, I got into it again a bit. As a result I have a number of shows over pieces that I would like to move to new homes. My house is full. My office is to the brim ... Im planning some more new pieces .... Stuff like that .... Anychoice, the line up is below ... Ill post some prices but well consider reasonable offers too ... Check them out. If theyre not for you, maybe you know someone ... Thanks ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The mahogany console above is part of a series of Empire inspired consoles we made from about 2003 to 2005. I must have sold 8 or 9 of them then. This one I made for one of the last shows I did and I still have it now .... Reduced from its original $3950. price to $2950. Champlain Black marble top .... Its 20 x 52 x 32 high and has a matching mirror too ....
The table and chairs here are part of our Bethlehem Steel series and they are on display for the holidays at Long Ago and Far Achoice in Manchester Center, Vermont ... Stop in there this coming Thanksgiving weekend for the annual Denise and Dawn Wallace show/sale of Native American jewelry... The table is $3500., the chairs are $950. each and the set price is $8500. for everything .... Free delivery in 75 mile radius ...
Bridges Bench .... Made by Sam and Will and I for the State of Craft show at the Bennington Museum this spring and summer ... celebrating 50 years of craft in Vermont ...
More info on this piece here +/- 52 x 15 x 18 $2450.
Ive got several chairs like this one .. Ive got one exactly like this one except its a rocker ..
painted mdf with natural mahogany arms .... $1275.
Ive also got a blue one in solid painted mahogany with blue canvas cushions ... (very comfy and substantial) $1750. And a red mdf rocker and a blue mdf straight ... photos available ... more info here ... l
And this is a prototype painted and carved bench ... Its got some blue leather on it now with a little flaw in the leather finish ... priced to move ... $750. as is or with new leather or fabric ... cool item.
SOLD !An indoor/outdoor chestnut and painted steel bench ... a big one .. 15 x 72 x 17 high $1450. The skinny console ... This was kind of a joke piece we did for the Woodstock show but Ive almost sold it several times since ... Fun in person, and in the right narrow space it will be really effective as an accent piece ... English elm and natural finished forged steel .. $750.
And I have this big slab of beautiful claro walnut ... Just waiting to be a dining table, coffee table or desk ... +/- 48 -50 wide by about 9 long x 1.5" thick ... spectacular grain ... $2900. plus your base ... Looks like I;ve got another piece in the foreground there .. Its a piece of birch burl and Im going to add a walnut shelf to it and make a wall hung piece ...
Jewelry ... As usual, Kit has a number of pieces of fine handmade jewelry in gold and silver, from the high end to the low .... lots of earrings too. Give her a call at 802 867 0139 ....
Beach stones ....
She also takes custom orders and does repairs and remodeling to antique jewelry ...
Sculptures ... Ive been dabbling in sculpture as a hobby for the last year or two and have been surprised to sell a few of them ... Ive got a million designs and Im alchoices ready to start the next one ...
Animal Rhythms #1 .. Weve made 4 versions of this sculpture, indoor, outdoor,small, wood, steel ... This is the original in painted mdf .. made for indoors, floor mount as shown or wall mount on hinge brackets allowing for adjustable shadows ... $2450. as shown
Sunrise/Sunset ...painted wood and rusted steel ... indoor or outdoor ... $1500.
The redwood slabs ... I go back and forth between sell these/dont sell these ... The price is high, but the wood is spectacular !!!! they can also be mounted vertical .. indoors only
Right slab close up
Left slab ... click these pictures to see the wood details ... $3000. plus delivery and hanging .. Dancer #1 ... welded steel and locust ... indoors or out ... $1500. about 32 x 9
Revolving Doors Photo above is the wood prototype ... Steel version is ready to hang in a new location ... painted as above (sort of) ... Revolves in the wind and at times, disappears ... Raw steel on the shop floor ... $1850. plus installation in your trees or house ...
Double Discs Two slices of a 105 year old silver maple branch ... from the one time largest silver maple in Vermont. lit with dimmable strip lights ... looks great at night .. indoors or covered porch ... very cool ... $850.
And these two curved pieces of thick ash are just aching to be a pair of benches or some kind of vertical wing sculpture ...
Interested in any of this stuff? Give me a call at 802 867 5541 day ... 802 867 0139 .. night ... Id love to load any of these pieces up for you tomorrow ....

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