update 10/31 ... were on the home stretch on this project now. well be delivering the sideboard and table today and the 8 chairs later in the week. coincidentally, we have another dining room coming up next. an oval table (52 x 86), 8 chairs and a corner cupboard ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
the 8 chairs before the arms and the finishing ..
here we have our arm adding process. essentially, we use the mdf too keep the arm blanks parallel to the seat rails until we can do the joinery and the final shaping
the completed armchairs ...
10/16 ... on our website you can see a type of furniture we refer to as our studio style, which could also be thought of as a signature or default style ... the kind of stuff we have made for 25 years for many clients and for our own home. it design nidea originated with a client who spent some time in germany and commissioned us to build a custom desk for her like the furniture she saw when she lived there. i later came to understand that what she was describing to me was actually furniture in the biedermeier style. that was in 1986, before one of the definitive books on the style was published about 1992 and, believe it or not, before the internet and google even. so we kind of made it up on our own. these pieces are direct descendants of that german and austrian idea from the mid 1800s. must have been in my german blood. click the photos to enlarge them.
the construction process for these designs requires first building the piece and then completely disassembling it for the coloring and varnishing. the pieces above are for the sideboard that is part of this commission. it is identical to one in my own home except that the center detail will be part of an oval instead of the angled geometric one in the photo below.
loyal readers have probably seen this one before ...
heres how it goes ... in the early stages, all the details are left flat so they can be registered with each other and then the shadows and bevels are cut when the individual pieces are disassembled for coloring and finishing ...
at this point, nothing is glued, though the web frames are screwed to the insides of the face pieces, and the piece is completely rigid.
we leave the lower rail element uncut at this time too ... and then the drawer faces and the central element are fitted tightly in the holes. the final fitting happens after the case is finished and glued up ...
dovetail time ...
pulls and more finish tomorrow ...the palette for this project is natural cherry and curly hard maple, with ebony and black milk paint details
here will is reassembling the table base that he made a few weeks ago.
the top and leaves of the table have a curly maple and ebony inlay that we routed out and filled back in. ... here lorne has finished installing the ebony borders before fitting up the 1/8th" central curly maple veneers.
once the bottom of the top is finished, the base is assembled and installed, the table is flipped, and the top is final scraped, sanded, and finished on its base ... runners again from our friends at moin hardware.
tah daahhhhh ... with the leaves in, before the fnish. 10 x 42" wide
a quick finish sample/palette study for the clients
we will be wrapping up the chairs and the sideboard this week ... delivery time soon ... more on all of it as we finish up ....
lots of pieces to keep track of ....
1/10/2012 ... all in , all done ... leaving for arizona thursday morning ... were all happy with the final and will is proud of his carvings ...
12/27/2011 ... were on the home stretch on a new walnut dining table. this client came to me from reading this blog, so we knew how to work together immediately. and, the process was, as expected, a pleasure.
the concept for this table is based on two previous tables, the original, a more formal mahogany project with wildlife carvings (ducks, a turkey, a woodcock and a grouse) on the leg corners,
and the maple leaf table, a project that appeared in this blog in june of last year.
this table also, is a variant of our own dining table, a studio style dining table that first appeared in my design repetoire back in 1987, and still is a popular part of our style. we have made many, many variations on the theme. you can see some by browsing that link to the small tables section of our website. im working up to a post on the life of various designs concepts and how they can run as threads through a designers work and continue to generate new ideas. maybe soon ...
on to this table ... this client has a background in the california fruit orchard culture and while we kicked around a few other ideas, the fruit themed carvings were the final winner. after a couple of quick test carvings where we even considered paint and color, we gravitated to a natural finish for the whole table with some glazing in the carvings to make them stand out a bit and give them depth ... well be wrapping it up this week and hopefully sending it off to arizona shortly after the first of the first of the year.
here will is scraping the two board 42" wide, bookmatched walnut top. these are boards from the same log as the bethlehem steel table, only without the defects.
beautiful natural grain, here with two base coats of gloss poly.
early stage in the joinery where the tenons are cut and fitted before the angles, shadows and borders are finished.... easier that choice.
the original, client supplied avacado sketch, and wills sample carving of it.
the final with our inspiration photo below.
and below is the orange with a blossom and our brief experiment with color ...
might have been nice, but i prefer the understated elegance of all one color with hints of glaze.
last fit check before the carving.
and heres how we glue up those legs with the rounded, carved corners.
we shipped another in our series of shaker leg claro walnut slab desk and tables this week and it is now on its choice to wisconsin. its similar in design to the last claro slab table we made and is, in fact, a slab from the same log ... this slab was closer to the heart of the tree though, and the figure was a bit darker and richer. lots of little curls ... click the photos to enlarge them ... 
the process for this project was typical, and it started with the selection of the slab ... this can happen on the internet through one of my suppliers, like good hope hardwoods. we then planned the trim cuts and did a plan view drawing, placing it in the room to check clearances and proportions above.
we decided to straighten the angled edge somewhat to get rid of most of the spidery crack which required me to fire up my trusty chain saw. that alchoices takes me back to me logging days in the early 70s..
we trimmed the ends just a bit too to get rid of some drying cracks
next the base pieces were bolted together and routed into the bottom of the slab for additional stability. once these bases are bolted on, the structure is completely rigid and there is no wiggle or shake whatsoever. in this case, the client chose a blackened rather than our original satin polished base. i kind of like the new blackened look myself ..
we then had to design the drawer structure to provide knee room and acceptable storage at the same time ... we came up with drawers that were about an inch and a half deep inside, which seemed to provide ample room for knees.
we ended up with some (3) secret compartments in the structure which are alchoices fun to design and execute .... there is even a hidden tool that sam made for opening the main compartment ...
heres a final look of the bottom of the desk. in the end, we notched the sides of the drawer box so that the base could be removed without disturbing the drawer box itself ... the desks final destination is a second floor home office and, completely assembled it probably weighs close to 400 pounds ... two people can pick it up, but flipping it on its side and carrying it up a flight of curving steps would be a challenge for all but the most rugged of us. the movers were extremely happy to have us disassemble it for them ... reassembly is 8 lag bolts and 4 #14 screws. 5 minutes, tops ...
we added a few dividers to the drawers and went with chestnut pencil trays in each drawer ... good to go ... blanket wrapped shipping by plycon was professional and reasonable considering that wisconsin is not around the corner from here ... happy thanksgiving if i dont get a chance to write again !!
