

a close up of the walnut and burl edge detail

early in the stain/finish process

a view of the bottom

and a photo of the the original, larger, expanding,version that we made waaaay back in 1991 ...














a quick turnaround on this one ... i wrote a blog post on the table below back in january, and a couple of weeks later ... bingo, we received a new order for a similar, smaller, simpler, fixed size version ... the power of the internet ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
this was a challenging and complex project with lots of details to work out ... the inlays, the expanding part, the curved crisscrossing thing, but the new version was a delight ... it wasnt so long ago that we had lost the drawings or forgotten the steps to make it, so trevor went about it in exactly the same choice as last time. after scaling the drawing down in our cad program, he scaled down the size of the elements, made new patterns and proceeded exactly as before, without the leaves and the inlays ... he cruised through this one ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
the 64" version
rescaled to 52"
as before, he started working on the base in the upside down position, which yielded this interesting shape id like to do something with sometime ... glass top? ... larger round top? i dont know ...something ...
on its feet; add a top, and pack it off to the finish room ..
ta dah ...
our standard antique walnut finish ...
we trucked our new slabs to berkshire products last week to ahve them sanded. many hundreds of dollars later, we can really see what they will be like ... theyre not numbered the same as before, but you get the idea ... i think ill let them speak for themselves ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
theres a fine desk in here i think
aka, the goat faced slab
#5 in the photos below ... not bad ...
really not bad at all ...
funky one ...
and below is the original post ...
well, this one looks like its going to be a beauty. the next time you see it, it will be more obvious, but i can tell you now that this piece of timber is pretty spectacular. its slab #2 above. true, its got some minor issues, but ooh lah lah, it looks like there is some fantastic stuff hidden in that roughness. it will make a great coffee or center table, and its available to be transformed and delivered soon to you. lots of other claro walnut ideas to consider in this recent post. click the photos below to enlarge them.
i purchased these 4 new smaller slabs from my supplier, goodhope hardwoods, while shopping for the piece above that i purchased for a new client in new york city. its going to be a 10 foot dining table. its hard to see here, but its covered in curly figure from one end to the other .. i hope to start working it up later this week.
crazy !!
i also purchased these three medium sized slabs and it looks like number 3 or #1 will make a really nice desk. a few years back, we made this mango wood desk, and ever since, ive been meaning to do another along those lines as a spec piece. im working with the director of exhibitions at the guilford, vermont welcome center on route 91 and hope to show some pieces there this summer. nothing like a claro walnut desk to grab some eyeballs.
i just realized i forgot to photograph slab #2, but ill get on that tomorrow.
and ive still got this last piece from the previous set. it is literally in two pieces, cracked from end to end, but is hanging on the wall with steel tube stiffeners for now ... i can see a nice curved, end to end set of butterflies, big to small to big again, reconnecting the two pieces into one fine dining table. its about 45 x 90 x 1.375 thick. great figure hiding in there too. its the next one in the log from the one below .. nice ..
in case you are wondering if i robbed a bank to buy this wood, theres an explanation having to do with our recent show at the southern vermont arts center. we had, as ed sullivan used to say, "a really good show" ... it comes down this tuesday.

