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 ...
The finished table and chairs at the SVAC show in May 2010
If I remember my family history correctly, my grandfather worked for Bethlehem Steel as a riveter for 52 years, starting when he was 13 in 1915, retiring at 65 in 1967, dead a year later. He worked on all the great bridges of the 20th century that Bethlehem Steel was involved in, which was most of them it seems ... Ive been thinking of him as the boys and I have been creating a series of pieces, not custom, around the theme of metal and wood. Weve sold a couple to clients passing through and we hope to sell these in the near future. The goal of this series is tell a story, highlight the (unusual) wood, and to build things efficiently and economically.
This is the beginning stage of the table above that we finished this week. The boards (20") were from a log of walnut I purchased from IrionLumber to make a pool table, a project that was, shortly after the boards arrived, canceled.
Two of the matching boards had a square cut out at the sawmill that obviously was to avoid sawing into a spike in the tree. Click the pictures to enlarge them ....
I went back and forth on what to put there, burl, little wood patterned inlays, but in the end, decided a couple textured, blackened steel plates would do the job. I can alchoices change them later if inspiration strikes or if a client wants something personalized there ...
The boards were 10 long and we chopped two cracked crotch sections off the ends. (Not many people have a space for a 10, one piece table) This side table is 28" long x 20" wide x 24" high ...
All the photos in this post were taken in the (currently crowded) finish room and cut from their busy backgrounds with photoshop.
And then, we fnished the one board coffee table. Blow this up and check out the wood. When we made the dining table with the other part of this board, it was stained dark, which masked the various colors that are present in the natural wood ... 39.5 wide, 64 long and 17" high ...
On all these items, the phrase "Buy It Now" from Ebay applies. Pass it on ... Thanks ...
cts 3 .. good figure on the left end .. funky ant attack in the upper left corner. could be dramatic when finished ...
Im sort of fascinated by the wood and steel elements of our newish Bethlehem Steel line. We have been working on it for about a year now and this is the first case piece ... There just seem to be endless possibilities here ... This one started with the drawing above, but as we were building it, even though all the other tables in this style so far have had the legs pointing down, this piece definitely seemed to want its legs inverted, pointing 
The case with side shims and full extension undermount runners ... Its the first time we tried the Grass runners ... So far so good ... They seem to wobble a bit less when you open and close them , and close a little faster than the Blums ... Cheaper too from our supplier ... The high dolly was a brainstorm too ... Hate, hate, hate crawling around on the floor ...
Mocking up the bolts with masking tape .. three holes or four ?? Three it is ...
More bolts in the front center leg ... This is some of Irions finest figured cherry .. Ive had this log for several years waiting for the right project ... We had Just enough to make it ...
9/25 .. all done now
9/10/11 ... were moving along on the table were making from the model above. i posted that picutre, i think, in one i wrote back in june sometime. great concept; exceptionally stable for a small base/big top table. the 3" hollow steel tubing has a nice weight to it, and the 30 x 30 footprint under a 60" diameter top allows plenty of room for chairs and knees.
sam did a great job mitering and welding the pieces. he did have a nice jig that trevor made for him on the cnc, but i cant find the photo of it. it was a simple piece of mdf with a u shape the size of the base routed into it. it made mitering, fitting and welding the pieces of tubing a piece of cake.
add the aprons
and the top plate ...
and the moin equalizing slides ...
i think the model is 1.5" = 1 or 1/8 scale
these runners actually opened further than we needed them to ..
with the leaves in (96" long)
closed, and ready for the black conversion varnish that will go on the top. sam still needs to roll and polish a piece of 1/4" x 2" steel that will be attached over the 1.75" wood apron currently seen under the top and it will be ready to go. fun new concept. gold star to my client for her design input ...
