weve been working on these boookmatched ash benches since, oh, 2010 sometime.  well, actually, weve been wondering what to do with these planks for that long ... benches was alchoices a possibility, but so too was a wall mounted or outdoor sculpture ... its settled ... benches they are now ... and pretty cool ones too, if i do say so myself ...click the photos to enlarge them.

 lots of different choices to use them, but they seem to like to be face to face like in the top photo, though the long version above is pretty cool too ...

 

 they are currently looking for a home, along with a few other items featured in ourinventory reduction sale in the next post.

 seriously, for more information and pricing, give me a call at 802 867 5541, or send me an email at 

dan@com ..

rolls royce and planks, from the open studio 2010 blog post .. open studio coming up again this year on memorial day weekend ... be there ..

 this is more what they look like when they are not in the bright spring sunshine .. 

it really was spring here today.

the choir or bleachers position ..

 the legs started out as 12/4 ash, and jim tapered them with a jig he made for the planer, planing one tapered  side off a little bit at a time, on all of them, and then changing his shim thickness to do the other side ... the he rounded them off with a handplaned and addded the little left arch at the base.

 for the finish, we burned them with the big torch, wipe on some ben moore carnival red oil paint, burned the ma gain and wiped them red again.  the tops were just treated with bitterroot Penofin.  good to go, inside or out ... fun project ...

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update on the george the third style table

well, due to the vagaries of my shippers schedule, im going to have some time to get a formal picture of this one,  but for now, heres a snapshot.  there were a lot of steps and stages in its construction and im glad to see it finished.  heres a link to the original blog post that details making, detailing and gluing up the pedestals, and photos of the edge and inlay details.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

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 ...

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a custom studio style dining room

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 ....

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Quick Tip Suitcase Style Cases

Im working to keep regular postings to The Penultimate Woodshop the norm. Its my goal to post at least once a week. Based on that schedule I should be posting again on Sunday. As life will be getting in the choice this weekend with a trip to Pennsylvania and Ive brought home a few hours of work to do tonight, Im squeezing in this quick post now.

One of the regular features I hope to have on The Penultimate Woodshop are Quick Tips. Im hoping that I can share some of my own, point you towards others I find on the web and include some sent in by readers. So here is the first: what Im calling "Suitcase Style Cases." They are plastic cases with clear plastic lids and multiple compartments on the inside. Some have fixed compartments, some have adjustable compartments and some have removable compartments. The two featured here are of the fixed and removable compartment variety. I use the fixed one to hold and organize all of my screw gun bits. Its more than big enough to house them and is small enough to fit in my tool bag when I need to take it with me. The one with removable compartments pictured is for my Kreg screws. When I pull out my Kreg jig it lets me have quick easy access to any screw I might want. Ive even written a chart on the side that tells what length Kreg screw to use for what thickness of wood (not pictured). I also have "Suitcase Style Cases" for: DeckMate screws, framing nails, co-axial cable splicing tools, pan head stainless steel screws and flat head stainless steel screws.

The universal advantage I find to "Suitcase Style Cases" is that they keep all of a particular category of tool or supply easily grouped together, portable and dust free. In the future I plan to build a rack with drawers to house the cases. The drawers will be plywood bottoms with small lips around the sides. A "Suitcase Style Case" will fit on each drawer. When the cabinet is closed it will let me store them when not in use. Ill be able to pull out an individual drawer and flip up the lid of the case to access the contents without having to use up valuable bench space for the "Suitcase Style Case" and if I need to use the contents of the case outside the shop, I can just pick it up off the drawer and take it with me.
How do you store small parts? Whats your shop tip?

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a studio style console table

   will has been working on this studio style console table/sideboard for one of our midwest clients. wwe made a coffee table for them back in 2003? or so and after going back and forth on woods, colors and designs, we ended up with this design, a slightly contemporized version of a sideboard from my own house. its a classic example of our studio style and below you can see it go from conception to completion ... click the photos to enlarge them ....
start with the legs and mortise them and fit up the tenons on the frame parts below ...
than add the dust frames that the drawers ride on ...
fill out (shim) the sides to keep the drawers running straight ....
add the knife hinges for the center doors ... we went back and forth on other hinge options but while these are the fussiest and most time consuming, they also are the cleanest and least obvious ...
lots of pieces ...
make the top and add the inlay and the breadboards ends ... wow .. these pieces have a really lot of work to them ... they seem so simple when the are finished that i almost invariably underestimate them somewhat ...
here will is gluing up the case and preparing to add the ends. the interiors are shellacked and waxed and ready for the final fitting of the drawers and doors .. wrapping it up soon ...
love the hat ... i ended it up with it after my father died. my uncle picked it up for him on one of his road trips. mosheim market was/is? located in mosheim tennessee, small town likely named for one of our unknown mosheim ancestors ... there arent many of them that i know of ... a branch in argentina, one in austria ... i remeber in the 80s that my uncle said they gave him the keys to the city as he was the only mosheim in anyones memory that had ever come to town.
ok .. home stretch today ..
we made several photoshop mockups and cad drawings to help the clients visualize the space .. more on that later ...
here are some shaded cad drawings showing a few different possibilities, and above, the finial cad drawing ...

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