a claro walnut slab coffee table

we delivered the claro walnut sllab coffee table to connecticut yesterday. it was one of the slabs that we received back in february. one is slated to shortly become a gallery piece and two are still available. the clients found our website, and, coincidentally, they have a second home in the area and were able to stop by, select the slab the like, check out several base designs and finalize the details. it was one of those projects that went along quickly and smoothly from start to finish. i hope to get an onsite picture at some point as jim said it really completed the room. click the photos to enlarge them ...this was our original photo shown on our blog ...
this is the side they selected and the details we decided on during their visit ..
the cad drawing
after the second coat of gloss ...
sams welding jig that we made on the cnc ...
parts and pieces ... in the end, we used our blackening finish ..

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update on the 60 claro slab

all in, all done ... i had to take pictures of this one three different times before i finally got it right, but it was worth it ... this is a really wide piece of walnut and its kind of unlikely ill get one like it again. click the photos to enlarge them ...
you can see a little more of the base here ...
and in this shot, some of the natural defects (ant trails) that we left in the finished piece ...
and heres the photo from my supplier, good hope hardwoods, that i sent to the potential client to seal the deal.
and here is sams fabricating/welding jig that he used when building the trapezoidal shapes for the base verticals ... those he connected with 2.5" angle iron which gave us a rigid, independent base structure which we will remove for shipping ...
this table top had some miles on it before we finished, and it was no picnic to move it .. it started in california somewhere, went to pennsylvania, to dorset and the woodshed at my house, moved to the garage, from there to the shop for final smoothing and sanding, and then to the finish room on a special cart we built to get it out the door .. going down the 2 high 8 long ramp from the front steps of the shop was thrilling.
across the drivechoice was a piece of cake comparatively ... jim is actually on tiptoes here ...
and here you can see the cart and the more relaxing ramp into the finish room ...
where it went through its usual paces ... off to aspen this week, or maybe el paso first.

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as i was a little rushed setting up for open studio, i feel a couple of our pieces that we finished last week deserved a few more comments and photos, so here they are, along with some other photographic highlights from the weekend ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

above the open studio shop photo is a better photo of the claro wlanut slab table we had on display this weekend.  it is leaving tomorrow with the ladderbacks to spend the summer at the vermont visitors center in guilford.  a lot of folks (about 600,000 stop there per year) enter vermont from massachusetts and connecticut on route 91, and were hoping that some of them will see our work and contact us with new commissions .. it seems like we ought to be able to get at least one or two out of 150,000 or so.  summers a good time here ...

 

this is a close up of the under structure with our new base design using polished and welded 5/8ths" rebar.  people almost smiled when they noticed the rebar ... it fits in with our bethlehem steel and bridges series too.

for the copper table, which was the other big furniture hit of the weekend, we started out with a 1/2 size model a month or so ago.  i did that on my own nickle, even before i actually got the commission for the big table.  i figured i couldnt go wrong with whatever i wound up with, and i was intrigued with the clients concept as well as my concept for executing their ideas.  it also was a test of my local sheet metal shop on the execution of the design ...

the clients loved the model and i even found a half size chair mockup i made a long while back to contribute a sense of scale.  this is it in the raw and our only objection was that the copper didnt lay perfectly flat and humped and rattled occasionally, a problem i expected to get worse as the individual sheets doubled in size.  i also figured there are only so many nails you can apply before it would look too naily.

so, our solution was to get some weldwood contact cement and glue each copper piece to the plywood and 2 x 10 substrate as we went along.  before we got our veneer bags, this was our typical process for installing central inlays in our dining tables.  it also works great for male/female lamination forms. these are mostly 2 ton hydraulic jacks you can get quite cheaply on line or at your local hardware.  i think i have about a half dozen.  be sure to support the table underneath before cranking them up.

 the last little bit of design was stablilzing the two base pieces and supporting the 9 span, which we did with sams help and a little twisted and welded steel ...

 tah dah ...

after sanding and sort of polishing the copper and the nails with some red 5" round scrotchbrite pads we found at the hardware store, we applied a chemical called liver of sulfide (outside please... rotten egg smell) and today, after some back and forth, i oiled it with a polished on coat of linseed oil which blended the fingerprints from the weekend and made it look like a beautiful old penny.  i absolutely love the look and i have a couple proposals to send out for other sizes and different bases.  liver of sulphur is available from dickblick art supply.  clean the copper first with dish soap and a little ammonia. follow the directions and rinse neutralize (2 spoons of baking soda to 2 cups of water) the copper when it looks they choice you want it to.  the initial cleaning seems really important ... 

here jim patinas the 1/2 size mockup.  you can clearly see the before and after here.

a view down the tables 11 length ... its off to Connecticut tomorrow ... 

 and we have a 10 claro walnut table that is virtually finished, slightly ahead of the house where it is going to live. it needs only a final topcoat and some polish.  i thought about setting it up on its base for the weekend, but its really heavy, and the shop was too full, and maybe wed drop it, or someone would scratch it ... in the end, we left it on edge, covered with soundboard and only occasionally allowed interested visitors to have a peak ... enlarge this one.  it has a great fiddleback figure over its entire length and is without a doubt the most consistently figured slab i have ever seen.

   we did set up its blackened base though .. folks are alchoices amazed at the minimalness of the structure, but that is made up for by the weight of it.  steel prices have skyrocketed lately though and that is the reason we are exploring other base deisgns like the rebar above.  just the steel and the cutting was $1800. and then the pieces still have to be drilled and tapped, ground and polished, sanded, patinated and finished, a process that almost doubles the cost of the steel.  i get a lot of inquires on these, but few takers.

 

 sams spark screens above and wills custom banjos below were also much discussed items.

hes got a pete seeger type longneck in the works at the bottom of the photo above.  the fretboard for that one is as long as the entire new daffodil  picolo banjo below. 

 skin head, nylon strings, canary wood inlays, antiqued brass hardware, warm tone.

kits jewelry is back in the safe and

pennys colorings are back in her home gallery ...

the rhododendrons and peonies are blooming, most of the garden is in and dinner is done ... lights out ...

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 ok, at least were starting to think about spring here ... the ducks came back to the pond on thursday, but after a cold but sunny friday, it snowed again last night, and its in the 20s again today.  the ducks are frozen out of the pond until it warms up again.  its pleasant today, but not like wednesday, when it hit almost 50 and the sky was that incredible blue.  springtime in vermont is something of a tease.  back and forth, forth and back, and on and on for a few weeks.  we should have crocuses in a week or two, but youd never know it today.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 

weve had daffodils from the store on the counter for a couple weeks and they are alchoices welcome.

 but the back yard and the mountains are looking like winter still

 and then youve got the black and white days like this one last week, where the only color in the picture is the stop sign ...

no color at all here

 but the barred owls are calling ... nesting time for them soon , and even though the pheobes wont be back for a few weeks,we cleared their  nest off the cornice return this week ... 

 yeah, its as soft as it looks ... a work of natural art weaving for sure

theres wood to stack.  im outta here ...

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a copper top coffee table

update 8/16/2012 ... we delivered the copper topped coffee table today ... these things are tough to photograph ... after the patina, there are just so many subtle colors, and the metal is sort of shiny underneath, so you pick up reflections from just about everywhere ... but, its in its new home now, and it looks great there ... everyones happy ...
the copper turns into kind of an abstract expresionist coloring ... the chemical is somewhat unpredictable in consistency ... were thinking it is that so much copper is recycled today that there are just all kind of things running through it ...
original post from 8/14 below here.

were doing another copper topped table. we made the first one back in may for one of our clients who had a big empty covered porch ...

same process ... because of the choice the corners are done, folded straight down, we put little copper corners routed into the subbase flush in place before we start. its important to think about where your later nails are going at this point so you dont have one in the wrong place when you go to apply the top sheets later. click the photos to enlarge them.

starting in one corner, the sheets go around the table with each sheet having a 1" tab that goes past the joint and under the next sheet. the table and the copper are first sprayed with 3m spray 90 contact cement and then CAREFULLY pressed into place ... that stuff is sticky and a sheet stuck down wrong can be tough to relocate.

the sheets are laid out for the nail holes and drilled for the nail shank to pass through the copper and then piloted with a bit slightly smaller than the 1.5" copper slate nails that we use. jim bevels the edges of the heads of the nails by chucking them in a cordless drill and carefully spinning them on the running edge sander . were looking for a beveled head, thats not too small or sanded too thin.

this is the pattern we use. down the center of the joints and 1" to either side. the edges are nailed on center of the 2.25" thick edge, which was bent on a brake in a local tin shop. we also use small cut copper nails treated on the sander toward the bottoms of the corners and joints to keep them down if someones clothes catch on them as they are passing by ...

on to the liver of sulphur and steel wool process, which i described pretty fully in the post for the previous table. a little oil and varnish mix over the patina and some varnish on the legs tomorrow and well be all set. ive got a cad drawing somewhere that i will post with the picture of the table when its finished ... the dimensions are 40 x 60 x 17 high ... the copper around the outside is 13" wide plus the bend, an inch of that is covered by the center sheet, leaving a 12" exposed band around the outside of the table ...

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