We made a jig this week that saved about 3 times the time it took to figure it out and construct it and will save many more frustrating hours in the future .... Whenever we have to turn something longer than our lathe can handle (36"), we have been setting up this complicated and intensely fussy drill press jig below ... It is impossible to set it up accurately without a bunch of test holes and test pieces and I just hate it. We were doing just one turning for a friend this week and someone was using the drill press, so I thought, nows the time ... It took about a half an hour and worked on the first try ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
The old set up on the drill press above ...
The new set up ... Youve got to have a chuck that fits in your lathe drive shaft.. I used a regular 1.25" spade bit for these holes and turned an oak dowel to fit. Once you start, you can drill the whole depth of the spade bit if you want, which is about 3". The bits, with their tall straight sides and no lead screw just drill right in there if they are sharp ... I used the tail stock crank to push the stock onto the bit and by first mounting the stock on the regular drive center and tailstock dead center, I was able to locate the guide strips on either side of the stock before inserting the drill chuck ...
It was smoother drilling if I clamped the jig to the lathe choices before drilling ..
Theres the tenon in there ...
Perfect alignment .... we made a stubby tenon that was just an inch longer than the hole was deep that fit nicely. The extra inch let us clamp the stub that stuck out in the vice to remove it after we finished turning and sanding ... Next time well do work like below with a jig like this ...
bed blog post here
We delivered the trestle table the weekend before Christmas ... It fit right in and replaced a table we had built in 2001 or so .. Their previous table was narrower and shorter and has been moved to their new guest house ...
The chairs are by Nakashima Studios and lower than my typical chairs .... The new table is 28" high instead of our typical 29.5" ...
11/18/2010 ......... Were working on a new trestle table design ,,,, The trestle is one of my favorite forms .. it can be light and airy or substantial and weighty ... In the end, the base of this one has a kind of bridgy feeling ... it seems to be on eof my influences lately ... I like the tapered verticals and it was fun figuring out how to make them efficiently and accurately. If it looks a little low, it is. The clients Nakashima dining chairs are only 16.5" to the top of the seat .. We dropped the table about 1.25".... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
We glued up the top from three beautiful 16-18" wide 8/4 planks from Irion Lumber ... Spectacular grain below ... Cant wait to see them finished...
Theyll have one of our aged cherry finishes when were through ...
After lucking into an 18 " wide 16/4 plank, (again from Irions) we next had to figure out how to make the tapered solid verticals. The jig above consists of a carrier with half the total taper for the first shim and them twice the total taper for the multiple passes. We had to add the sacrificial ply rails to allow the planer to pull the wood through and engage the tapered cuts smoothly ... We tapered the ends after we tapered the 18" wide thickness.
One in, one out of the jig right before the last pass.
We made a full size drawing below and added the plinths and skids above ... In the photo above there is also a mini stretcher that we made to check the final angle cuts on that ... We hit it pretty much right on using the angle from the cad drawing ,,,
The finished verticals and the full size layout ...
Will got it all together Friday and we put the top on to check it out ... We have literally no room in the shop to set it down on the floor right now with the 16 big island in the works .... Maybe later this week ... We cant deliver it until Christmas so theres no real rush ... More later as we progress ...
We have done extensive work for these clients including the small room library featured in my Libraries We Have Built post (5th and 6th photos down). Here Jim is checking out a ship model case we built about 8 or 9 years ago ... Its a fantastic model with extraordinary detail ... the story is my clients father was a specialist in arthritis and cured the model maker enough that he made this model in appreciation ... It is spectacular ...
well, 2012 is certainly off to an interesting start ... we finished a stool this week for a client/friend who recently finished this needlepoint project after working on it off an on for a 
next up, next week well be transforming this 8 foot claro slab into a dining table that will then be shipped to england .. imagine that .. its not my first international shipment, but they dont come along everyday .. well crate it up, get it to an agent in boston, and off it will go, i presume, by boat. the house will be finished in april so it should get there in plenty of time.
the leg structure is a new design and were anxious to see it all come together. its 1.5" thick steel and it will be blackened like others we have built in the past ... theres a model of the completed table around somewhere ..
and after that one, we have a show coming up in february at the southern vermont art center (why put things off til the last minute?) and were starting to work on our pieces for that effort. i havent done a show for a while and its alchoices a good exercise. the slab above is going to be probably a dining table or maybe a coffee table. im working on the room layout below. the flat art on the wall will be by marta johansen, and old friend, and were trying to make things that will complement and not interfere with her work. 
its not a huge room, but it looks like well have room for a couple of mirrors in the corners, a bureau, a bench and low console, and the claro slab above in one form or another... well have to see how we do ...
the bureau is nearly complete ... all the cherry for it came from the same log and it has nice figure.
four drawers and steel legs, like half the bureau we made as part of our bethlehem steel series below.
and, im working on a tapered corner mirror belwo that will mount on a wall in the end, but for the show it will have to have a freestanding base.
again, some nicely figured irion cherry...
it will be kind of like this one, only with natural cherry and some steel details.
my other mirror piece, which i have so far only mocked up, will have a fish eye type convex (security) mirror which will (hopefully) reflect all the drawings and furniture in the room in one peek. the base and rod support will need a little more thought and a little more heft, maybe employing some polished firewood ...
i turned and painted this on the lathe from mdf as a prototype. and will added a little gold leaf yesterday morning to set off the mirror from the dark background .. gold leafed mdf ... ha ha ha ! told you you can do a lot with mdf ... 
and wills side business, seeders instruments, has banjo #8 in the works .. picolo style; cherry and walnut ...
he also got a repair/restore job from one of his clients. its about a hundred years old and needs some work ... seeders instruments to the rescue ... more on this stuff as it progresses ...
and sams stretching a bit to create this half oval balcony. bending flat stock in a horizontal plane requires a great deal of patience, adjusting and care.
he made the oval frame where you stand and the bottom and top of the ailing using the same jig.
bending rectangular flat stock in a horizontal plane requires a series of saw cuts and a bunch of grinding. plus the stock has a mind of its own as it is welded and if youre not careful your piece gets longer as you go ... fun ...
then theres the challenge of keeping things square as you fit and weld and the fine challenge of bending thick stock to fit around thinner stock ... home stretch now ... i saw it had primer on it yesterday ...
also, weve got a couple built in bench projects in the works. one is straight and straightforward, and was primed yesterday, while the curved one is more complex and still in the estimating/approval, finish details stage.
cardboard and 1/4" mdf; micro pins and hot glue ...
a little resawn foam for cushions ...
for the straight bench, the designer added the back after he completed the drawings so it was left to us to decide on the angle ... our mockup was a little too vertical ( in the end we ended up with about a 1/2" seat pitch, front to back, and a 15 degree slope off of that. it seemed to look good with the mahogany side tables trevor was working on
the tables below have a hidden drawer
and were working on a new postcard/handout design .. getting close to ordering them. im about out of my old 30 year anniversary ones from two years ago.
ill be teaching a short workshop course on digital design and fabrication at green mountain college in poultney this spring. lucas brown, the head of the furniture program there has designed a one sheet desk and stool. after a couple of prototypes and subtle programming adjustments, trevor is nearly finished with his classroom run of 22 tables ( +/- 288 total pieces) .. they are pretty cool, slip together, and require no fasteners to assemble. the concept is similar to others weve done for vew-do balance boards and wagathas dog biscuits.
and lastly, i passed this slab of claro walnut on the stairs on the choice out the door yesterday ... i have to make a quick poplar mockup, cut it down a little, add some butterflies, finish the wood and steel, and send it off to greenwich village ...
whew, how do i keep track of all this? you might legitimately ask ... well, i dont sometimes. its a constant juggle and shuffle and as time goes by, i rely more and more on my guys to figure it out, help each other, and work as a team to keep ALL of us on track ... im lucky to have em ...
