'the old man project'

 well. ok, as bob dylan says ...

' something is happening but you don't know what it is, do you mr.jones?' 

clcik the photos to enlarge them ... 

 as of the middle of the month yesterday,

there have been 50,685 page views so far in September 2025 ... 

whoa!  a lot of new readers showing up here these days!

i have no idea where they are coming from, but i am glad to have them!

i have been writing here since 2007 and it is

personally rewarding to find that people seem to enjoy

what i have written ... 

the back story starts with the link below:

'milestones' from 2022, written when i was much younger

  

there are 7 posts starting with the link to 'milestones' 

that describe the personal 50+ year passage from 

bartender to carpenter to 45 years of professional custom 

furniture making .... i went to the'checkbook school' of woodworking

'checkbook needs money; go figure it out!'

also, if you haven't yet, check the 'slideshow' section for thousands of

photos, some with posts to blog links ..

read on!
 

Welcome New Readers !

sometime around the end or beginning of the month

i often look at my 'stats', a feature of blogger that tracks your

traffic and shows some of the sources of it ... 

recently i have noticed some surprising trends ...

currently over 2,500,000 page views !

and already on the 13th of this month we have had

more traffic than all of last month, which was likely

my biggest month ever ...

so, thanks for reading, and since there are almost a thousand

posts, below i give you links to some of my favorites  ...

leave a comment or drop me an email if you like .
 

below is a post from January, 2023 

titled a 'few of my favorites'.

 

 conveniently listed on the home page of my blog

are, according to blogger, my 'popular posts' ...

 the one at the top of that list has been viewed 

more than 35,000 times, which does make it 'popular',

at least in my book.

below i list not my 'popular posts', but some of my 'favorite posts'.

ones that feature projects that i enjoyed writing about,

and/or feature projects that i am proud of.

here we go .... lots to read here ...

'all the pretty pool tables'

at the time i was writing this post i was also reading

a cormac mccarthy book titled 'all the pretty horses'.

hence the post title, which explains what that post is about ..

the duck bed

i could go on and on about this one, 

and in the duck bed link above, i do ...

 

'chance to be a hero'

this was a rather miraculous repair if i do say so myself ...

we were able to get all the veneer pieces back to flat 

without disturbing the original finish ..

 

some libraries we have built

at least 6 of them there ... one of them took

nearly a year from cutting the trees to installing it

on the upper east side in new york city ...

some big projects there ...

 

all claro, all the time

about a dozen live edge tables in the blog post at that link

and about 45 more at this link

 

algebra and geometry in the workplace

 
a real, deep, head scratcher here ..

create the supports for a conical ceiling ... 

here are the 'plans' from the architect

Ensure Slope Matches Side Wall Angle for Conical Ceiling'

at 2 and 1/16th x 12

and there is always the onsite variable where

the concrete wall on the right is maybe on 2 and 3/16ths x 12

instead of the required 2 and 1/16th x 12, which in

7' adds up!  crazy stuff !

 
a 1/8th" to the foot scale model ...

and your basic algebra here ...

and in 2010 we collaborated with a 

friend to build two rather large conference tables

at 20' x 8', this is the 'small one'

'small' because this one is 26' x 9'

about 2' of granite hangs out over the base pieces
we cnc'd and joined the knockdown parts, 

we did the steel that supports the granite

 and did the wood borders around the granite pieces ...

our friend steve did the finishing and onsite assembly.

                                                                             the crow bar  ... below

i think this will do it for today ... 

more 'favorites' to come sometime ...

and a few more favorites at this link

 

and there are literally thousands of photos in the 'slide shows' 

new moon, new year ... artists don't retire ...

so, i was sitting outside a while ago and it started to rain... i went inside and 

randomly picked up one of my 'blog to print' books ...  leafing through it

i came to the post below ... the chuck close thing below is relevant here..

chuck says that 'artists don't retire' ... 

i may have to rethink things, and declare Will's new shop 

just 'one of' my retirement projects! 

 

From January 1st, 2017 ....happy new year everyone!

as we head into 2017 and my 38th year of custom furniture making, 

i'd like to wish all of you a healthy and prosperous new year.  

we had a lovely holiday season here, and after one more day of rest tomorrow, 

we'll be back at it,

as i sometimes do on the new year, i'll leave you with a few thoughts that have 

been lurking around my brain for a while...
click the photos to enlarge them ... 

back in the 90s, for a while i kept a sketchbook/scrapbook.  it came to light a while back from a box in the cellar, and, while there's lots of (dated) stuff in there, i plan to put some effort into sorting 

through it this year.  

while it was living in my drawer this year, i stuck two clippings on the cover, one about lou reed and one on leonard cohen .. 

'i'd go there more often.' ... perfect! ... both are worthy of some further thought ..

as i fast approach the big 7 zero , i am sometimes asked if i will be retiring soon,

at the moment at least, i think not ... 

besides work and my day to day home life with kit and the boys, i seem to be making plenty 

of time for painting, pottery, golf, tennis, and paddle tennis. i don't sit still well ...

this year, i plan to teach myself to paint at least somewhat more realistically.

i am still in touch with and visiting with my painter friend horst, and though he has recently had a physical setback at 92, is still painting from time to time. i had the most lovely visit with him yesterday as i dropped off a book that i had made for him as a thank you for his 'teachings'.

and speaking of late stage, 

there was a recent article in the new york times magazine on chuck close
about the source of ideas and their relation to 'process' ...
it's a long one, and it concludes with some thoughts on 'late stage' work ..

you'll have click it to blow this one up to read it .. the gist of it .... 'artists don't retire' ... 

so, after some fine visits with friends both old and new over the holidays, stories swapped, both new and familiar, it kind of, for me at this point, boils down to mr. marquez's thought below ..

happy new year!

                                                                         20 minutes later .... 

on second thought, i leave you with a poem, 'Cosmolgy' by billy collins.

typically, i'm not inclined to read much poetry, but i like this one ...

Thoughts on mortality #2

above is a screen shot of the opening paragraph of a blog post from 2009 ..

 it is a bit of a story as to how i got to be reading that post recently, but here goes :

recently i was asked by a long time client/friend to make a box for her husband's ashes.

this is something i am  always honored to do, and i have made many of them ...

we went back and forth on the design and wood choice and settled on

the spalted maple you see above ... as it turned out, she plans to 

'go with him' and so, i eliminated the divider i had suggested in the original design.

the thought was that i could just 'double my regular box size' ...

but after doing a little research on 'cremains' i realized i could go a bit smaller ..

more or less final dimensions below ...  

these folks were longtime 'summer' clients, at their house here in dorset,

when they were not at their ranch near san marcos texas ...

we made many live edge pieces and a few 'outside the box' pieces 

involving burls, mirrors and antlers ... these folks were master collaborators ..

and always fun to work with ...

 

the note ... 

 

i leave you here with another part of the 2009 post  ...

from old st. pauls church, baltimore, 1692 ..

 

'gracefully surrender the things of youth'

....... 

'be careful. strive to be happy'

 

good advice a plenty there!
and below  

lookin back down the road ...

 in the early stage of my retirement now, one of my projects

has been to organize my 60+ sketchbooks from the past 50 years

so, a little history tour here ...

arranged now chronologically with important client's

names noted on the covers and spines 

                                        1999, the year was a good one with many important 

clients and interesting projects.

 

i have been reviewing these sketchbooks off and on now for a while

and i have accidentally created more than one album of photos

of some of the sketchbook  pages ... here's one album

here's another ... 'some of the best' 

there will definitely be some overlap

between the slide shows, but

there are many in each of them that 

aren't in the others ..

. 'good ones' 

 45 years is a long time!

here's another !

'early portfolio pictures' 

and then there's all the slideshows of  

'work from 2000X'

through 2023 ... i need to add one for 2024 ...

sometime ...
i leave you with a few words from the singer James McMurtry ...

he is always worth a listen ! 

 
 

 

Long Ago and Far Away

 Long Ago and Far Away

last summer, some long time friends closed their store in manchester

after 7 days a week for 38 years, and moved to an online version

at a newly constructed building at their house nearby.  

while visiting Grant after some Achilles tendon surgery

he and Betsy mentioned that  they felt that their new building was

'a little plain', and asked me 'what do you think?'

i had the same problem with a blank wall at my shop,

and over the years i have added some random elements

to 'spruce it up'

a piece of ash, left over from the curved benches

and a blade from a big crosscut saw ...

that seemed like enough, so i never added the cutter bar

that hung vertically off to the side there ...

i had some cherry on hand from a curved log i had sawed

about 10 or 15 years ago and, while i have some ideas,

i still have six or s even slabs left, plus another similar log.

we then did some noodling ...

and some mock ups

the pointy thing seemed 'not right' and they wanted to use the 'globe'

from the sign on their store ... i added the cutter bar ... BINGO!

 i went up Thursday and hung it up

 big hit!

 

'retirement project'

 

ALL IN, ALL DONE !!

as the saying goes, my part of the project is finished.

Lincoln Coderre, of Domain Doors, hung the overhead door on

Will's carport on Thursday, and while he was doing that, i finished up a corner

workbench inside the shop that i started Wednsday, so, i am 'all done'  !!

It has been and interesting 6 month exercise.

 

From 1974 to the end of 1979 i worked as a carpenter for

Mark Breen Builders in the Manchester/Stratton area. during that time,

 i think at one point we counted up 30 plus houses that we worked

on in that time ... things were simpler then, for sure!

for instance, some houses take a little longer these days ...

we started doing some work on that one in late 2021 and i'm

not sure if it is completely finished yet!

 12.12.2024

 i tried the 'retirement thing' once before,

back in 2018 ...

but for many reasons back then it didn't 'stick',

and i spent the next 5 years working with and mentoring

our nephew Kristian Moore, who is now taking

on the new furniture projects that come our way ...

at this point, he can do anything i can do,

only he can do it better !

my 'executive function' has left the building, and,

i realize that at 77 it ain't coming back. 

so, what to do with all that free time since my 'last project'

 well, i guess you can't have too many buildings, and Will 

is taking up quite a lot of space in Sam's shop

with the mills and lathes for his banjo business.

to be located just outside of Sam's shop

so, here we go!

this one will likely be the last building at 

the 'west dorset industrial park'

below, the rafters will start to go up tomorrow!

nothing like three weeks of concrete and carpentry

to make you feel all of your 77 years ...

more process photos below

slab by ashley waite, of waite foundations ..

AKA 'hippie foundations' in 1974 ...

ashley poured the foundation for our first house

in arlington in 1974 ... it was great to work with him again.

red mountain road  arlington, 1974

this past tuesday 8.27 ... progress has been made ...

 

we had some professionals here from Scott Thompson Builders 

for 4 days the week of september 3rd, and they got us going pretty good

 

they got the ridge beam up, the rafters and the plywood and paper on the roof .. 

they also studded the gables and got the plywood on them ... thanks guys!

 

Luke and i trimmed the roof and we are ready for the slate, which should 

start to happen soon ... first day of rough wiring by brophy electric last Friday ... 

10/13  Update ... 2 months and 10 days since the dydo and company 

backhoe arrived, things are really happening now.   

the siding is complete most of the way around the building 

and we should be able to wrap it up on the next sunny day .

the beautiful purple slate is being installed by Dave and Zack Wilmott of

Battenkill Slate and is complete on the right side and on the carport,

and, as with the siding, the roof will likely be done the next sunny day too ...

the sheetrock has been hung by versatile drywall, and the taper 

will be here 'first thing Friday' ... 

seth of longboardlumber.com will be here  tomorrow

with some ribbon stripe mahogany for the the double doors

on the front.

then, some paint on the walls and floor, the big doors on the front, 

and we'll be ready for the lights and Will's machines!

more soon!

 

november 1st ... three months to the day since 

Dydo and company showed up with the backhoe ...

the slate is all on now ... 

Dave finished it up last saturday ...

 

the attic stairway went in yesterday

and the doors are hung with temporary plywood panels ...

i have to detail the sapele panels and make 64 moldings 

to fix them in place ... we hope to move

 the machines in next week!

the heat is on thanks to GSK Climate Control

 

11.15. 2024 ... OKAY!  the machines were moved yesterday 

and they are in their rough locations now ... thanks to

Sparky from Dydo & Co. for his help moving some

 heavy and sometimes awkward stuff!

 

the super accurate hardinge lathe

the spinning lather and horizontal mill

the leblond in the corner

and Sam has his shop back!

with LOTS more space!

and the new brazing station is almost set to go

a 360 degree video view here

12.12 ... the big sapele doors are done, and all

of Will's machines are wired up and ready to run

for me about all that is left to wrap this up is

a nice overhead door for the car port.

we are meeting with the overhead door guy tomorrow.

i am hoping to do something on the left there 

in keeping with the big doors  ... i need to order 

some sapele marine plywood to match.

 

four buildings plus a sawdust shed .. that should about do it !

home stretch on the overhead door, the last piece of the puzzle

the glass is in and the finish is on!

there is a hardware part that is back ordered and 

will not be here until early February.

we're ready to go!