Friday, January 14, 2011

A 'Bethlehem Steel' Bureau

I'm 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 it's legs inverted, pointing up. OK, we'll listen. We turned them over and the results are below. More anchored to the ground, but yet lighter feeling at the same time .... Sometimes you can figure things out in the drawings, but sometimes you have to let your instincts take over .... The piece, to us at least, seems to be stronger and more solid in this configuration ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The case with side shims and full extension undermount runners ... It's 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 Irion's finest figured cherry .. I've had this log for several years waiting for the right project ... We had Just enough to make it ...

2 comments:

Jeff Branch said...

Interesting construction for the sides of the case. Plywood, MDF and a skin of the figured cherry is what it looks like.

I would be interested in a view of the back because I toy with how nice should the back of a piece be.

Can't wait to see it with the finish on.

Dorset Custom Furniture said...

hi jeff .. the case is 3/4 birch ply, but the cherry top, ends and drawer faces are all solid wood, from the same log, from irion lumber ... first coat of finish today ...