an antique table repair

 it didn't take too long to go from the basket case above to the reenergized table below.  good for another 100 years if my clients can keep the movers away from it.  it was hard for us to imagine quite how it ended up in the shape above, but it looks good now.  we can't figure out exactly how old it is either, not being experts on early factory ?? furniture.  it did definitely have some obviously hand done joinery and a 'bricklaid'  veneered apron, which puts it on the early side, but it also ahd some factory like elements, including the little buttons over the screws holding the aprons on, some slotted brass machine made screws reinforcing the leg joints, yet the top veneer pattern had a hand done feeling to it.  i'd peg it early 20th century, english.  comments?  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 ta dahhhh .. striking piece with a decent, but probably not original shellac finish.

 the breaks in the stretcher were mostly on the long grain and after will stuck them back together with glue and masking tape, i routed in some 3/16ths" maple 'bars' over the repaired breaks to reinforce them.

 i also cleaned and replaced the 4 dowel joints where the stretcher joined the legs.  there were some earlier minor stretcher repairs so it wasn't the first tragedy that befell it ... i don't believe the previous mishaps were as serious as this one though.  will also replaced some broken off pieces on the leg top yesterday and repaired the area where the aprons joined in the bridle joint.  we swabbed on the hide glue today and wriggled the stretcher into place.  no clamps necessary except on the bridle joint.  (almost) good as new.

a small chest of drawers

willl delivered this little piece to shelburne yesterday.  right on lake champlain.  a beautiful house in a beautiful spot.  it's a smallish, 7 drawer chest, with sidehung dovetail drawers, felt on the drawer bottoms, and removable low dividers in each drawer.  i think the form is also called a 'lingerie cabinet' and this one will be located in the client's bathroom.  click the photos to enlarge them.

 

 the construction was straightforward.  a ply case with drawer runners routed into it, and solid wood sides, top, and face frame.  the back is a piece of 1/2" plywood, painted on the outside.

  

  standard issue, quartered white pine dovetailed drawers ..

walnut divider grids, with hardware selected by the designer of the piece, michelle holland, an interior designer we have often worked with in the past.

the finish was clear m.l. campbell magnamax lacquer (a nod to the possible moisture in the bath).  a sweet little piece.

a really old friend

now this piece is what you would call a REALLY old friend.  i actually made this cherry and ash piece, according to the client, in 1980, my first full year in the custom furniture business.  the client was a friend who started and owned a successful art gallery and custom framing business at the time.  the design of the doors is actually taken from one of his most successful frame designs.  originally, there were two shelves above it, but the second one was crowded out in the bar's most recent home by what i believe is a striking gunter korus oil.  click the photos to enlarge them.

i don't remember the origin of the carved drawer pull detail, but i remember it being a challenge to cut those faces out of the top frame board to make the grain continuos.

this view shows more clearly the finger jointed slate frame for the well cared for black slate, and the hand carved backsplash detail

drawer detail with funky dovetails ...

a view of the interior of the cabinet.  i actually remember making the jig to create the 'box corner' detail on the v shaped pieces.  i think the ends of the 'vs' slid into angled slots in the sides of the wine rack.

this piece is actually for sale.  the client is now in his late 70s and intends to downsize to a new home in the spring and he's editing his extensive holdings.  he told me last week he 'hasn;t had a drink in 27 years' and his 'daughters house is too small' so it is on the block at a VERY reasonable price.  way less than i would build it for again now.  if you are at all interested, please contact me at 802-867-5541 for details.

thanks! it's a great piece.  if i had a place for it, i would consider buying it myself !

two cherry side tables

here's a quick little project.  a little trickier than it looked at first, but happy in it's new home now.  the challenge was to make a pair of tables for either end of a couch in a 30 degree bump out in a client's home.  we made a quick, screwed together mockup below to check our angles and used that to formalize the final joinery.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 after placing the mockup at the clients home, we decided to make the tables an inch and a half wider across the front and added an inch and a half along the angled sides.

these two views show the challenges of the joinery more clearly.  the right angle joints were made with traditional mortise and tenons on the apron.  the pattern for the tops, with joinery shown on both sides to make a pair, is in the background of the photo above, with the grain orientation cut plan shown.

the angled aprons were joined with loose tenons cut parallel to the faces of the legs ... the tapering of the legs was the last thing before gluing them up and all legs 'read' an inch and a half at the top tapered 7/8th" at the bottom.  clampng was a trick, and in fact, the angles were just fitted snugly, glued, pushed together and left to set overnight on the table saw in the picture below.

i sent this photo to the client and he questioned whether we actually had a pair of tables, or two the same,  i had to go look in the finish room to confirm that they were, indeed, a pair.  you figure it out.

relaxing in their new home ... all is good ...

another claro walnut slab coffee table

we finished another in our series of claro walnut coffee tables this week.  it was a perfect slab for a coffee table and the rainbow leg from sam's metal shop go perfectly with the color of the wood.  click the photos to enlarge them

 

the raw slab

 

1.5 x 3" welded steel tubing

 

above is the bottom of the slab,  below are a few other coffee tables from the past ... 

 from the dorset artists show last summer

 the last coffee table slab i have on hand at the moment, though i have three new ones arriving sometime in the next two weeks

 2009?

 

2009 .. blog post here

 

 this one had a good story

 from  the art and industries show last summer

a big one to aspen

a custom round cherry dining table

we finished this 42" round cherry pedestal table today.  it's a smaller, simpler table than its inspiration in the photo below.  we made that one, which opened up and had three leaves in the early 2000's.  this client eliminated the painted details and simplified the inlay design, but it's still a handsome piece.  click the photos to enlarge them.

this is a better photo, taken with better light and a professional background paper.

another inspiration piece.  this table we made back in 2008

the natural cherry and maple burl table, before the finish

the pedestal 'propeller' is three layers of plywood, veneered with 1/16th inch cherry veneer, applied using a male/female form and veneer bag.

the pedestal is 8 separate pieces glued up using our trusty jorgensen band clamps

trevor did the inlay with 6 triangles in the central element and a bunch of small pieces that create the borders.

you can see the apron in the background of this photo, early in the finish process.  it's eight pieces of a circle, cut from 8/4, and joined with festool dominos, glue, and pocket screws.  there is also a 5/16ths slightly offset and overlapping bead on the bottom edge of the apron.

red sky in the morning

 sailors take warning

looks like rain later today !

click the photos to enlarge them ...

helen day arts center show

we'll be showing, along with other members of the guild of vermont furniture makers, at the helen day art center in a show that opens on the 18th of january, and runs through the 14th of april.  we'll have 6 of our ladderback chairs  below, with the table above.  stowe is a powerful tourist/ski area in northern vermont, and we already have some new, and old, customers in that area.  it should be a good show. click the photos to enlarge them ...

the chairs are ready to go ... 

 update 1/13

 

i dropped off our table and chairs at helen day yesterday and went to meet with one of my new stowe clients to make a template for a spark screen that sam will be making for an outdoor firepit at their home there.

i had to dig for a little bit to uncover it, but i think i got it ...

and i also got to see the house in its finished form, including the cushion on the curved, fitted bench we made at the top of the three story circular stairway..

we also previously made a hanging swing, which was fun, and a couple of other tables, including the main dining table
 
and in other news, (back to thhe january 4, post) the table below, another in our niche of big claro walnut slab tables, will be leaving for dallas, texas next week sometime.  it's a great looking slab with nice grain and a powerful presence.

 

 

it had an interesting flaw that went completely through the slab and was about 3/4 of an inch wide at its widest point once the loose bark inclusion fell out. 

 

we filled it with our usual stuff and added a little color with some oil soluble aniline dyes from lockwood.

all good ... ready for the legs and the finish

maybelle approves !