claro walnut slab tables

finishing up a couple of claro walnut slab projects next week.  above is the slab we started with for a dining table that will go in a half round room about 10' in diameter ... the drawing is below.  

click the photos to enlarge them ...

here's the finished table .. the story is below

typically before i actually purchase the slab, i will crop it to size in photoshop and often, can erase the dimensions with the 'rubber stamp' tool ... that gives us and the client and idea of the final shape.  in this case, i actually made a full size cardboard template for then to try in the room for a while ... here's the drawing ...

and the model below, with a new base design

painted mdf base, 1" = 1' scale .. picture of the slab glued to the mdf top

the base only ...

the base rectangles are actually welded now ...

and the slab is filled and has its first coat of finish .. 

the steel will have our 'bronzy' patina when it is finished

the base is welded up now .. ready for patina
 

before the final cut to length

we use aero marine clear epoxy fill, #300/21.  scroll down on the epoxy page .. we outline the cracks with a couple layers of tape and then fill to the top of the tape, which after a tiny bit of settling, allows us to
scrape it to a level filled finish.

the second, (and there is actually a third shown briefly in this post) is a largeish coffee table, 

about 46" wide by 66 " long by 15.5" high .. same process ..

first a drawing with the cropped slab photo ...

in this case, we made a full size painted mdf mockup to confirm the proportions ..

 5/2 .. all in all done .. good to go.

it'll be off to providence next week or the week after ... 

more on the '3rd' project as it progresses ... it is being made from slab cts#23

and it has some cracks, but also some seriously dramatic crotch figure ... the first stage

of the clear fill is hardened and we are awaiting delivery of another batch on monday ... 

more stuff

more time flies by, and again i find i'm not doing much writing on my blog here ... been busy, and the work, 

while interesting, is not that new or challenging that it needs to be explained too much ... 

so, we'll continue with the show and tell ...

here we have a small claro walnut slab dining table, about 36-38 x 72 with a walnut bench.

headed to sag harbor soon with a nice mottled green vermont slate and steel coffee table .

'rothkoesque' i believe would be a good description ...

and we're about to wrap up this steel and pine bar .. 

a couple more coats of finish on the top and it will be good to go

'mountains and stream' steel work by sam

and this is how it starts ...

and another one of those 'oil finish in a sunny room' tables from 1991 returned for a visit.

trevor removed the breadboard ends, and rescraped it with his trusty stanley 81

to see what you can do with that tool in 21 seconds, here's a link to a youtube video.

most woodworkers have one of these tools hanging around, but few of them use them as much as we

do .. i don't think it took him more than 15 minutes to get the old finish off and expose the beautiful wood below. 

tah dah .. better than new ... the aged cherry color is beautiful ..

this one, from 1989, from the same client, was a little more of a challenge with the black milk paint details ...

we first scraped what we could, then using a piece of 1/4" mdf to shield the long sections of the center detail

we carefully removed the finish with a chiselscraper.  in case you are unfamiliar with it, a chiselscraper is

 a new tool i made by putting a scraper type hook on a 1" chisel.  a valuable leap of logic.

again .. better than new .. we left the spot where the puppy chewed the breadboard end 

and just a few of the deeper and more meaningful scratches.

and we've got a couple new claro walnut slab projects coming up. the one above is going to be 

a dining table in a half round room ...

about 60" x about 65" with a new base design that looks good on the model ..

and this one is gonna be a big coffee table about 48 x 66 ..

and, on top of all this, i have a kitchen design i'm in the middle of .. more on that later ...

the fish are biting for sam

and i'm back to painting with my friend horst ...

all for now ...

see my dorset custom furniture facebook page for a few good merle haggard videos ..

gonna miss merle too ...

jim harrison .... gonna miss him

so, jim harrison has left the building ... however, you can be assured he gave his whole time here his absolute best shot ... outdoorsman, cook, poet, thinker, writer, storyteller, he did it all.  and admirably and in his own totally robust style.  i think my first introduction to his work was 'dalva', a fine saga i have read and reread numerous times.  he drew fine characters, like brown dog, and led you through their interesting, yet somehow almost believable lives ...

one would do well to read the two things the times has published yesterday and today ... 

the photo above is from the obituary they published yesterday .. 

and this one today by dwight garner

the excerpt below is from a blog post on books that i was reading back in 2010 ... 

there is a category over there to the right called 'what i'm reading'.

 if you are a reader, there are probably a few books there for you, regardless of your interests.

"And, finally, a revisit to a favorite author, Jim Harrison, who we have been reading for at least 20 years now. This guy can get you thinking with every, and I mean every, sentence. I borrowed it from a friend but I'm going to get my own copy. Some sections are so beautifully written and thought provoking they just take your breath away .... You find yourself opening to earlier sections to reread the best parts before opening to where you left off. A historic saga of family life and nature on the American Plains ... Try Dalva too ...

2/20 ... update .... having been so taken with The Road Home, I visited the library and in the last week and read two more of Mr. Harrison's books. The Summer he Didn't Die, and yesterday, in the throes of a headache and general malaise, The English Major in about a 20 hour period ... Both lived up to my expectations and if you like his style, you'll probably enjoy these too ...."