under the dome ...

well, we're working with peter moore, of vermont brick ovens again.  we made the forms for the one above and a couple of others, and now we're attempting to simplify the on site set up process. 

basically, we have to create a structure that supports the bricks until the mortar sets.  once that happens, the forms all have to come out the oven door so they can be reused on the next oven ... 

in the past, we made about 24 half domes, which then had to be connected with thin strips of wood to support the bricks .. more or less, not much fun.  this time we plan to make 8 ribs and 24 pieces that lay on top of them, like parts of a turtle shell.  click the photos to enlarge them.

we started with this drawing, and decided we could make the 'shell' pieces an eighth of the dome at a time. we had to add more ribs for the two lower sections

the plywood doesn't really want to conform to the dome shape, and each layer is made from 4 pieces of 1/8th inch bending poplar and one layer of 3/8ths wacky wood.  some kerfs were cut in some of the pieces to facilitate the bends and as you can see in the photo below, the dome shape is not bad.

we plan to sand the whole thing once al 24 sections are laid up, cut to size and fitted.

to get the wood to conform, we had to use many screws, which can all be removed once the glue sets.  we may or may not have to fair the curves with bondo, though i think we will get better with the laminates as we do more of them ...

in the end, the finished oven will look something like this one ...40 years of wood working, and i've never made a dome before .. kind of exciting and challenging for sure ... more pics coming as we progress.

some carved scrolls for a mantle

we recently carved some butternut scrolls for a mantle that one of our clients was making.  we had sort of an internet fuzzy photo to use as an inspiration, but we did some google image research and came up with the drawing below.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 

we were pretty happy with it, as was our client, but i did put  it up on the door for an hour or two to make just a few refinements before it went into our cad program.

draw over it ... copy what you need

the reason we decided to do that was that, as you can see from the first photo, the element had to be 13" thick (!!) to complete the design.  after a little thought, we realized we'd need a whole bunch of pieces (about 20, not counting a couple of miscuts and practice pieces) and that led us instantly to the cnc.

after we finished the first one, we checked it on site before we did the second one ... good to go.

 this is an onsite photo after the finish was applied

 

i have the actual cad drawing somewhere and i'll post that later ... all for now ...
on site 12/14

some fancy cnc work

a while back, we worked with our neighbor, steve holman, on two large conference tables, one 9' x 26' and one 8' x 20'. we had to set them up in my garage as neither of our shops was large enough to hold them ... this fall he got a commissions to build two more 'smaller' tables, a 16 footer and a 14 footer. those both fit in his shop and were simpler in design, but we still helped by cutting the table and base pieces on our cnc.

one of the other parts of this project was a fantastic reception desk, designed by steve and paul molinelli, that was full of curves and different levels and was pretty complex as you can see from the photo above. click the pictures to enlarge them ...
so, how did we get from there to here ... it was easy for us. all we had to do was the full size templates, curved plates, and bending forms ... steve and his crew did the rest. i'm sure it could have been done without the cnc, but you would have needed some pretty big french curves to lay out the full size pieces. and then, the small adjustments ... it would have taken some time and some really intense bandsaw work ...
we started by scanning the scale drawing actual size and then drawing over it in our cad programfrom there, trevor imported that into the cnc router program and he added the elevation sections shown above ... next step was the 1/4 scale model you saw in the photo at the top. trevor constructed it by stacking layers of mdf of the proper thickness to correspond with the section drawings at each slice.from there it was a simple matter for him 'scale it up' to full size ... (increase; proportional) and then cut the full size patterns, counters to be veneered and their curved solid wood edges, and the plates from which steve and his crew created the curved walls and curved laminating forms.here are the walls, 'unskinned' ...
in some cases they were covered in wacky wood and veneer panels made with the curved forms, and in some cases, vertical 'siding' of 5/8th" thick solid lumber
next paul carved the 'car element' (this project went to an automotive company) and added the hood element from, i think, a 1937 ford or chevy ... cool ...
and then there was the other part to the project; the two conference tables. one 14' long, and one 16' long ...
this one is makore veneer and cherry. after i did the cad drawings, trevor programmed and cut the vertical elements of the base and the 'outriggers', the horizontal elements that receive the cross bars that support the top. he also cut the top sections to shape and the matching solid wood borders, as well as the holes for the power/data fixtures.
this is a section of the walnut and walnut burl table. ditto for this one except for a little adjustment to the thickness of the inlay panels. for whatever reason, the pockets trevor cut in the top sections were a little too shallow (there were two sets of burl panels made as the first one was 'too dark and burly', so, i suspect that was part of the problem. anyway, it was a quick, though somewhat nerve racking fix. after milling pockets in the spoil board he took a few thousandths off the backs of the panels so that the 1/40th inch veneer panels were just a shade below the surface of the 16th" veneered main table panels ... i'm glad i wasn't the one to level them up ...
but level them up they did ... and below, the solid wood edges are added to the top panels ...
the tables are probably finished by now, and maybe we'll see them before they go, or maybe we won't. anyway, we always enjoy working with steve and his crew. their projects are inevitably a rewarding challenge.

odds and ends

ok ... thanksgiving weekend's almost over ... back to work tomorrow. and i'm sorting it all out (hopefully) today. from the looks of it, i've got a lot of balls in the air, but some of them are either out the door or are in their final throes of being figured out. in the background, not pictured in this post is another custom dining room that will later get its own post. in the meantime, here's what we'll be working on monday ... click the photos to enlarge them.

above, a 'practice' carving that will did recently for the corner of an upcoming dining table project. he'll be doing more of those samples this week as he finishes up the corner cupboard you can see below.

lorne and i have been wrestling with this, what we are calling the 'x table'. the concept came from one of our designer clients, and seemed pretty easy until i tried it .. i kind of had it, but lorne took the ball and ran with it and got it all figured out in the end. he got the angles figured out so they came off the saw perfect and precise and came up with the idea of assembling the two halves, one solid piece and one leg, and then gluing the half laps together last.

here you see the 1/4 scale, half scale and full size mdf mockup .. it was alm ost impossible to find the 12/4 white oak for the real thing, and we didn't have much extra so we were extra careful.

this is one of the halves. with the final concept we were able to reinforce the third leg tenonss with 4" timberlocks and glue, making the entire structure very rigid when it was glued up.

with the 3/4" glass with the 1" bevel. there will be a white pickled finish on the white oak.

and i stopped to see steve holman and he's coming along on the fancy reception desk that trevor helped him with ... that's going to be something ...

a walnut and steel coffee table is headed for the big city this week.

and will is finishing up another banjo project. this is an antique, complete pot and dowel stick, but the original mandolin style neck (banjolin) was missing. there were pictures available online so he could copy the original inlay style and once he adds the tuners, it will be headed for england i think.

the inlays with the original mandolin style, 8 string tailpiece in the jar.

and next up, a 'vermont' banjo. all vermont wood including a dramatic hornbeam fretboard that is covered by the rubber bands here ...
this table will be leaving next week with the x table ... distressed walnut with flip up leaves on the ends and twisted steel supports by sam ... the schedule's tight, but doable with a little luck and extra effort.

and in the background, we've got another custom dining room happening. a table, 8 chairs and a corner cupboard ... more on that project later in a separate post.

and we got the crazy little bobbin leg tables out the door last week. i missed that estimate by about 120% ... win some, lose some. can't say i wasn't warned ..
and lastly, below, i'm working with my chestnut cabinet client on a console table concept.
they like the 'bridges' bench and we're trying to see if it will adapt to console table shape.
looks promising to me. we'll see ... it looks like the last sunny and 50 degree day of this beautiful unusually warm vermont fall. wash the convertible and put it at the neighbor's for the winter .. take the pump out of the pond ... winter's coming ...