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 ...

time flies ...

3/6/16 .. no snow!

it's been almost a month since i wrote my last blog post ... don't know why, just needed a break i guess.  it might also be the spring in the air ... the convertible is out and the top has been down several times.  crazy weather for march.  the wood frogs are croaking (most years it's april before that happens), the robins and buzzards are back. ducks on the pond.  black spotted salamanders are out ... all that is also rare in march. and, i've golfed twice already!  once at 'arlington national', a par 3 down the road, and once at kingswood, a real course that opens early in nearby hudson falls ... manure on the asparagus and the garden today, kit stacked some of next years firewood.  cold again now though. so here's what happens in about a month at DCF. ... long post coming up ...

we have managed to get a few things out the door though, and that feels good ...

this 'black' walnut desk was a collaborative design with a new local client ..

and we did a couple small tables for the husband's office at the same time . 

they've got stone tops on them now

and i learned of the death of a long time friend ... i lived and traveled with mr. johnson, on the right above on his 59 caddy.  that's me on the left on my '61 f-85.  we lived and worked as bartenders/waiters for 2+ years traveling the country and europe .. starting in december of 1969, we moved from ft lauderdale to the ocean reef club in key largo, then to washington,dc for a month at blackies house of beef, 22nd and m st.,

then on to montauk, above for the summer of 1970.  fall we went off to san francisco, which turned out to be unionized, so we couldn't easily get jobs there, and then to palm springs, which wasn't.  we spent the winter there, saved enough money to do a couple months in europe, (on $5. a day as the book said then), and then to vermont where my sister got me a job as a bartender, and johnson got a job as a waiter.  i got off the bus in arlington, the 5th of july, 1971 with $6. in my pocket and everything i owned in one hand ... met the wife about a month later and here we are now, 45 years later, buried in stuff.

life goes on ...enjoy every healthy moment ...

from basket case to good as new (almost)

original horsehair upholstery

and here we have another challenging restoration ... it is the client's father's chair, and he has been sitting in it daily since at least 1992.  i fixed it quickly about 10 years ago, but this time we did a frame off restoration.  it's at the upholsterers now for the new leather .. should be sharp when it's done.

lots  of tracks of previous repairs ... a worthy piece though .

made me think of this new yorker article again

all in, all done .. new leather

and we delivered another spalted maple table this week.  this one with benches with little mini shaker legs.  the  benches will have cushions eventually ..

i received an enthusiastic email from the clients below who were not there when we delivered it ...

'We LOVE the table and benches!!! I'm working on the chairs that will go at the ends, and cushions or sheepskins to go on the benches, and once the look is complete, we'll send you some good pictures.

I'm at the office in Manchester today, Paul is with the boys- not sure if they'll be home this morning or not.

thanks again,

Chrissy'

and this fairly serious project metal working project will be headed for burke mountain vermont on friday.  a pair of bunkbeds above and a trundle bed below .. they have a bronze patina on them now and the walnut headboards and ladder are finished .. should be sharp when it's all set up ...

and we've got another bed headed for albany, probably tuesday.  you can;t see them in the photo, but there are also sort of 'hidden' big drawers under the platform.  they have angled faces, which were kind of a pain, but you'd never know they were there without getting down to look ..

the drawer box slabs will hang separately from the main headboard.

and we refinished a couple of small tables for a local client ..

and delivered and installed these 8/4 walnut bookcase down by new york city ..
32" x 7'  lookin' sharp

and we cut a long slab that a client purchased for a bar top and coffee table

sanded and finished them and sent them on their way ...

so, while i haven't been blogging, i have been posting to instagram, a newish thing for me ..
it's been fun trolling through the old stuff from the 80's and 90's, before digital.
follow along if you're interested ... #dorsetcustomfurniture

and sam is #sammovt

for banjo stuff, will is #seedersinstruments ...

manure on the asparagus 

and on the garden yesterday .. this time of years it's good to be on at least one person's shit list ...
all for now .. paddle tennis at 10:00 ...

a 'white' oak bed

we finished this one up last week and it will be heading for cape cod as soon 

as the house is finished ...

click the photos to enlarge them ...

 

 
we had an inspiration image from the designer, and we played with several different
layouts including ones that aren't shown in the drawing above

sam welded up a nice steel base,

and chris layed out the headboard from the drawing

lots of white oak pieces, lots of grooves and lots of spline

almost ready for the frame

mitered and glued and screwed on from the wall side .. 

some minwax pickling stain and some water based poly to keep the oak white

and we're good to go ... 

looking forward to seeing it with the mattress and duvet.  it should be sharp.

good design lasts and lasts

i made that door in 1978 ... sort of the same ...