a claro walnut slab coffee table

we delivered the claro walnut sllab coffee table to connecticut yesterday. it was one of the slabs that we received back in february. one is slated to shortly become a gallery piece and two are still available. the clients found our website, and, coincidentally, they have a second home in the area and were able to stop by, select the slab the like, check out several base designs and finalize the details. it was one of those projects that went along quickly and smoothly from start to finish. i hope to get an onsite picture at some point as jim said it really 'completed' the room. click the photos to enlarge them ...this was our original photo shown on our blog ...
this is the side they selected and the details we decided on during their visit ..
the cad drawing
after the second coat of gloss ...
sam's welding jig that we made on the cnc ...
parts and pieces ... in the end, we used our blackening finish ..

Simple Things

Nakashima had it right ... Get some nice wood ... Make some stuff to hold it up that doesn't distract from it, put a nice finish on it, ship it out. We finished the table for the 'Porch In My Finish Room' project. It's a slab of wood with two pieces of 16/4 walnut and some angle iron holding it up .... Minimal ... Stunning ... KISS ... Keep It Simple Stupid ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

The whole table 34 x 92 x 14 high

the top and the 16/4 support

Close up of the butterflie keys on the crack

The chairs it goes with

A New Coffee Table (Update)

We finished the coffee table today and our shipper will pick it up Friday for delivery next week. A great collaboration with the clients who added the burl apron element to our vocabulary. We like it ....

The finished table ... click to enlarge it ...

Showing the structure ...
Update on the square coffee table

Got the first coat of finish on the top at the end of the day today. The base is finished and it'll be ready to ship off the Connecticutt next week.

Will, installing the edge inlay ... For more details on this process see this previous post..
5/7/09 below

We're coming along on the coffee table I mentioned in an earlier post called Spring Fever. Glued up the top and shelf last week, veneered the aprons and did some joinery yesterday and glued up the base today. Tomorrow we'll start on the edge inlay and I hope we'll have it ready for finish by the end of the week .... Updates later ...

gluin' up

Some Claro Walnut Slabs

2/28 .. the three slabs with one coat of linseed oil

Close up

2/26 ...Oiling the first of the three slabs earlier this afternoon ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

In the last year or so, I've had a couple of clients interested in tables made from big slabs of wood and we did make one from a huge claro walnut slab from Goodhope Hardwoods, but I haven't convinced anyone to bite the bullet buy one of my slabs yet. I've had these three in the rough since 2006. People would look at them, hmmm around a little bit, but end up passing. It was, I think, too hard for them to see the potential in those big rough boards in the somewhat dark upstairs of my garage. I even have a picture of a cardboard mockup I made for a potential client on my website. No luck ... This time, I decided I would just go ahead and sand and scrape them up so a potential client can see exactly what they might be getting. I don''t think I'll regret it ... They're looking pretty good.

#2

Butterfly keys for the cracks

A little more sanding and we'll put the oil to it

Slab #2 ... This is what they look like after they go through the widebelt. Sanding out all the roughness on the widebelt would have made them a bit thinner and I think we'll like the 'wavy' texture of 'not perfectly flat' table top just fine

Here's the cardboard mockup I made for an 'almost' client last year

I also found this 32" wide piece of cherry I forgot I had. It's got about 6 and a half good feet in it and then there's some funky stuff at one end. It's also got a little bruise that wll need some creative attention too, but overall, it's got some subtle figure and will eventually make somebody something pretty nice ...

A Pair of Coffee Tables

Quick update .. end of day 2.6.09 Abit of detailing to the bases and we're ready to start finishing

Table edge detail

We're underway on a new commission to build a pair of coffee tables and some small end tables.

They are based on this table we made a few years ago and will have distressed maple tops and antique style, painted and glazed bases. Here's the table we started from ... Click to enlarge the photos

Original table ... 46 x 72

We started to scale down the handmade patterns for the new table sizes and then realized that we would have to do it twice and that it would be easier to draw it once in our cad program and let the computer scale it down. Once we had the drawing, it was a simple matter for Trevor to cut cardboard patterns on the router for the glue ups.

'ghost' of the cardboard pattern cut out

new version at 36 x 40

scaled down end for the smaller table

smaller round end table 30 w x 32 long

small tables ... design ready to go, but yet to be started