a rclaimed chestnut table with self storing leaves

this is another edition of our tables with self storing leaves 

we have made a few different styles using this concept.

above it is upside down with the runner guides shown 

and with the leaves stored under the top    

  

all in, ready to go ...right side up with the leaves in

it is now in stowe, vt with the walnut desk in the previous post

the cad drawing

in the shop with the leaves opened

there is another way to store the leaves that you can see

in a fine woodworking article by tage frid 

it is a simpler mechanism, but it depends on the top 'floating'

which is best accomplished on smaller tables

we have used both methods, but the one above,

while more complicated is better suited to larger tables ...

is it october already?

 well, here we are.  it's fall, and i see i haven't written anything since

the middle of the summer ... it might have something to do with the weather 

and my golf and paddle tennis schedule .. lots of both, 

but still Kristian and i are still getting lots of stuff out the door ... 

below is a quick review of the last couple months ...

shortly after we completed the live edge table in the previous post,

the clients came with another slab from berkshire products, and another idea

the slab itself had some unusual bug damaged sections that the clients liked

that we decide to incorporate into the base for the breakfast table

a bit of a challenge, but successful we thought in the end

 

and, next up, a 60" round cherry table with three 15" leaves

a little flare on the inlay from the sunlight coming in the door

we have made this design many times in the past, but this is 

the first time we made it with a moveable base as the table opens

in some ways simpler, and more stable

a little 'burl and bars' edge inlay to dress it up a bit

coincidentally, this remodel was to a house that we made furniture for

when this dining room was added on about 20 years ago ... those clients have 

taken their furniture, and moved 'downtown' to the center of dorset ...

next we squeezed in some smaller things ... 

a couple of bedside tables ...

cherry and curly maple, part of a series of smaller tables shown on our website

upper left corner there

and then a reclaimed chestnut 'kitchen desk'

legs and color to match a dining table that we made in 2007

 in the adjacent room 

and below is one we finished last week 

a spalted maple breakfast table, that at one time was a coffee table 

that we made for a show and had managed to return to my office

where this client spotted it and had us make it into table for

a banquet in his new florida home.

solid 1" steel wishbone base waterjetted by mainly metals in bristol, vermont 

and sanded and drilled, tapped and polished by kritsian

 

and finally, this base for a super bronze eagle sculpture by 

walt matia, of curlew castings in maryland ... walt is sort of

world famous sculptor who has been a friend and fellow artist

since the early 80's

a couple of challenges:

* it had to be rugged as the sculpture weighs 150-200 pounds

* the inside had to accessible to bolt it to the floor on site and to bolt the sculpture to the base

* it had to be dark and 'not too shiny'

 

the sculpture this base will hold will a 'cut down' edition of this one

a photo shopped 'installation

if you've been to houston, you may have seen some of his bulls at the stadium there

 

i am sure i have missed a couple of other projects, but it is sunday

and time to go do some pottery ...

a reclaimed hemock table

all in, all done ... i like the reclaimed hemlock

there is an interesting, yet satisfying color variation from board to board

it was hard to predict the color when selecting the boards in the rough ... story below ..
3/29/17

we are currently building a 60" round farm table from a client's reclaimed hemlock ...

it was 'a little rough' asthe boys in the shop referred to it ...

it took a lot of gluing and epoxy filling and a few metal plates to reinforce the weak parts,

but it is coming together now .. in fact it is ready for finish now and should be 

finished by the end of the week

turned legs, square base, with the leaves in

areas to fill and patch ...

the boys think we should call this table 'patches'

more photos as we finish up ...

a few of our favorite things

for many reasons, things come and go from the 'popular posts' list over there to the right.  there are some posts though that i call on over and over when talking with potential clients.  and some of these posts, for whatever reason, are popular with me, but have never made the list.  'the duck bed' shown above and below was a collaboration between one of our favorite clients, our younger son will on the turning, carving and finishing and the older son sam on the metal 'carving' and patinas. 

i got to do the cad drawing and lead the design parade.  there are four posts total in the construction description, but you can access all of them from the link above.  carving spirals, cnc work on the inlays, waterjetting the actual metal parts and patinas are all covered there.

this one's got it all .. three posts total, from adapting an existing design below to a new space, cross country contractor and architect communication, custom steel railings, secret compartments, shipping details to palo alto, on and on .. lots of headscratching ... much fun.

and this 1989 project is the original staircase we built for local clients that the palo alto folks found on my website.  we recently added the railing so there is a blog post about it at this link.  a version of this project was posted on facabook by a radio station in mississippi and it has been shared i see 567,855 times .. go figure

a greene and greene style sideboard .. drawings, construction details, fabricating the hinges and the pulls, the works ... many more photos here.

ahhh, the trout desk, dovetailing 28" wide walnut planks, 'houndstooth' dovetails, and more, and below,

the 'bridges bench'  both are part of our bethlehem steel series combining the efforts of sam, will and i to create collaborative pieces in wood and steel ... 

more pieces in this series at this link

and another example of the bench above for a local museum garden

another member of the bethlehem steel series by dan, sam and will

lots more stuff here along with thoughts on interior design and custom furniture

and then we've got our on line slide shows at this link  six years of work with albums on claro walnut tables, furniture from reclaimed lumber, stuff you can do with a cnc router, some of my digitized sketchbooks with sketch and finished piece ... thousands of photos there ..

the 11 foot copper top table

loads of fun .. new processes

pool tables ... always a pleasure .. i think we are working on number 17 right now

five easy pieces  .. in addition to this fun zebra wood dining table, there are four others in wenge, hickory and steel.  one of my first ever substantial blog posts.

more photos here

as always, you can consult the 'categories' section for specific interests and the 'popular posts' section for other things that m ight catch your eye ... happy reading.  comment with your questions and i'll try to get back to you shortly ..
 also, there are slide shows available at this link that contain literally thousands of photos of our work ..
enjoy!!

a reclaimed chestnut farm table

we delivered a reclaimed chestnut table to manchester today ..

the wood came from our friend jef harris at vintage log and lumber in alderson, west virginia .. 

another view, before it left the shop today .. mortise and tenon .. 

3" rails .. 3" leg stock .. click the photos to enlarge them ..

42 x 90 ... 1.5" thick top

we took the leg design from a chestnut table with three leaves that we built for another client in 2003

rough boards that were floor joists .. 2 x 8s and 2 x 10s

ready for the clear finish ..