a claro walnut slab desk

we put this one all together for the first time today .. 

set up the cardboard and got lucky with the lighting.  i rarely get it this good.

it's been in the works for a while, and now it could be leaving as soon as tomorrow ..

two drawers, some secret compartments and a beautiful piece of claro walnut.

you can follow the process below.

we started with the claro slab that's been on the wall of the finish room for a while,

waiting for exactly the right client to come along ... in the end we 

angled the end cuts in a bit and skipped the horizontal cuts as unnecessary ..

 next up was a 1/8th scale model

with photos from two different angles

we put the cad drawing on the bottom of the model so we could build it accurately

steel parts were next and a full size layout on the bottom of the slab

and sam was slammed with deadlines in the metal shop, so trevor made 

the steel pieces and sam welded them up ..

all together now

except for the secret compartments, which will remain secret, all for now.

possibly some on site photos after the delivery ...

stuff we like to build

hmmm .. i have been thinking a bit about the future as i approach my 70th birthday in july.
how would i like to focus my business for the next few years?
i just wrote a blog post about repairs and restoration work, which we all enjoy,
but i would say that tables are probably our favorite thing to build ..
big ones, little ones, ones with live edge slabs of a log for a top,
federal style or traditional style with interesting inlays.
'mid century modern', farmhouse style, art deco, antique inspired, reclaimed wood ...
i think we have covered a good share of the possibilities.
click the photos to enlarge them if you are at your desktop ... 

for instance, above is page 02 of  07 from the 'dining table' section of my (ancient) website,

which implies that there are about 60 other different ones there if you scroll through all 7 pages.

here's a link ..

and then we have our 'small tables', page 2 of 4 pages ... only about 36 of those ..

here's a link to that website section here ..

 and don't forget 'desks' ... essentially more table like objects ..

so, what am i trying to say ??? maybe it's that we have always enjoyed
creating the flat, useful surface, supported by an infinite variety of pedestal and leg systems.
tables are functional.  they are straightforward.
everyone, (including thoreau), needs at least couple of them.
there is something just eminently satisfying about walking into a friend or client's house and
having a meal at a table you made for them ...
some of those pictured on my (ancient) website i made over 30 years ago,
 and they are still going strong.

the most popular styles in the last few years have definitely been the live edge tables

at the top of this post, and the various round with pedestal variations shown 

in this glimpse of an online slide show of 

'ABOUT 100 DIFFERENT DINING TABLES WE HAVE MADE'

available as a slide show, along with a lot of other slideshows of our work at this link

many, many, many, many pictures there .. 

certainly far from all of them, but a lot for sure ... 

thousands in fact ...

this post was prompted by the 4, count em', potential clients i spoke to today about a new table

angela, she's a designer, and had 3 different tables to discuss, jori and david, sevda in london, and lauren in sanfrancisco

i've got some drawing to do ...
802-867-5541

a built in cherry desk

well, long time no blog ... 3 weeks at least ... lots going on here at the end of summer, or should i say the beginning of fall.  i turned the heat on in the shop when i left today.  some in the area had a frost on their windshield this morning.  the light is changing, and the foliage is beautiful.  life is good. particularly since we installed this built in cherry desk this afternoon.  chris has been working on it for a few weeks now, and i'm glad to see it in place in its new home.

click the photos to enlarge them ... 

we started with a drawing and then moved on to the full size mockup below

it is in a bedroom, and the space, while not exactly tight, wanted to not be confining.  hard to tell that on paper so we built the mdf and notched luan mockup, which the clients actually used while we worked on the desk. 

great sun .. great view out the windows ...

the construction was a mix of table joinery and case joinery ...

drawers everywhere .. 10 in total, and chris got a real dovetail workout. 

      

ash boxes with cherry ply bottoms ...

more photos tomorrow when the installation is complete ...

it's a short drive, but a beauty of a drive ..