what's happening now

we could be setting the record here these days with 'stuff going on at the same time 

right before the holidays' at dorset custom furniture this month.

started a couple weeks ago with this railing from sam's shop

and a stand for a 1953 packard hood ornament

and a maple leaf belt buckle .. first one of these i think ...

 and then these last week

 

and this one cemented in place, just before the snow ...

 

the terrain and the recent crushed stone fill around the new stairs made

this one a challenge.

and then, the snow

and the new railings at the dorset field club

still more to go there with railings at each set of stairs

and will's been busy .. here he is modeling a 'goatskin necklace', the trimming from 

a natural skin head installed on a recent banjo he finished.

more photos of this and other many other banjos at seedersinstruments.com

and i've finished some new pottery, just in time to give it away for christmas ...

and while it may not look it, this was a challenging redo, given the existing tile,

slightly out of plumb walls, and complex existing infrastructure under the old vanity.

after

and trevor's got a 42" round table with 4 -20" leaves

 home stretch; ready for light stain with black details soon ..

 and at the very last minute, a client we've been working with since may added these counters to the mix.  this one is 28" wide by 12'8" long by 350 pounds or so.

 this one is 5' x 6 feet by about 350 pounds or so too

 

 and this rather substantial claro walnut slab arrived last week from good hope hardwoods ..

63" at the wide end; 13' long; 3" thick in the rough ..

 trimmed er down a little at the local jk adams factory where we had it delivered

(they have a forklift)

 great figure !!!!!

 trimmed and in the truck.... now in the shop .. in the on deck circle for next year

and jim just sanded and reoiled a set of six of these outdoor chairs ... 

ugh! .. he was glad to deliver them back to the client

and the last two pre-christmas projects that should be finished at the end of the day today ..

above another 'x based table' from reclaimed barn parts; last coat of finish today

 

and this custom cue rack ... finished now, and i'll install it this morning

and on christmas eve, a last minute 'gift certificate' for a slab top coffee table .. 

i'm sure it was a hit with the client's wife on christmas morning

lit the tree at the shop yesterday .. 

merry christmas to all !!!

rudolph .. by sam, 1986

A Mahogany Expanding Table .. a few more photos

I was talking to a friend and fellow woodworker (Johannes Michelsen...check out his famous wood hats) recently who is designing a round expanding table for a potential client. There is a table in a post below (with a really, really nice email from the clients), about an expanding mahogany table that is similar in concept .... He saw another table of mine on the Moin Hardware website and was interested in the runners and structure that allowed a 10' table to be balanced on a single, non moving pedestal. So, I thought I'd put up a few more photos .. There are a couple things that allow this design to work: the equalizing runners (the top stays centered on the pedestal as it opens for the leaves), and a nice stable base with some weight and structure. We have made many tables with this type of pedestal and we always run a 3/4" threaded rod/bolt up through the center of the pedestal which makes a very solid connection and adds to the stability of the table as a whole. It also makes moving it easy as the bolt stays with the base and the subplatform stays with the top and runners ... Here's shot of that .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
If you look at the cad drawing in the first post about this table , you can see the sub top that the runners are attached to just below the bead on the table apron.
Here's a shot of the finished table with the 3 15" leaves in ...
An underside view of the unfinished table showing the pedestal parts clearly..
Under side view ...
Showing the Hafele runners without the sub base ... We have a few sets of these runners left and for most of out other style expanding tables we have switched to Watertown slides from Moin Hardware. I have seen similar equalizing slides on their website. I don't think you can get the Hafele ones in this country any more ... OK ... back to the Olympics ... Those skiers are CRAZZZZZYYYYY !!!

New Mahogany Table

We started a new table this week. It's a custom version of the one above (shown on my website here) that we first made in 2004 for a client in New Jersey. The one we're working on this week is slightly larger ( 50 x 72 closed) and will be all mahogany, without the black paint, curly maple apron or edge inlay ... We had a great piece of mahogany on hand, 23" wide by 157" long and we were just able to get the whole top out of that one board. It took a little planning, but because it is all one board the glue joints are virtually invisible ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

The Cad drawing, adpted from another version from 2005. I think, in total, this is the sixth edition of this table, each one being slightly different ... It's a great design because the pedestal is heavy enough to support the open table and leaves leaves without the pedestal splitting or the use of drop down legs. With the central pedestal, the chairs can be placed anywhere too ...

You can see in this photo how we split the first cut (so it matches as halves when the table is closed), and cut the two 2" arcs we needed to make the additional width before we cut the remainder of the board in half ... pretty clever thinking by the boys in the shop ...

Glued up halves with the arcs added

Trevor, handscraping the individual halves before drilling for the alignment pins ...

The extension runners are installed and the aprons are glued up on the table, but slightly askew from their final locations ...

In this photo,, Will has turned the 'flying saucer' feet, has stacked the ply parts of the base, and is adding the edge veneers .. We don't use solid wood on this part as it has to support a lot of weight and the short grain of the curves at the ends of the 'propellers' might be apt to fail over time ... When it's done, it will look like solid wood ... The hollow central column parts are cut and ready to glue up tomorrow .. All for now ...