road trip

it was our first really beautiful spring day yesterday ... fortunately i had made previous arrangement with frank pratt of frank pratt restorations a local building salvage/lumber recycler/beam and flooring seller to resaw some chestnut beams for 4 upcoming projects ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
frank is here sawing up some chestnut 'sleeper' logs .... handhewn on two faces only ...
the first table we're sawing for is a 46 x 108 chestnut ' post and beam' table for a covered porch in georgia ...
the second is an expanding chestnut dining table similar in form to other classic empire inspired pedestal tables we have made over the years ... this project is at stratton mountain, vt, about 40 minutes from the shop ...
on that same project we also have about 60' of chestnut rail cap to go with some steel railings sam is fabricating as well as the cabinets pictured above. the photo above may look like a completed project but is actually a photoshop mashup of an empty room with part of a cabinet we made about 7 years ago...
as the room is now .. like i said, empty ...
cambridge, ny is on the other side of the western green mountains so coming home i was looking back into vermont, an unusual but dramatic perspective for me...
and the architecture over that way is unbelievably different from here ... i think this is some kind of italian revival thing, out, literally in the middle of nowhere ...
i think farming was a pretty good business at some point ...
and here, 10 miles away from the one above, is another, even more impressive spread ..
nice farmhouse ..

home past the fort salem theatre in salem, newyork ... a classic greek revival ...
and past the fine church in rupert, vermont with the painted wooden clock faces ... i took this picture last summer, but i missed it yesterday ... it looked just like this, only without the gray sky and green grass ...

and home in time for sunset in the dining room .... nice day !

A Recycled Oak Table

We started a recycled oak table project yesterday. The wood came late last Friday and we just stuck it in the shed for the weekend. Yesterday was a beautiful day, perfect for studying lumber outside, so we hauled it all out and stood it up against the end of the shop. Click the photos to enlarge them...

It was quite a good selection ..

We chalked them up and rough cut them to length and sort of identified what we thought might go where ... we'll make the final decisions after we mill them up ...

We made some finish samples from the cut offs and we'll finish them up tomorrow and mail them to the client. I always try to wait for the actual wood to arrive as each batch of recycled lumber is slightly different in character, age, and in the way it takes stains and finishes ... This client will be putting this table in a very contemporary setting ... Should be great, regardless of the color she picks ...

It's on the rack, 'resting' now, acclimating to the shop and our environment. I was pleased it came in the door at about 9% ... Good for recycled lumber at this time of the year ... Our supplier for this project is Appalachian Woods in Stuart's Draft, Virginia ...