blog to print ... a woodworker's photo journal

                                  ok, i got a notice recently from the company that translates

my online blog into printed books saying

that they would be ceasing production soon, and if

i wanted anything printed out, i better get on it.

i did, and last week, i received two books, one from 2015 that i had not

previously printed, and one new one with posts from 2019 through 2024 so far.

when placed with my other blog books already printed ,

it makes for quite a stack ... 

about 150 pages per half inch ... 5.5" x 150 ... 1850 pages?  really? 

the Shaker Design book is 228 pages

  so, there you have it, 17 years of blogging

     957 posts. 2,276,730 page views

       one more post coming soon!

a few  of our favorite blog posts at this link

    

 

and a not so brief history of Dorset

Custom Furniture at this link 

below from john mcphee, tabula rasa, in the new yorker

click the photos to enlarge them ...
 

a live edge walnut desk

  

we started with this slab from good hope hardwoods that

the designer selected from their website.

here's the cad drawing

we went back and forth on the finish for a bit, but settled on 

a couple of coats of waterlox, which gave a nice matte finish.

the finished desk below

all in, all done .. i think it was installed by the designer yesterday

some live edge coffee tables from last august

 sam came back from a jobsite yesterday with some pictures 

of  two coffee tables we made last year, but never photographed 

on site because the house wasn't finished when we delivered them,

two big ones!

this one is claro walnut, about 4 and a half feet wide and 6' long ...

in the background there is a set of stairs that sam made the

steel parts for .. there is a two story piece of glass behind them ...

this one is about the same size with a tricky 'waterfall' end that 

kristian executed flawlessly  .. as i remember, 

the miter cut was over 60" wide ... some other photos of

the tables as we worked on them below ..

after it was cut and glued, the miter was reinforced 

with a piece of 2.5" angle iron

 

before the finish

the other end was supported by a sam made steel trapezoid base.

the claro walnut slab had some nice figure!

always nice to see things in their final homes

the crow bar has landed

the crow bar has landed,

 and it is living down town now!

views of lots of building and some water ...

night view

view of the river

 day view

and the crow that started it all ...

great clients!

great fun!

good job Kristian!

forms for some curved stone steps

 

well, here we are, trying to figure out if we know what we are doing ...

we have the information below ... 

click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 all we had to do is make some sense of it so that the rise 

starts at the desired final grade, the three rises are equal, and

the last step into the house is the same rise as some steps

that are already finalized about 30 feet to the left of these ...

the existing entryway slab slopes 2" from the door out 

which was another complicating computation ...

you may recognize the ceiling from this blog post 

back in february of 2022

and i thought the ceiling was tricky!

 it was, but so were the forms for the curved steps !
 

we started with a cad drawing more or less based on 

measurements from the blueprints and those taken on site .. 

at some point the offset for the stone facing on the risers was 

 changed from 4.5" to 1.5" ('thin stone' facings) and  

new drawings were made.

 

from the new drawings we decided that it would be a good idea

to make some full size masonite patterns showing the 1.75" overhanging

nose of the bluestone treads and the 1.5" offset for the stone facing.

you can see them in the top photo  ..  that gave us the 

inside radiuses for the wacky wood on the curved forms

and the tops and bottoms of the actual form pieces in green above ...  

algebra 201!

 

once the first form was in place and we confirmed the rise and run

with the set up/full size mockup in the first photowe were able 

to make the forms for the second and third pours below 

 

viola!  

base for the riser and bluestone of the first step poured yesterday!

a vermont sap spout maple console table

 

ok ... this is a fun one!  

last week and some of this week we have been waiting for 

a big load of reclaimed chestnut to arrive from west virginia .. 

we got word yesterday that it will be here by friday ..

in the meantime we made some pieces for sale 

out of wood that has been 'hanging around'.   

these three boards i know i have owned for since at least 2015 ..

 
anyway,  this table is 18 x 58 x 30" high and would look great in your

entryway, behind your couch, or as a compact work desk.

ready to ship or deliver immediately.

vermont maple at its finest

more pieces 'ready to go' on the 'pages' section 

at the top of the home page on my blog ..

a few more ready to go in the previous blog post.

click the pictures for a closer look ...

some other recent pieces ready to go ...

in an effort to 'clean house' a bit, below are some pieces for sale,

ready to go, for immediate delivery .. 

the 52" round table below has a bit of history ..

it can be characterized as 'very slightly used'.

the top of the table above was once in a law firm in new jersey 

you can see it in the photo below ...

several months after they received the 52" table they asked if 

i could replace the top with a 60" round, which we did ...

they asked for a 'credit' for the existing top, which i sort of

grudgingly granted.  my delivery guys installed the new top

and returned the original to me in 2018, and it has sat, 

wrapped up in my office, ever since ...

last year we made this round expanding table, 

and as we got underway, the client requested

a change in the design of the base that you can see above ...

we had already made the base pieces so they went into the office

with the 'reclaimed' top ... they are now the base for this new table ...

 priced below the cost of new,

email, text or call me at 802-379-1478 to discuss ... 

 

here's another, a claro walnut, cut off, coffee table, 

28 x 46 x 18 high (adjustable), could be lowered ...

in the rough, with a pocket for the butterfly

nice figure!

this coffe table was made from one of thee these two cutoffs that

have been hanging out here for at least a couple of years

i found another nice curly claro cutoff in the cellar from 

which we were just able to get the four legs ...

the cutoff in the back of these two became the table below ..

+/- 38 wide x 40 long x 16 high claro walnut 'corner' table

we were going to cut a 30" round from it, but we decided

it might be a cool accent for the right situation.

the steel trapezoid base pieces came from a gallery table that 

a client purchased, but requested that we make that table 'taller' ..

a 'corner' application below ... the straight sides are +/- 22"

the lounge chairs are about 36" deep ...

and below, i updated my 'paintings for sale'

at The Coffee Bar, junction of routes 7 and 9

in downtown Bennington ... lots of art for sale there!

'my corner'

some of the other art, and the live music stage

great place! loads to see there!

 

and lastly, we still have this claro walnut desk that is looking for

a good home .. it is in a gallery in manchester now, but i have informed

the owner that i am trying to sell it on my own ......

 

 a claro walnut desk, with a drawer and a 

secret compartment .. steel base by sam .. +/- 44 x 70.

 

beautiful color and figure in the desk top

call or text for a price ... 

 

all for now ...

another summer project

  this project was a table retrofit for some old friends.  we go back more than 30 years,

but this is the first major project i have done for them.  good things take time to cook.

they have had this table since the beginning, as it came down from Fred's

grandfather a founding partner at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, a world famous

architecture firm founded in Chicago in 1936,

it started its life as a door that was too short for a ceo office in houston's

tenneco building, designed by SOM in the 1960s ...

 

the clients were looking for 'an Arts and Crafts feel' and they liked a

table i made fore some other clients back in 2005.  we did some back and

forth drawing exchanges and settled on the design you see in the first photo above.

there were some challenges ... the clients were looking to 'soften' the edges

and after i sent some samples, we settled on a bullnose design ... the edges of the

door were neither square nor straight so installing the new borders took

some time and effort, and a new $120. router bit ...

then, of course, we had to decide on a stain

and carefully strip the veneered door...

fortunately, it was still summer and i got lucky with a perfect breezy, warm day,

and the original (lacquer?) finish came off without a hitch

that about wrapped it up and off it went to its new life in its new form ...

i am pretty sure it is happier now ,,,

before shot