'retirement project'

 i tried the 'retirement thing' once before,

back in 2018 ...

but for many reasons back then it didn't 'stick',

and i spent the next 6 years working with and mentoring

our nephew Kristian Moore, who is now taking

on the new furniture projects that come our way ...

at this point, he can do anything i can do,

only he can do it better !

my 'executive function' has left the building, and,

i realize that at 77 it ain't coming back. 

so, what to do with all that free time since my 'last project'

 well, i guess you can't have too many buildings, and Will 

is taking up quite a lot of space in Sam's shop

with the mills and lathes for his banjo business.

to be located just outside of Sam's shop

so, here we go!

this one will likely be the last building at 

the 'west dorset industrial park'

below, the rafters will start to go up tomorrow!

nothing like three weeks of concrete and carpentry

to make you feel all of your 77 years ...

more process photos below

slab by ashley waite, of waite foundations ..

AKA 'hippie foundations' in 1974 ...

ashley poured the foundation for our first house

in arlington in 1974 ... it was great to work with him again.

red mountain road  arlington, 1974

this past tuesday 8.27 ... progress has been made ...

to be updated soon ..

 

we had some professionals here from Scott Thompson Builders 

for 4 days and they got us going pretty good

 

they got the ridge beam up, the rafters and the plywood and the paper on the roof .. 

they also studded the gables and got the plywood on them ... thanks guys!

 

Luke and i trimmed the roof and we are ready for the slate, which should 

start to happen soon ... first day of rough wiring by brophy electric last Friday ... 

10/13  Update ... 2 months and 10 days since the dydo and company 

backhoe arrived, things are really happening now.   

the siding is complete most of the way around the building 

and we should be able to wrap it up on the next sunny day .

the beautiful purple slate is being installed by Dave and Zack Wilmott of

Battenkill Slate and is complete on the right side and on the carport,

and, as with the siding, the roof will likely be done the next sunny day too ...

the sheetrock has been hung by versatile drywall, and the taper 

will be here'first thing Friday' ... 

seth of longboardlumber.com will be here  tomorrow

with some ribbon stripe mahogany for the the double doors

on the front.

then, some paint on the walls and floor, the big doors on the front, 

and we'll be ready for the lights and Will's machines!

more soon!

2024 vs 2015

 well ... things are certainly different now!

above is a to do list from 2015 with about 20 client names on it !

click that one to see some images from the list ..

and below is this week so far ...

my 'last project' left for long island a couple of weeks ago, 

our completely competent nephew  Kristian 

will be handling the new furniture projects that come in,

and i am now back in 'semi retirement ' mode.  i'll still do some small

repairs and projects for friends and family.  i tried this back in 2018 

when i turned 71, but it was (obviously if you scroll through my blog 

posts since then), too soon to do that ...

as recently as november of 23 it was still pretty busy here !
 

 i have a lot to do still ... clean up some stuff in the shop,

organize and inventory the 'left over wood'

for Kristian, peruse and edit two cellars, two attics

and a garage for stuff to get rid of ... 

and, i will definitely need to reread 

an article by anne patchett about 'stuff' ...

over and out for now !!

another torah cabinet

ok ... out the door a couple of weeks ago ...

another challenging project for sure!

we made one of these for a Holocaust Torah for

a synagogue in Bennington Vermont in 2017

being that we could not visit the site on long island, the design

required much back and forth confirming concepts and measurements ...

 this is the second cabinet for a holocaust Torah that we have made .

and, we are now in the process of adding a bookcase to be installed

under the cabinet above ...

click the photos to enlarge them ...
 

Torah dimension check

here's Kristian with the mdf mockup we made showing the theoretical finished cabinet

we got an eps file with the lettering from a designer there,

and kristian cut it on the cnc and painted it

the cabinet, ready to go, with the hanging instructions ..

the eagle has landed!

hung and ready for the Torah !

the great neck cabinet and the 

Bennington cabinet below 

the bennington cabinet

we are honored to help with the preservation and display of these historic pieces ...

 

soon after the cabinet arrived, we were asked

to design a bookcase cabinet to go underneath it ..

fast forward to 6.24 ...

homestretch on the bookcase

we offered two options for the bookcase ... 

the clients selected the longer option.

we had a few questions ... or actually, a lot of questions ...

and then there was the outlet for the lights ...

although i had the theoretical location for the outlet, 

we all decided that it would be best to cut the box in on site ... 

it would have been a project to fix it

if i got it in the wrong place ...

above is the base with the levelers we needed in place.

the cabinet, ready to go, and out the door on Monday... 

it arrived in Great Neck on the 3rd of july

and will be installed sometime soon ... 

i admit to being a little anxious about it as the floor is not level,

the wall is not perfectly plumb, there's the outlet,

and the list of instructions i sent were all COMPLETELY theoretical.

i have faith in Major Tom, who sent me measurements and

agreed to cut the outlet in on site ...

i cross my fingers and await some installation photos ... 

7/11 ...

well, as the auctioneers say "all in, all done!"

i am so happy that the installation went well .. 

thank you Major Tom! and everyone else who was involved in this project ..

as they say, 'couldn't have done it without ya!'

tonight i will probably not wake up at 4 AM and wonder if 

everything is going to fit! 

 

 

Father's Day 2024

 i am reflecting on father's day here this morning 

i was lucky to have a good father ...

 

here he is at 91, still fitting into his army uniform !

and that is his college picture there over his right shoulder 

i recently stumbled onto my funeral speech from 2006 in an old sketchbook

click that one so you can read it ...

as i said above .. he was a good guy, and had a huge influence on me

we did some fishing ... and there he is with my sister, after his fall ..

 i keep some reminders around the office

i hope y'all have a good father's day !

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 ...
 

lots going on ...

 lots going on so far this year .. 

we've got four projects wrapping up now.

one of them left for California yesterday and the 

live edge table left yesterday morning.

one of our classic mid century modern tables ... more of them here

 

the cad drawing

 

before the finish ... finished photo coming soon ...

 

 

next up, a claro slab table with one of our classic steel bases

the bases are 1.5" thick steel, cut on a waterjet ...

  

the bottom needed some work and some steel reinforcement.

and the base pieces were ground, polished and patinated 

with a birchwood casey gun blue/black

 

the top had some cracks and we added some butterflies and epoxy fill ..

the slab on the goodhope website

and today we delivered three more chairs to our long time friends

we made four for them in our two different styles

back in november  ...

 

hats off to kristian here !

 

they are 'thinking about' a new table in the future  

 

and below we are working on a reclaimed chestnut desk

for a long time local client ..

 

there is nothing easy about this one ..

 

 

we are using a 'stain, red paint, black paint finish that we 

often use on our painted windsor chairs

the two board sapele top will be a sanded version of that formula

next up ... a  bed with a live edge headboard ... 

off to visit with the clients tomorrow ... more after that ..  

a photoshopped mockup here

site visit today, drawings tomorrow ...