The Week in Review

Busy week ... Lots of stuff went on ... Click the photos to enlarge them ... Will almost finished the half rounds ... actually they are half ovals, which complicated the process even more... The drawers are finished and the bottoms are fitted... Above, he has the first coat of stain on the tops and tomorrow he'll sand most of that coat off as it is mainly to raise the grain, and next he'll apply the second coat, being careful not to get the inlays too dark ... Varnish Tuesday ... out the door soon ...
Trevor started a new 'partners desk' project. It's actually for a husband and wife and their new home office in upstate Vermont. We found some really wide (30") mahogany at Irion Lumber that allowed us to make the top and the end panel out of just two boards ...
The lumber arriving from Pennsylvania ...
We rough assembled it Friday, did the inlays and built the drawer box ...
We've got to finish up the screen porch and the Wagatha racks this week so this one might be on the back burner for a minute ...
We also got some really fin curly cherry in the same shipment for a dining table and we finalized the design on that this past weekend ... I have a drawing somewhere ...
And my wood 'Revolving Door' prototype finally bit the dust .. The luann plywood just couldn't hold up to the wind and rain and if fell down piece by piece ... Sooooo ... time for the steel version.
The wood version was up since early summer and it spun nicely in the wind .. we'll see if the steel turns more slowly and less violently .. I hope so ...
I changed the proportions of the rectangles slightly and got the first three together inside the shop today ... It was a rainy Sunday and it seemed like a good thing to do ..
We're also working on posting items to our new home on www.custommade.com ... We haven't tried much online marketing outside of our own website and blog, but given the times, Will and I thought we should try some ... I signed up for a year and we'll have a lot of photos there by the time we're done with it ... What a time sink though ... Hope it works ... I think I'm about half posted now ...
We also made a prototype chair for a client's dressing room ... we made several dark, rich pieces for it a few years back and our client found this Ruhlman inspired design on 1st dibs ... With the client's input and fabric choice, we'll be doing our take on it in East Indian rosewood.
The inspiration photo ...
The bookend raffle went live at the library ...
And we reviewed some very nice drawings for an upcoming project ... Best shop drawings by an architect ever ... My hat is off to Ramsay Gourd Architects ...
And, lastly, I dug out a photo of my original Arlington shop that I built in 1976 for a video we're working on ... The new owners removed most of the second floor, added a kitchen, a fireplace and a big screened in porch off the back, and it is now a fine guest house for them ... It was a good shop for me ...
All for now .. Back for another week tomorrow ....