Well OK ... Another big claro walnut slab table. We've made quite a few of them now and there is more information
about them on my blog than a person could likely want to read. (If not, be sure to scroll to 'older posts'). But, we like them. They always seem to have this mysterious sense of substance to them when they are completed. The wood is dark and deep and totally unpredictable in its grain and color. We like the steel bases too. This one looks a little shinier in the picture above than it is in person. There was a little sunlight sneaking in the door when I took the picture and, reflected off the floor, it made the base look pretty impressive. Actually, it's clean, but not real reflective and is meant to match the 'zinc' counters in the client's kitchen ... Click the photos to enlarge them ....
A bird's eye view of this 48 x 120 x 3" thick slab ... We figure conservatively that the table weighs at least 400 pounds assembled and I am unable to pick one end off the floor without feeling like I might hurt something ... For shipping to Montana, the slab will unbolt from the base and the 5 part base will be disassembled.
This project has been going on for a month or so so I reloaded a few of the relevant pictures of the process. You can see the other posts in the 'claro slab tables' category to the right. Above is the raw slab before we trimmed it to width and length.
First step was to use my trusty 25 year old 3.5" Makita hand held planer to smooth the rough sawn top.
Then since we had other stuff going on in the shop, the preliminary planing and cutting was done at my garage. Easier than loading and unloading, and, with my old truck on it's way to the graveyard, we towed it merrily down the driveway with Sam's Saab, whistling while we worked.
We laid in a few strategic butterflies
And worked on the chairs that go with it at the same time ... They are a version of our
contemporary ladderbacks with a 'Danish cord' seat by
Sandy Sherman chair caning. Danish cord seats were popularized by
Hans Wegner in the 50's and 60's and are friendly and comfortable, though a bit labor intensive. The chairs are, like Windsors, more about the silhouette than the grain of the wood ...
Our typical base installation
A close up of the finish
The chairs in two views ...
The 160 nails per seat that it takes to organize the weaving. Fortunately for Sandy, Trevor was able to layout and rout the holes on the cnc so all Sandy had to do was hammer them in.
And in contrast, an updated photo of our 'skinny console' for comparison ... You can pick that one up with one hand ...
we shipped another in our series of 'shaker' leg claro walnut slab desk and tables this week and it is now on its way to wisconsin. it's similar in design to the last claro slab table we made and is, in fact, a slab from the same log ... this slab was closer to the heart of the tree though, and the figure was a bit darker and richer. lots of little curls ... click the photos to enlarge them ... 
the process for this project was typical, and it started with the selection of the slab ... this can happen on the internet through one of my suppliers, like good hope hardwoods. we then planned the trim cuts and did a plan view drawing, placing it in the room to check clearances and proportions above.
we decided to straighten the angled edge somewhat to get rid of most of the spidery crack which required me to fire up my trusty chain saw. that always takes me back to me logging days in the early 70's..
we trimmed the ends just a bit too to get rid of some drying cracks
next the base pieces were bolted together and routed into the bottom of the slab for additional stability. once these bases are bolted on, the structure is completely rigid and there is no wiggle or shake whatsoever. in this case, the client chose a blackened rather than our original satin polished base. i kind of like the new blackened look myself ..
we then had to design the drawer structure to provide knee room and acceptable storage at the same time ... we came up with drawers that were about an inch and a half deep inside, which seemed to provide ample room for knees.
we ended up with some (3) 'secret' compartments in the structure which are always fun to design and execute .... there is even a hidden tool that sam made for opening the main compartment ...
here's a final look of the bottom of the desk. in the end, we notched the sides of the drawer box so that the base could be removed without disturbing the drawer box itself ... the desk's final destination is a second floor home office and, completely assembled it probably weighs close to 400 pounds ... two people can pick it up, but flipping it on it's side and carrying it up a flight of curving steps would be a challenge for all but the most rugged of us. the movers were extremely happy to have us disassemble it for them ... reassembly is 8 lag bolts and 4 #14 screws. 5 minutes, tops ...
we added a few dividers to the drawers and went with chestnut pencil trays in each drawer ... good to go ... blanket wrapped shipping by plycon was professional and reasonable considering that wisconsin is not around the corner from here ... happy thanksgiving if i don't get a chance to write again !!
