It's A Wrap

the big island is in its new home ... after a month or so of awaiting finish sample approvals and then actually doing the finishing, delivery and assembly, we're done ... it was nip and tuck getting it out the front door, but we got it, and, it looks great on site, perfectly proportioned to it's new room, which is, actually, quite a bit larger and at present, emptier than our shop ... it was a challenging and engaging project on a lot of levels and i look forward to seeing it with the appliances, sink and granite as well as the rest of the furnishings for the room in place ... onward ...

click the photos to enlarge them ...
from the dining room side ...
the piece is lightly distressed at the early stages of the finishing and we sanded the broken edges a little more aggressively than usual as the finishing progressed, creating highlights on the corners and a 'softness' than is often found on well used antiques.
carry it in ... set it down ... perfectly level over the entire 16', both ways ... we jacked the shop floor up to all level before we started because, having worked with this builder for almost ever, we knew it would be this way ... with the design as it was, there was no place for shimming anyway ... all good ....
here trevor is installing the steel granite overhang support. it's 1 x 3 x 1/4" rectangular tubing stiffened with the box beam cross pieces visible in the photo below.
the finish schedule was a variation of our typical finish process using lockwood dyes, minwax fast dry polys, gel stains and wiping polys. see more finishing posts here ...
we made a couple different sample boards before we got what we wanted ... i can't remember the last time we used stained quartered white oak for a piece and i'm pretty sure we haven't ever done a distressed, stained version of it before ... i'm happy with the results. on the sample we gel stained before the seal coat which, in my opinion, requires a longer dry time before the top coats and is slightly harder to manipulate on the unsealed wood ... next time i would do as we regularly do and seal the second coat of stain in before applying the gel layer. it was a big finishing project and took a long time but as in cooking, what step/ingredient would you leave out? in my 30+ years of experience and research, there are no shortcuts to a deep rich finish, only many, many steps ... ask the experts ...

there are a few earlier related posts for this project at the links below ...
turning the columns
getting it all together, attaching the columns and cornice support structure
finish process and delivery photos

Updates

This Just In:

"We just received the table and it's beautiful!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

We absolutely LOVE it!!!!!

Thank you for all of your very hard work, attention to detail and overall for making our gorgeous dining room table that we will use to celebrate many holidays, meals and celebrations!!!

I can't believe it's here :)

Warmly,

Kristi & Jeff "

It was one of those weeks when things come together ... We almost finished the big mahogany table we've been working on.. All that remains is to reassemble and polish it up on Monday. Tuesday it will be on its way to Boston if all goes well.. Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The unfinished, 'finished' table
First coat of Lockwood aniline dye ... 50/50 water, light golden brown walnut
After the first coat of gloss poly
The finish schedule ... to understand this shorthand more see other posts in the 'finishing' category to the right ...
We also made a scale model for a claro walnut slab table with a 1.5" thick steel "shaker' inspired base that we recently took a deposit on ... We have found at least one suitable slab, but the final choice has yet to be made ... checking out some other possibilities first .. We often make scale models. There is actually a category over to the right where you can see other posts with models and mockups. I feel they are an extremely important part of the design/visualization process.
The CAD file from which the waterjet cutter contractors will estimate. The parts will be cut from a slab of 1.5" thick steel and Sam will weld them together, polish and finish them in a shiny finish ...
The two walnut, steel leg, tables we're working on. The walnut boards will have blackened steel insert inlaid in them to cover areas of the boards which were cut out to avoid sawing hardware that was embedded in the tree. Handy things those metal detectors ...
Close up of the holes in the boards that will be covered by the steel
We finished the single board coffee table ... one board of mahogany 39.5" wide and 64" wide
And, to end the week, we installed a tv surround that I first mentioned back in November .. Scroll down to the bottom of that one .... Time flies ...

Curly Maple Finish Schedule

The finish schedule for the curly maple jewelry cabinet is below .... I make no claims of repeatability here. Everyone will get different results from this recipe; slightly different results each time. It lends a certain anxiety to the process but it is something, I think, that makes our furniture stand out a bit from the crowd, ... ... We mix the basic colors as Lockwood advises, one ounce by weight to one quart of warm water, which represent the full strength stains mentioned below. Over time, the colors can increase in strength through evaporation. It is totally required that you make a complete, good size finish sample all the way through inlcuding varnishes and gel stains with all stain/water ratios carefully noted before moving on to staining and finishing a whole piece of furniture.

1st coat lockwood light golden brown walnut (4 to 5 parts water to 1 part stain), brushed on, sponged off to raise the grain.

That is sanded pretty good when dry with 150 or 180 3m 216U or equivalent. At this point you can still fix defects that come to light as you sand. Recoat and resand lightly if necessary.

A 2nd coat of dye is then applied ( 1 part standard brown walnut + 1 part american walnut to 8 parts water.

Do not sand that coat of stain, but when dry, apply the first coat of gloss varnish (Minwax fast
dry poly) Brush on a nice wet coat with a foam brush and leave it in a dust free place if you have one.

We sand that lightly with 400 wet or dry and then in this case, we applied another coat of the dilute light golden brown walnut over everything because it didn't look 'quite right' to us at that point, compared to the original sample. That doesn't move the color much, but it is noticeable ...
Brush it on, sponge it off. At this point you should be getting a good idea of the finished color.

Then we use a minwax aged oak gel stain and after at least a 24 hr dry time, apply a second coat of minwax fast dry poly SATIN, again with a foam brush.

That is sanded very lightly with 1000 grit wet and dry 3M, and topcoated with a mix of poly and linseed oil, wiped on, wiped off, completely dry ... 3 poly, one oil or thereabouts ...

After that, the cabinet was reassembled and the hardware was installed...

Not fast, totally subjective, but in my opinion, it's where the Art lives.

Before starting, also please read this blog entry ...
target="_blank"http://dorsetcustomfurniture.blogspot.com/2009/12/mysteries-and-art-of-finishing.html

Here is another stain link with other info ...

The Mysteries and Art of Finishing

The photo above is from my big Matisse book and it shows '16 of the 22 photos sent by Matisse to Etta Cone', showing 'states in the development of Large Reclining Nude', 1935. I wish I had photographed the various stages in the finishing of this table. I wouldn't have 22 photos, but I'd have a bunch....

For the first 10 years of my career as a furniture maker, I worked mostly in natural woods, cherry, walnut and figured maple, finishing them with clear oil finishes, sometimes with accents of milk paint, slowly developing what I came to think of as my 'studio style'. Most of my customers either lived in Vermont full time or had second homes here and were content with the sort of contemporary or Shaker look that my style evoked. For the next 20 years, some of those clients and others who came my way asked me to make more formal pieces, often designed to blend in with antiques or family pieces they already owned. I found I enjoyed the new design challenge, making pieces fit with an existing environment. It's never been easy though, this coloring of wood, And, even now that I've been doing it for a long time, it's still a challenge. Just this last week, we struggled somewhat with a table for a Boston client, who, from the start, requested a formal, somewhat shiny finish for his table ...Not too shiny, but just the right shiny.... Shiny's tough. If it's too perfect, it can look just like an off-the-rack piece from a local furniture store, but with the right shiny combined with our method of handscraping the big flat surfaces, you can get that wonderful, waterlike surface you find most often on really fine antiques .... It takes patience, a willingness to experiment, and sometimes a certain fearlessness that you just know you have to just have at it and things will be fine. I've stripped a few and that's never fun, but when you get one just right, well, that's really fun ... I tried to write down the process both before I started and after I finished this one, but no matter how hard you try, it won't be exactly the same next time. Make samples, in this case, include the inlays in the samples. For this table we used several coats of diluted Lockwood water based aniline dyes, occasional masking tape on the inlays, some shellac, and after many samples two coats of Minwax brush on fast dry poly, gloss under, semi gloss over, sanded lightly with 1200 and top coated with an oil poly mix. It took, off and on,most of a week. You feel like Matisse, a little ....

Click the photos to enlarge them

The photos below were all taken with the florescent lights on. We weren't totally happy until we turned them off and turned on the chandeliers that Jim cleaned and are still hanging in the finish room ... Nobody has florescents lights in their dining room anyway...

Two of our many varnish samples .. same color on the left, natural cherry on the right

The underside is finished just like the top ... Watertown runners from Moin hardware.

Will, burning in the mark and date

Leg and apron and inlay

The shine under the regular lights

The leaves
Winston Churchill said once ' Success is the ability to move from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm' ... Just have at it ...

The Chandelier Project

We made a nice big recycled chestnut table for a client back in January and since then, they have acquired a very appropriate chandelier to hang over it ... The fixture was meant, I think, to hang a bit higher overhead, as the builder left the wires and ends of the tubes exposed. In this instance, however the wires were eye level and in your face so my client's design assistant called us in for help ... It was a challenge first to imagine how to cover them and then to actually do it. We all thought it came out pretty good though ... We were even able to kind of match the funky finish on the rustic fixture once we bought a new toy to help us .. Click the photos to enlarge them ....

The fixture with the new piece on it

The 'before' shot

In process before the first test fit and onsite routing

Will, operating our new toy, a 500,000 ??? btu torch, with which he toasted the fir to get the black, irregular surface on the finished piece ... Essentially, you get some flames going a little... (they die out when you move the torch away), sand the results and add the stain and finish ... presto ... old looking wood ... I imagine it works best on softwoods like fir, with flammable sappy wood .. The torch was handy on another project already too, blackening some piano hinges for the big tv cabinet ... update on that later

The finish sample on a cut off of the recycled fir plank

Finished the Chestnut Table

Finished the table Thursday on the way out the door for the weekend ... It leaves for Connecticutt, Wednesday morning ...

7/1/09 update

Will and Jim sanding the second coat of stain .. The client decided to go with all stained chestnut, no paint on the base ... It's going to look sharp

Ready for the seal coat tomorrow
6/26/09
We're in the finishing process ... still work with the clients on the possible colors ( or not) on the base. the top color has been decided and that's set to go now ... We're debating a wash coat of paint, with more or less stain showing through .... click the pictures to enlarge them ....

Proposed paint samples for the legs and aprons

2nd coat of stain .. Lockwood aniline dye

The first coat of understain is sanded and ready to go ...
6/21/09
By the end of the day Friday, we had most of the construction and joinery completed .... Tomorrow we will cut the center legs and fit them up and then disassemble the whole thing for final sanding and glue up. Click the pictures to enlarge them ,,,,

Table top glue up

Handscraped and sanded ... Breadboard end stub tenon detail

Gluing up the two tenoned half rings ...

All together now .. 4:00 pm, Friday ... Trevor, doing his best 'Stayin' Alive' imitation before heading out for the weekend ...

Original post below

Close up of the original table base ...

We're making more and more pieces using recycled chestnut. It's a 'green' material, being that's it's timber recycled from old buildings, and, though I sometimes wonder about all the trucking that has to happen to get it to me from West Virginia, still, I feel good about it, people like it, I like using it, and it makes wonderful furniture. This table is more or less a copy of one we made in 2003 for my friends Susan Sargent and Tom Peters. It's a little wider than theirs, same length, and I think it will be all chestnut, no paint. It's an interesting table to build. Luckily, we have some handwritten notes from Ethan Verner, the last guy to carve legs like this in the shop. We don't do them often, but we've got it figured out now so it goes along pretty good when we do. Will's carving these and he's really got the hang of it now. More later as we progress.... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Laying out the spiral carving divisions using string and nails

First leg carved

Most of them done; top roughed out in the background ...

First page of notes from mahogany carved leg table 2004 ... I think Will used the saw on the first one, but then switched to carving directly with a freshly sharpened 1/2" veiner ('V' shaped chisel) (chizzle) ...

Page 2

Linseed Oil .... A Cautionary Tale

Linseed oil can create a beautiful finish on fine furniture and metal work. It's an easily renewable finish, a natural product in some of it's forms. I use it to refresh my wood counters and the finish on some of my earlier oil finished pieces in my home. The counter you see above is now in the 'once a year for the rest of your life ' phase of the finish process, is used hard daily and looks terrific with little care. That little pile of rags in the foreground though could completely wipe out my house or yours if you weren't paying attention. Tragically, it happened to a friend/client a few weeks ago. They came by yesterday and now that they have seen that some of their furniture will be coming back, I think it's ok to publish this cautionary tale. Wikipedia says: Linseed oil is extracted from ripe flax seeds by cold pressing. It has natural characteristics that make it an excellent product to produce a beautiful and durable finish on wood products. It does, however, have a potential downside as Wikipedia points out in the second sentence of the description .... 'Linseed oil can polymerize and the reaction is exothermic, and rags soaked in it can ignite spontaneously.' True enough. Only the prompt and professional response of the Dorset Fire Department and other mutual aid companies prevented the building from being a total loss. So, I now have, in the upstairs of my garage, a large selection of smoke damaged furniture and we are currently working through the cleaning and polishing of some of the pieces. It's a sobering but rewarding process. DISPOSE OF YOUR RAGS PROPERLY !!!

The library before. We built the table back in 2004 ...

The table after the fire ... It was covered with papers and since the room didn't actually burn, the papers protected the finish somewhat. There are still 'ghosts' of the objects that were on the table left and we are probably going to strip the top and refinish it. The base is fine and looks great now.

One of the chairs below had been in for a tune up in March ... They are truly amazing pieces ..

One of these we 'fixed up' back in March ...

This is a 'before' picture from my previous blog post ...They are pretty toasted now but I think they'll be OK if we're careful and lucky.

This piece was one of the furthest in the house from the start of the fire in the garage, but it was still pretty heavily smoke damaged .... The smoke gets into every crack and crevice ...

But we got it. Shellac and Butchers Wax are your friends after it's clean .. The chair in the foreground is from the library and it got slightly overcleaned as the original finish had black at the intersections of the spindles, legs and seats and until we looked closely at the photos of the library before the fire we couldn't understand why we couldn't get that 'smoke' off. We'll continue to work on the pieces ... There are several important ones yet to go .... When we have a definitive cleaning process, I'll post it here ... We've got , obviously, a couple things that work, but we're still refining our techniques.
'Dispose of oily rags properly' is an understatement. 'Do not operate heavy equipment under the influence of drugs or alcohol' .... same deal ... Be careful ....