a claro walnut update ... with chairs

 we'll be delivering the claro walnut table on thursday this week. 

for the full story on this table, including a chain sawing video, 

click this link

thanks to sandy sherman chair caning, for the danish cord seat weaving,
everything is ready to go and it all looks great!

10/7/16 ... on site now ... 

 

a custom claro walnut slab table

we finished one claro walnut slab table a week or so ago, and now we've 

got another, longer version of it in the works.

our new clients stopped by and saw the one above in the shop.  

they liked the base and wondered if it could work on a longer table ..

update 8/1 ... above is the latest in the parade of claro walnut slab dining tables ... 

finished it last week.  photographed it this morning .

more photos at the end of the post ... beautiful slab!

we made a concept model, which they liked, and we were off ..
click the photos to enlarge them ..
for more live edge table photos click this link

we picked a slab from our friends at goodhope hardwoods

 sam had a convenient hole in his schedule and was able to get the two base parts welded up ..

here's one of them with the model on top of it.. almost ready for the bronzy patina ..

which seemed a little bigger once it arrived ..

after a short wrestling match, the four of us got it onto trevor's bench

where he worked his magic on what we decided was the top so that

the clients could have a look when they came by today to discuss the final cuts

to length and width .. we're not taking too much off it ..

i rough sanded a small area and put some finish on it so they could choose between 

a satin and dull rub sheen ... we're going with the dull rubbed

nice figure !!!  more as we progress .. 

6/6 .. all trimmed up today ... a little video of that process at this link .. 

below with my stihl chain saw and matching sneakers and  headphones ..

6/14 .. sam's got the base finished and ready to go ..

 all together now .. finished photos below ...

all for now ...

10/2/16 .. with the danish cord chairs below ... 

a live edge claro walnut table

well, here we have a classic 'before and after' ... above is the 'before', 

obviously, and below, we have the 'afters'.

it's a nice slab with wonderful color and figure.  

click the photos to enlarge them

and a hefty 2.75" thickness now that it is smoothed and ready to ship

 

here, trevor is checking out and studying the cracks, which the client has requested that we fill.

and sometimes you just have to work 'on the table' ...

here he's belt sanding the filled areas prior to hand scraping 

and sanding the entire top of the slab,

 

the defects were smallish, but still required some small pieces of added wood to make the fill convincing.

 nicely done trevor

the base pieces, fresh from the waterjet ...

 
here jim finishes the drilling the steel base parts prior to assembling and installing them into the routed recesses in the bottom of the slab

ta dah ... good to go.

a claro walnut slab table

add another one to the list ... we sent this one to shelter island last week.  and jim, who made the delivery, says that this table has 'the best view of any we've made'.  that's quite a tall statement, but he was there, and i wasn't, so i'll have to take his word for it.  anyway, we started with the slab above, and ended with the table below.

 

with a bit of back and forth in between.

do we cut of the 'swell'?  no .. it's got some really cool grain going on there.

do we fill the cracks?  yes, no, maybe, no ... we used this one as an inspiration.  we made it in 2011 and didn't fill the cracks.  never had a complaint.   i'm glad we left them.  in the end, they were really cool and kind of sculptural..  but how do we stabilize them?  how about some butterflies on the bottom of the table, like below.  that worked ..

below with the legs still in the 'bright polished' phase ..

and now with the bronze patina ...

 the polished cracks ... no crumbs will stick in there .

 and with the reinforcing 1" tubing structure to bolster the thin  slab and give it some rigidity ... that worked great . this, below, from the client

"Hi Dan, We loooooove the table. I will call you  tomorrow. Just got back from beach and am wiped out. Thanks and best regards, Joanne"

all for now ...