a spessart oak bookcase

'long post ahead' warning applies to this one ....
well, ok, we finished one up today. it's been in the works for a while and involved a lot of precise hand and machine work, and considerable back and forth with our client on the design details ... we left the hard choices up to him and he was, in hindsight, on the money 100%.
it's made from a wood we have not used before, fumed spessart quartersawn oak from talarico hardwoods (great wood story at that first link) in mohnton, pennsylvania ... my client selected the wood type for this bookcase from the website and i was only too happy to try it out ... it was beautifully sawn and dried, and a pleasure to work with ... we used a natural varnish finish and the brown black color and figure is extremely beautiful, yet at the same time, not easy to capture in a photograph ...
you can sort of see the mix of tones and figure if you click on this photo above and enlarge it... the 'saturns' are an element i had used on an earlier piece for this client and one he always liked .. one of the design quandries that was debated up to the final end was 'where do they go, and how many of them are there?' we eventually figured it out by photographing a sample inlay, cutting out a bunch of the actual size pictures and double stickying them where we thought they might look good. the thought of 24 of them seemed like overdoing it but when we looked at the photo of the piece with the little pictures taped on, it all made sense. what i feel it did for the design was to #1., accentuate the through tenon joinery details and #2., draw the viewer's eye from the top pediment and abalone of the front of the case around to the side, up and down, and back to the front .... there is a lot to hold your interest on this piece ...
we started with a 'phases of the moon' theme ...
the joinery was precise and fussy, yet masterfully accomplished by trevor on the cnc. housed shelf ends and through, very nicely clearanced tenons that had no play, yet hammered together relatively easily and with just enough room for glue.
close up .... we debated squaring up the mortises and tenons, but realized the handwork involved would probably actually take away from the precision of the fits and we decided to go with the 1/8th" radiused corners, right off the router. .. glad we did; we would still be chiseling and fitting...
the bordered star vs. the solid star ... the 10 piece border and green abalone center star won out. we actually did the front inlays on quarter inch thick strips so that the inside, outside, and face edge of the verticals all show quartered figure ... the wood is so straight grained, the joint there became virtually invisible.
trevor and will had a nice time laying in the green abalone lines from our new favorite supplier, andy depaule, at luthier supply. imho, the best source for abalone and other shell, both raw material and precut patterns ...
trevor also worked his magic on the 9 piece multi level main pediment inlay above and below.
the moons are cut from the back side of gold abalone blanks ... not gold, but not really white either... moon color, actually ...
this photo shows the pasted on pictures described above ...
as we were finishing off the pediment, it occurred to us that we had an excellent place for a 'secret compartment' ... it's a dead simple mechanism. the ends of the supporting side cleats are beveled back for the last two inches so that when you push down near the outside of the case, the center pops up and you just lift off the top. as they say, 'i could tell you where the piece is going, but then i'd have to kill you' ... pretty spacious in there ... and you can see the cleat bevel in the photo below ...
we debated leaving the tenons a bit proud, but in the end, flushed them off; another completely correct client decision in hindsight ...
this is the 'tahdah' photo before the finishing started. we completely disassembled the case, completely finished all the shelves and interior of the case and backboards before glue up; to the outside of the verticals and the last 1/4" of the tenons with the inlays already on them, we applied one coat of finish so the inevitable glue squeeze out could be cleaned off, glued up the case, resanded the tenons perfectly flush, and final finished the outside of the case. good to go ... a challenging, design, nicely executed by the boys in the shop ...

open studio ... another year goes by

one more time .... every year, as i'm lugging stuff around the shop, i threaten to swear this event off, (it's almost 20 of those threats now), and every year, once we're all cleaned up and set up, i'm looking forward to it getting under way again ... it's a chance to catch up with the friends and neighbors who might not stop by if they know we're working, and a chance for the thousands of folks who come to vermont for the event to maybe stumble across our studio and buy or order something from one of us. lots of woodworkers come by, and sometimes, even mr. lucky stops by, and, well, that's always fun too. click the photos to enlarge them ...
look for the yellow signs ...
see the amazingly clean office
and the (almost) sawdust free workspace ...
this year we got some lucky free publicity in one of the local shoppers ...
and we have a few new versions of old pieces
and kit and penny get to hang out in the finish room for the weekend
with her paintings and kit's jewelry ... (rush photos here; much better in person ... )
gold wire and lots of precious stone beads
banjos 4, 2, and 1
and an expanding recycled chestnut table ready for finish next week
you can admire the freshly mowed the lawn and the freshly smoooothed driveway ... sam's steel lily in the foreground ...
and check out the mountain pinks (wild azaleas) down by the pond ...
and this year, due to our superior organization (hah) and early start, we even had time left at the end of the day for a beer .... just woke up from my nap ... bedtime now ... see you this weekend. if you're in town, come on by ... dan

a new railing project

jim and i pretty much finished up a new railing project at stratton mountain today. sam and jim had installed all but one of the 10 new steel sections that sam fabricated last week and today, we cut, fit and installed the wooden handrails and metal post caps ... glad that's done ... of the twenty cuts, 7 we're angled definitely, and few of the others were square because the posts were installed when the house was built oh, 20 years or so ago, there were almost no two angles or handrail ends the same ... and that involved almost uncountable trips up and down the stairs to the chop saw on the porch .... my legs were humming by the time we were finished ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
view from below ... a definite design change from the original railing below ... our job was to update the existing sort of a 'swiss chalet' look
a little more contemporary and timeless now ...
like always, we started with sam's cad drawing,
from which we made templates on the cnc
and constructed the 10 sections
we did some test fitting and minor adjustments
before we painted them at the metal shop
and made a metal post cap for the clients' approval ...
next we made and finished the recycled chestnut handrails
and cut them to fit today ... tedious, fussy fitting and lots of cuts, but they all fit great in the end.
the masons from brickwerks were working today, putting a new stone face on the fireplace, and when they are finished, we will build and install the two cabinets in the photshopped mockup below. the cabinets are a shortened version of one of a pair we made about 7 years ago. wanna see a bigggg house ... check that link ... the cabinet in that photo is 5' wide and 10' high ... these will be about 54 x 85 .. the post about the tv bracket was to work out the details for the cabinet on the right ... we are also coming down the home stretch on a recycled chestnut table for the dining area of that same house ... more on that later ... all for now ...

banjo #4 .. 10" pot, half fretless

well, you probably know what this is ... another banjo by will ... #4. curly maple, ebony, and brass this time ... half fretless. kind of a neat concept that allows the player to 'slide' notes on the upper part of the fretboard where the frets are further apart, but yet play accurately up high on the neck. click the photos to enlarge them ...  6/22/2014 .. see will's website for 20 more banjos at seedersinstruments. com
here's a link to a 40 second you tube concert here ... a short improv of 'mole in the ground' ...i'm told #4 ' has a nice sustain compared to the others'. ok ... i can hear that.
being the fourth banjo, it required new new techniques and new and more accurate jigs and processes like the ebony backstrap and the adjustable 3 degree compound angle drilling jig for the dowel stick hole that was based on this jig we made for drilling long turnings on the lathe .... slick
next time, he says he'll add a 'push block' to the back of the jig so he can drill the hole using the tail stock crank, but this time he just pushed it slowly against the bit.
will cut the stopped fretboard slots (a nice clean feeling edge, but without the fussy banding on banjo #2 )(scroll down) on the cnc using a mini mini .026 diameter router bit. for the decimally challenged out there, that is 2/3rds of a 32nd of an inch. a pretty small router bit ... get 'em from mcmaster carr or stew mac i think. ...
the fretboard binding on banjo 2 .. getting that fifth string tuner curve was a trial as i recall
and then, to secure the brass, he used a variation of a nifty trick we read about on a greene and greene details forum where the hall brothers applied ebony edge details with slotted brass screws and then filed off the slotted parts, leaving tapered smooth tipped pins ... i think he also used a little epoxy or something for insurance .. it's a very cool detail in person ..
the whole deal
close up of the fretless part with the stainless steel pins
pot shot ... ha ha
and the back view with the ebony details
nice curly cherry and nice detail on the hardware and dowel stick ... i particularly like the brass wire armrest ... the ebony split line is a cool detail ... and i think the finish is 6 or 7 coats of tru-oil, a gun stock finish ... seeders instruments, will's new website has recently received two orders for complete banjos and one for a reproduction neck for an existing older pot ... the boy is off and running ...

in case you missed them
banjo #1 is here
banjo #3 is here