fun with lighting

i've always been fascinated with light and lighting. the way it glows at night; the way it falls on wood to illuminate the figure and color ... it's all good. we've done a few things with it here and there .. hanging lamps over a dining table, pool table lights, (scroll down), free hanging chandeliers ... mostly kind of little stuff. recently though we have been talking with the contractor on the job where we did the reclaimed chestnut cabinets and it seems there is a distinct lack of light over the couches ... what to do? a hanging chandelier? there's a wire up there, but it's a loooong way to the ceiling.as you can see in the photo below. it seemed to sam and me that the next best choice was to make something between the beams about 9' up that would mainly light the couch and coffee table area, in other words, where you need the light. click the photos to enlarge them ...
sam had the idea of using square steel tubing to support the custom glass shades from our friend andrew at manchester hot glass that we could use to direct the light downward and mostly eliminate seeing the bulbs up there. we discussed dimmers...
we scratched it out on paper, did a little cad drawing roughly to scale, but none of our workings seemed to come across as something as exciting as we thought it could be ... i decided to get out of the office and make a model. we got the measurements from beam to beam and wall to wall from matthew, the contractor and we reduced it all to 1/8th scale. the 8 x 8s became 1" x 1"s, (convenient), and the 3 x 3 steel tubing became 3/8ths by 3/8ths, and the 2.5 square tube connectors became 5/16ths square ... nice round numbers.
we divided the 6' space into 5ths, subtracted the thicknesses of the tubing and arrived at a spacing of roughly 12" between the horizontals .. also convenient. i dotted them with yellow glue and nailed them carefully with the micropinner .. a few pins poked out but i trimmed them off or pulled them through .. we then sprayed the grid with flat black and constructed the half lapped 1 x 1 frame ... it was about at this point that we realized we woudl have to create access in the tubing frame to make the electrical connections and rout the wires from shade to shade. adding the wood 'caps' on top after the fact seemed like a logical option that would also add interest to the fixture ... i had to mockup the shades so i spun a dowel on and angle on the edge sander, cut it to length, drilled it and the frame on the drill press and hammered them home with 1.25 x 17 brads ... pretty slick...
i added the 8' foot posts, but it was still kind of hard to visualize the full effect.
well, there's always photoshop ... the first step was to get rid of the open area above the model by photographing it against a piece of black foam core ... that was a start.then i realized i could put it near the edge of the counter and photograph it looking up with the foam core on top .. viola .. now we're getting there.
then i robbed the shade image from andrew's website at manchester hot glass and dotted them onto the photo over the wood cones ... now we're talkin' ... i sent the two images above and the shade photo at the top of the post off to the clients and we're going to get together on it soon ... models and mockups and photoshop to the rescue again ...
these clients are used to my photoshopping from the last couple projects we did together. above is the before image, created by photoshopping a cabinet from my website into their space, and then, below,executing the photoshopped image ... visualization ... graphic communication ... it's not overrated.
more model posts here

made it to 100

well i have to note this milestone. i now have 100 members/followers of my photos and postings. thank you all for your comments, (i always like those), and for sticking with me through my ramblings and comings and goings .. there is a huge community of woodworkers now, much, much larger than when i started almost 40 years ago. while i sometimes wish we might have had the internet when i was learning, i'm also glad to have figured out a lot of things on my own. this blog is my attempt to give a little back to the community i work in and spread the things around that i have learned ( and am still learning) over the years. i hope you are all having the same spring weather that's in our forecast for the next few days ... time to get out the convertible here and it's not even the middle of march yet ... again, thank you all ... dan

catching up

i haven't been writing too much lately, well, except for my long claro walnut post, but that has been in the works for a while ... head's up; here's another long one. but first, shall we have a little talk about ADD and the 'wandering mind'. everyday, i wrestle with my mind wandering from one project to another, one client to another, one proposal or design to another .. interruptions, recoveries, plan changes, people out sick ... it can be a challenge. in looking through my recent photos taken since our show opened, i see no constant theme, no consistent style a virtual explosion of stuff ... hard to comprehend ... click the photos to enlarge them ....
let's start with the new design work under way ... above are some sketches for a potential pool table client ... we seem to be experiencing an uptick in the number of potential clients. lots to draw, lots to estimate. at some point in near future, hopefully, lots of work on the books.
last week we completed this 'inside the front door', built in ash cabinet in a pickled white finish, with leather seat cushions for a local client ... the forged pegs and the door pulls, sam made in the metal shop. behind the doors are adjustable shelves .
and the weekend of february 25th, we taught or first college level course for green moutain college in poultney. the 17 students first came to our shop, and the next class later in march will be at the college. the subject is visualization, model making and digital fabrication and is intended to be part of a new major in furniture design that is being created at the college by the lead instructor, lucas brown. it's a one credit course, but it has given me some small insight into the world of formal education.
i have never taught a structured class before, but i can see from my brief experience that it is a challenge ... and a lot of work ... i gave a lecture first and then the class broke into four groups to flesh out potential project ideas.
and trevor built this cherry and black paint two level coffee table with our standard trapezoidal edge inlay. we've made a number of these in both 48" and 42" squares .. i like the form ... interesting base design.build the base ... add the cherry top and shelvesand sam sent off one of his limited edition 'fish in montana' belt buckles ...
and will is on the homestretch on banjo #8, with #9 in the works to the right ... more on that later ...
and a project i'm working on is trying to digitize the 4 x 5 film slides that i have from my first 20 years as a furniture maker. they are from before my photographer retired, and before digital cameras. and before i started taking my own pictures. i have never been able to get good digital images from them at a reasonable price, but recently hit on the idea of illuminating them and taking photos of them ...
as soon as i get the right frosted glass and light source, i'll post instructions for others with the same problem ... i'm getting close. this is a shot of a painted curly hard maple bowl, about 10" in diameter, from the mid 80s.and this table went, with the sideboard above, to a client in pennsylvania with a strong sense of what she wanted. it was a pleasure working with her. those pieces are from the very late 80s as i recall. i have got a lot of these very professional slides and it will be good to have them handy.
next up, from the week after the svac show, a 60" console table in burned recycled oak. above i'm torching the raw wood, which i then sanded and stained very lightly. the patina that is in the reclaimed wood is amazing and the burning enhances it nicely.with the finish ...
a quick snapshot of the finished table ... steel legs ...
and monday, we finished installing the built in tv cabinet below. (top unit only) we tore out the old one a few weeks ago and fabricated a new, slip in one, that will house a 46" flatscreen. waiting for photos from the audio/video guy.
big improvement ... waaay less wires. there were some challenges to this one, though it looks like it was easy, now that it's in there ... and while we were there, we got to visit with some other pieces from the 80s, only in person, not in the slides. the carved glass bowls on the table are by my assistant, jim, from when he was working as a glass artist a few years back. great stuff.
and sam finished this 'barn hook' for a client with a new outbuilding ... i am going to add apiece of wood and a little copper roof over it to protect the wooden pulley before it is mounted .. it's lying down now, the long side on the floor will be mounted vertically on the end of the building ..
in this spalted maple comsole, the center support/brace that keep the table rigid was half lapped over the vertical ends using plywood strips wider than the irregular piece of maple clamped in the center, even with the straight top. a couple passes over the dado heads, add some steel, add some finish and a top ... presto ... out the door .. this is a poor photo and does not do the beauty of the spalted maple one bit of justice ...
and will's working on a reclaimed chestnut dining table that will have pull out leaves on the ends. it's currrently 44 x 88 in the photos below, but will extend to 11' ...
sort of a 'post and beam' design, based on this fixed size, round end table we made last spring, also in recycled chestnut ...
more info on this table here
and on the other side of the shop we have a natural hickory sideboard to go with the table above. trevor is finishing it up between some custom cnc work, and i'll have more to pictures to show on this piece by the end of the week. it's starting to shape up.

so, now you know some of what is going on here ... i may actually add to this post later ... it's crazy here ...

website problems

3/6/2012 ... thanks to my website designers, my site is back up! severals readers offered their input on the problem, and i thank them for that. from reading their suggestions and some of the links that they sent, i realized that the problem was a server update problem, the solution to which was kind of technical, and without doing this every day, not easy to comprehend. back in business now ... if i can just get some of our new stuff up there, i'll be all set ... soon ...

my apologies folks ... my host, 1 and 1, sent us an email informing us that they were doing some 'maintenance work' and it appears they have created a problem with our website ... we are in touch with them and they are 'working on it'. please contact me at by email at dan@dorsetcustomfurniture.com or call me at 802 867 5541 if you need information about our work .. hopefully this will be straightened out soon ... dan
ok now ... will says we have 'inherited' this problem due to a a 'server update' at one and one ... haven't a clue ... any of you coders out there care to comment? thanks ..

all claro wlanut, all the time

ok, claro wlanut, i love this wood ... fancy, warm, vibrantly figured most of the time, stable, flat; it's all good ... and we have made a lot of stuff with it. lately, as we get more requests for custom pieces, i have come to feel the need to have some photos of our different items in one place ... a sort of, 'here, this about sums it up' link, so i don't have to get a picture here, get another picture there, find a picture of that specific table base .... etc, etc. if you make custom stuff for other people, and have been doing it for a while, you'll know what i mean ... anyway; here goes ... please click the photos to enlarge them ...
first up, cause i like the warm and fuzzy photo at the top, is this coffee table we made for a client in the boston area, who actually had the luxury of keeping it on her covered porch along with a collection of our outdoor lounge chairs ... for more info on this project, check out this blog post ...
sometimes, at the end of a project we even get letters like the one above .. 'my home has been trumped by the table' ... hmmmm, i doubt it, cause i've seen photos of the house, but it's a nice compliment, regardless. it goes with the table on the crossbuck base below, and the original blog post from 2008 is here. i think that one may be the one that started it all for us ... but here's another early one, and the first table we did with the solid steel base, what we refer to as our 'shaker style' legs ... learning process on that one ... but, we got 'er done, and have done many others with that style legs in both bright and blackened steel the original blog post is here ...
we made a little model first on the cnc and sprayed it with the krylon metalllic paint. looks like the real thing, only a tenth as big ...
the finished table, cut from its backgroundbirds eye view of the grain in the top ...
sometimes we have to assist mother nature in getting the shape exactly right
but all's well that ends well .... this was a big one ... about 4' wide and 11' long ... original blog post here ...
and above is another letter from a happy desk client ... some drawers and secret compartments made for a really special desk ... this was a recent one from late last year ... more info here


we start with slabs like this one; in fact we bought four from goodhope, from the same log and used them for the desk above, the table below, the table we have in our current show at the southern vermont arts center, and we still have one more available on out wall that you can see a couple photos down ...
this was a fantastic piece of wood when it was all polished up, and it's now happy in its new home in the hamptons ... california to goodhope hardwoods in pennsylvania to vermont, to east hampton .... lots of miles on most of these. we have two to montana, about a 6000 mile trip !!

 above are thee versions of our 'trapezoid' bases, a desk, a dining table and a coffee table.  these bases are all also available in 'natural', rainbow, and blackened finishes.

several tables have our ladderback chairs in one form or another ... these above sport nice 'bomber jacket leather' seats.
the raw material ... often, not perfect, though with lots and lots of potential ...
this one heads off to england next week in a pair of crates via ocean freight. even more miles on that one ... this has a new base design based on our designer client's input ... again, a model was helpful in determining the final proportions ... more info here ...
the leg assemblies are drilled tapped and bolted together and can be easily shipped flat, in pieces.and we often add butterflies to both decorate and stabilize the cracks.
this one is in our current show at the southern vermont arts center in nearby manchester.great figure and grain character in this one ... and this is the last slab from the spectacular log you have seen in some of the previous pictures. it's from closest to the center of the log and probably has, actually, the best figure yet. it was completely cracked into two pieces when it arrived, and we intend, in the end, to probably use it as two pieces, connected by butterflies, but separated as above by a 1/4 inch or so. even without finish the color is amazing ... call now to discuss your options ...
sometimes a client will select a slab from the goodhope 'specials' or 'coffee table slab' page and we add just simple wooden or polished steel pipe bases. keep it simple stupid ... and now we're at the sawbuck base table that goes with the letter at the top ... solid, twist and reverse twisted 1.25" steel crosspiece by sam in the metal shop ...
or we can weld other steel base designs from structural stock ... these pieces were fabricated by sam in the metal shop from 3/4" stock and some round, 1.5" solid bar stock

more info on this project here ... again with the models ... love 'em ...
some polished or black pipe legs .. instant coffee table
this bed and side table assembly went to florida and is made from a pair of american, not claro walnut, but spectacular nonetheless. i post it with the claro pieces because the design could easily be made using a claro slab as well ...
and sometimes we get to make a little bench for a new york city apartment entrance hall ... this one is 36" x 15". small, but i love the form and it opens up the possibility for others like it as well as new dining table base designs.
specs and shapes of our available leg designs, all of which can be customized and made heavier, lighter, wider, or shorter, as you wish. our most popular is the one above, in 1.5" thick steel.

and pretty much any welded shape you can come up with can be fabricated by sam in our in house custom metal shop
and here, i'll talk VERY GENERALLY AND UNSPECIFICALLY about prices ...these prices of these tables are directly related to what we have to pay for the wood slab, delivered to our shop. a rule of thumb seems to be, or could be about $1000. to $1400. per lineal foot of table ... anyway, that's a place to start, but the final price could be more or less than that, if, for example, you select an extra wide, extra long, or figured slab, or one with some extra character from the specials page. each project is priced individually with the cost of the wood being the main factor ...

we sell the leg assemblies separately. the solid, waterjetted, 1.5" thick sets start at $3500. as drawn and pictured in the natural finish.  for the black or rainbow patina, add $400. there is a separate upcharge for custom shapes and 1.75" thick stock.  for each design that upcharge is different. custom shape and thickness quotes on request.  shipping for the bases in the northeast would be +/- 250-350.  nationwide quotes are available with your shipping address.

so, 'here, this about sums it up' for claro walnut for now ... but i also feel like we have just scratched the surface ...

other walnut blogs posts at the links below:
a dozen big ones
how much does a claro walnut slab table cost?
one for sale right now