a post and beam pool table

11/19/2012 ...  will is coming along now on the next pool table, our third this year.  so far, except for a little input from me on sorting and selecting the wood, he's pretty much done the whole thing himself.  this afternoon, after finishing the blinds, he started taking it apart to begin the finishing process.  click the photos to enlarge them.

this new table is roughly based on this one from about 2005  ... website link here

and this one from 2009 ... blog post link to that table here

we started the process with a pile of kiln dried, reclaimed hemlock timbers from  our friend jef harris at vintage log and lumber in alderson, west virginia.  we've been buying timbers and planks from jef for, i don't know, 6 or 7 years now?  he usually has what we need at a fair price, kiln dried and hardware free.  we've bought mostly chestnut, but also some reclaimed oak and miscellaneous other stuff, like this hemlock.

reclaimed lumber always has its particular challenges, but this batch gave us what we needed without much of a fight.

we emailed jef our cad drawing and cut list, and he got the wood together and sent it on a truck, right to our door.

after two sets of broken slate for the previous table, we went with a new suppler, kurt schmidt, of a. e. schmidt company in st. louis, a long time manufacturer and supplier of quality pool room products.

here will secures the steel that holds the legs and rails together and assures that any seasonal shrinkage in the lumber takes place below the leveled surface of the slate support.

when the rough frame is assembled, the slate support frame is screwed to the base and the slate added to mark out the pocket cuts on the slate support.

about this time, we finalized the finish treatment with the client, and confirmed that the sights (decorative and functional inlays in the rails that divide the playing surface into 4 and 8 parts) would be green abalone diamonds.  in this case, the table is a standard 8 footer and the playing surface is 44 x 88, making the sights 11" on center from the centers of the long and short sides.  the client's house is a new post and beam structure, so he chose the lighter of the finishes on the left.

will cut the diamond shaped green abalone inlays on the cnc.  they are available commercially, but usually only in laminated abalone, so we prefer to cut our own from hand selected, solid green abalone blanks from stewart-macdonald, a luthier supply house.

 the rubber cushions are glued to the poplar subrails, and the rails themselves, in this case, natural cherry, are then ready to cut to length and drilled for the pocket ears.

we covered drilling for the pockets in several of our other pool table posts, including the most recent one here.   will is coming down the home stretch now.  the first coat of finish is on the bottoms of the cherry rails, and tomorrow he will take the table completely apart and sand and finish the rough beams ... felt the rails and rack 'em up ... more later ...

other pool table posts are here ...
august, 2012
november, 2012
december, 2008
pool tables and card tables on our website

12/6/2012 ... ready to go ... we'll be installing this one in stowe, vt next week ... onsite pictures then ...

 natural cherry rails with green abalone sights (diamonds)

' camel' simonis felt ...

the manchester chamber of commerce railngs

 sam finished the new manchester, vt chamber of commerce/welcome center railings yesterday by adding the 'handicap access' railings.  they needed to be simple and uncluttered, yet strong and light.  he used 1.25" square tubing with center supports and side braces to the wood posts.  there are little plant hangers on the side supports to hang plants on in the summer.

 nice little detail on the ends of the rails and a tricky connection to the stone and concrete work.  the support sytem will be paved over soon.

one of the modified 'greek key' end elements

a fine job on the building renovations by bill drunsic, the owner, teresa findeisin, architecture, along with dan scarlotta of vermont traditional builders, wells, vermont, who headed up the construction.

a gate leg walnut console

we finished this walnut gateleg console table today, and it is headed for vail, colorado on thursday with 3 other pieces heading off, respectively, to chicago, (the custom pool table),, florida, (the 53" wide claro walnut table... more on that one later), and houston, (a cherry console table).  power of the internet.  for the first time this year, more of our work is going to clients who we have never met and who have never been to our studio than to clients we know or who have ties to southern vermont.  for the first few years, 10 or 20 at least, it was all people who had at least visted my shop or directly  knew folks who had.  the last 2 or 3 years, that's all changed.  it's amazing to me, but i'm really thankful.

this table started as a concept based on another parsons table we had previously built for this client for their home in connecticut.  the main requirement was that the table was a console table 95% (or more) of the time, but that, in a pinch, could become a dining table for 4 or six additional guests

it's your basic form with a fold over, veneered walnut top and two sets of gatelegs that swing out on the back side.

 

 with the legs fully unfolded, there will be room for 6 good friends or

or with the legs partially unfolded as below, comfortable seating for four.  even though we punted on the wood hinges, we still used the traditional dovetailed wood box for the table frame.

in the past, we have gone with the traditional wooden hinge for the gateleg option, but no matter how hard i tried, (and i've had my employees try it too) with the double gateleg, there was always too much 'play' in the wooden hinge for comfort and stability.  this time we used some very tight 3" brass butt hinges, which, while untraditonal, i feel are a long lasting and slightly stiffer alternative.  there you have it, compact seating for six from an 18" x 60" console table.  a good combination.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

email note from a relative below ...

"p.s. we were in vail for xmas, and love the 'convertible' table in kevin's condo. it looks fabulous."

odds and ends

time for another 'what's up at dorset custom furniture lately' post.  i notice i haven't been writing much lately ... change of seasons from summer to fall, change of seasons from golf and tennis to paddle tennis, reading some good books, ('gone girl', 'sisters brothers', 'crossing to safety', and others), wash and wax the convertible and store that for the winter, subdivide our property so we can refinance and build a new metal shop, design the metal shop, help a friend build a workbench, get ready to do some pottery, and on top of that there are lots of small projects, repairs, office stuff, and new quotes going out at work.  phew!  is that all really happening?  yeah, it is.  above we have sam's railings for the new manchester-and- the- mountains chamber of commerce building on main street.  he and jim installed the railings for the handicap ramps today and i know he has a couple other things to do there too.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 he also recently made us a nice welded base for a claro walnut table that is leaving for florida on tuesday.  the one piece claro walnut table top is 52" wide by 102" long and about 2.75" thick.

i've lost count of these, but now we have another slab in the shop, below, that will soon be a table, and will head out for houston when it is finished in a couple of weeks.

that one will have one of our steel 'shaker' bases.

and our friend, joe hart, a local antiques dealer, brought this Grand Army of the Republic sign by sam's metal shop for a tune up.  the star 'arms' are flapping.

after a quick cardboard test template, Will made Sam a jig and some patterns and he welded up this reinforcing 'star' that we will screw to the back side of the sign frame ... good as new, and ready for another 100 years  or so.

a little paint and some screws, we're good to go ...

 joe and sue find the coolest stuff.  this snake weathervane needs a wall mount.

and then there's the other stuff that is happening in the wood shop.

trevor just finished 4 of our 'transitional' chairs to go with the cherry tables we finished recently

and now he's well on his way to 8 more, only in bubinga.  hard heavy stuff, but no match for trevor and his cnc work

16 legs ... couple three hours, max.  we're all going to help him sand these ones.  he says 'thank you'.
they will be heading to england shortly with this table and a few other pieces we made a few years ago for some english clients in Connecticut, who are moving back home after many years in the states.

one of our favorite forms.  we've made about a dozen of these in various sizes, detailing and wood combinations.  this one opens to about 10' as i remember.

and will finished a long, skinny cherry console in the 'studio style' that will be leaving for houston, as soon as our long island based shipper ply con, recovers from hurricane sandy.  they are scheduled to be here next tuesday for the pool table, the table to florida, and this one.  will had his plane sharp in this photo.  that's an ebony and maple end grain inlay he's planing off there, with his block plane no less.  sharp, i guess.

nice figured cherry.

and he's also in the finishing stage of this 18-36 x 60" double gate leg console/'dining table for overflow dinner parties'.  that one is off to vail, colorado, next week.seats four with the legs opened a little, it could seat six i you open the legs until they touch in the center. 

what else? aahhhh, the friend's workbench ...

mike has been a contractor for 30 years, and now has a serious interest in upgrading his woodworking/furniture building skills.  i like doing stuff like this.  passin it on, and give me a chance to feel like i've learned something over the last 40 years.   i've talked him through roughing out, mortising and tenoning the legs, and we roughed out the 2.5" thick cherry top last weekend ... he'll be back when he's got that all fitted up and ready to glue. vises and dogs next.

here's the new metal shop/photoshop mockup, hopefully to be built in the parking lot at the woodshop in the spring.  30 x 28.

floor plans

oh yeah, repairs.  we've had a run of them.
let's start with randall's little plant stand.  it is a family piece she's passing on to another family member,  but first, it needed a tune up.  polish the marble, replace the missing moldings, polish the finish ... love the legs with their elegant shape and corner carvings.  the sliding top/drawer was neat too.  cool object.

i think it's called a 'dutch' foot, and the bottom of it is turned on the lathe on two different centers.  i made some myself for a client about 20 years ago.  good luck finding that picture.  hmmm, i do go on ... and on ... it is a busy time though.

in the top photo, we had to carefully rout out the damaged wood and fill it in with new pieces.  than we routed that again and added another new piece on top.  then, below, since the tenon was sheardce off at the leg face, i carefully add two trim head stainless steel screws in place of the tenon and then inlaid a square flush patch over them ...

this chair was fixed a million times before we got it, but this time, it was fixed more correctly, sort of.  not a museum job, but i'll guarantee it for my and my client's lifeitme.   a little paint and it was out the door ...

and then there was that custom brass strike plate on the cnc for another friend ...

and now yesterday and today, will and i are on to the next pool table, in reclaimed hemlock to match the post and beam frame of the client's home in stowe ... forward ...

the beginnings of the rails, cushions, and the slate support frame ... if you can believe it, that's all for now.