an oval mahogany table

ok .. we finished this one a couple weeks ago, 

and it is leaving for chicago next week ....

the clients have been motorcycling in the southwest for the last month or so

it's one of our 'standard' (if theres i such a thing in custom woodworking)

center pedestal ovals ... they are fun and challenging and infinitely variable

this is probably the 7th or 8th version we have done

ribbon stripe mahogany ...
i cut the two glued up panels on the cnc and used the
negative shapes to glue up the two halves ...

there was no 12/4 ribbon stripe so i had to glue up some 8/4 for the base pieces,

and some 5/4 for the veritcal elements

the process is to miter them and glue up two halves as shown below

 looks a little dangerous maybe, but it actually doesn't seem too bad

add some dominos and pocket screws ...

 clamping the halves together can be a bit tricky and there

is some fussy final fitting involved to get a good joint in there

 add some low curves to the half lapped base pieces

 oh yeah, the oval aprons add a challenge

 headed out ot its new home soon ....

some wood and metal mirrors

i finished a couple of mirrors a few weeks ago, both with "natural finish' metal edges

the 'natural finish' is just regular hot rolled steel, sanded lightly and sprayed with a clear finish

 natural cherry ... 36 x 42

 'whitewashed' spalted maple and natural finish steel

the hardware steel screws were a little harsh so i put em in a can

and set them in the woodstove for about 15 minutes til the can glowed a little red

cooled them in the snow and wire brushed them lightly

perfect match to the steel

repairs, and why we like them

above from the book 'the craftsman' by richard sennet 

i've been catching up on my reading lately ...

click the photos to enlarge them

so, last week i had a small run of repairs,

bringing things back to useful life

i got the chair in the first photo above with the missing parts

in a nice cloth grocery bag .. first step was to reglue

the backsplat and get it ready to re install

here it is, all set to go ... 

this was what i refer to as a 'functional restoration'

where the object is reassembled using the guide line

'if it doesn't make sense financially to fix it correctly. fix it any way you can'.

a 'proper' restoration was not financially feasible, yet the repairs

i did here will extend the chair's life, (barring catastrophe), for the foreseeable future.

and then something comes in the door that just blows you away

yowza!

details, detail, details ... nice black mother of pearl in the peacock's tail

and i love the details on the metalwork .. that alone probably took a couple of minutes

the client inherited this chest from her aunt who collected 

chinese 'stuff' .... i can't imagine who commissioned this one ...

and let's not neglect the back ... i think they threw the 

angles and curves in just for fun ... 

another painted chest required some adjustment and repair to 

the little stubby legs, which may or may not have been original .. 

FUNKY CHAIR !! obviously a green wood construction

check the warp on that seat .. quite a twist!..

point of interest here, after cutting off the front leg a bit to relevel it,
i noticed that the leg was turned from what appears to be a branch, with
the heart included in the turning .. never saw that before .. my guess is circa 1800.

better view of the warped seat

note the fact that the left leg in the rear and the opposite leg in the front
were shortened by at least an inch each .. 

and then we get to my friend Tom's 'music chair'
which he has been sitting in to play his guitar for a good portion of his recent life.
when it arrived, it had three snapped off tenons, one on the top of a leg, two stretcher ends,
and a long spit in the center stretcher ...

the leg top i was able to drill for a 5/8th" oak dowel new tenon, but the stretchers
required turned and scarfed on new tenons with small screws reinforcing the joints
from the bottom of the stretchers.  tom's my age, the chair's quite a bit older,
and we'll see how it goes.  i am hopeful ...

and below, from a previous restoration blog post i wrote a few years ago about repairs ..
that blog post has a link to a new yorker article on
the conservation studio at the new whitney museum ...
the new yorker article is a thought provoking read on art and time passing ...

a studio style desk

people ask me all the time now 'so, what are you up to now that you are retired?'

actually, i am not 'retired' per se,
but TOTALLY enjoying working in the shop by myself, organizing my

tools and supplies, jigs and fixtures and making new pieces.

this recent one is a  perfect example of the kind of project i enjoy.  

it's a desk, 22 x 48 x 29 in what i refer to as my 'studio style'.

if you click that link, you will get many blog posts and more of a history 

of the style i am referring to ... there have been a LOT of those pieces ...

tip of the iceberg above ...

close up here, with the quartered cherry figure showing up 

in the hand planed bevel on the edge of the top ... 

coincidence yes, but a beautiful detail ..

this piece has a lot of the nice woodworking challenges:

mortises and tenons

dovetailed drawers

inlays

proportion questions

just a bunch of nice processes to work your way through,

i see it as kind of an exercise in craftsmanship

start with a drawing

most of my guys in the shop in the past would have used

our JDS multirouter to create the mortises in the legs above.

but since i am learning a new tool pathing program for the CNC,

i decided i would do the exercise ... after a bit of a struggle,

 i reeled them in ... very fast, and no measuring or laying out, now that i've got 

the process down.

next up, taper the legs ... new style taper jig

create the angled rails and tenons

dovetail the drawers

link to a blog post on our dovetail method at this link

make the inlay block and the individual inlay pieces.

i actually had to figure that out too as i personally hadn't 

done any for a long, long while ... i wrote down and illustrated the inlay block 

process for myself and anyone else who is interested at this link ...

add some aniline dye and some black milk paint to the legs

and apron borders, glue it up, fit the drawers, and send it to connecticutt.

the woman who ordered this one, bought one just like it from me in,

i think, 1997.  this one is for her grandson ... 

warm and fuzzy feelings here ...