a few things from the last four months

been working, been busy, but i haven't been writing much this year ...too busy, almost ... here are a few projects from the recent past ... more later

 

we made a figured cherry bureau, based on one i made in 1988.

surprisingly, i found the original full size drawing in my "archives"

aka, the cellar of the shop

we used some nice figured cherry from our friends at irion lumber in pennsylvania

another version of this design from about 1991

nice cherry!

and a tricky edge inlay i didn't really remember how to do

figured it out eventually though

 looked good when it was finished ... 

just like the original, only with a slick edge inlay 

and a 52" round walnut table that we sent to washington, DC

new design, based roughly on one of our more popular mid century designs

it was actually a slight variation on the design above, which we have made 

at least a half dozen times

essentially, the clients wanted me to invert the base elements,

make a thicker top, and recess the angled aprons

which caused a little head scratching as the aprons hold the top flat,

we had to add a center stiffener and rout the runners into

the bottom of the top by 3/4 of an inch

getting the base to close accurately was a bit  fussy too

but all's well that ends well, though this new design was complicated ...

and we did some interesting repairs to two Victorian era pieces

a couple highlights below

not quite a basket case, but almost

it required fabricating some new dowel joints and some seriously tricky clamping

and three new turned doodads  ...

i am not sure what the technical term is .. drops?

a worthy project i'd say ... it's ready for another hundred now ...

here's the other repair

it had a truly lovely piece of cracked formica on the top when it arrived

and a missing doodad that was fun to reproduce

and we had to get a nice fitted piece of gold tooled leather from 

DCT leathers in toroton canada .. we sent them a pattern and they did a great job

fired up the wallpaper paste and stuck it down ..

back home now ...

we also made a base for a slab of walnut that the client purchased and

had finished in texas.   it was shippped to their dorset home

and we got to make the base with 3 drawers that you see below.

front side, box and runners

back side ...

on site, waiting for the computers and printers ...

 

more to come soon ...

another pool table

so, we more or less wrapped up another pool table last thursday ... 

it will be very similar to the one above, from 2012, 

only an 8 footer instead of a 9 footer.

we started with the cad drawing from a couple 8 footers we made in 2016.

from that drawing, we made some new jigs for sam to weld up the parts

jig for the ends off the cnc

the side rail jig was made once the parts were cut from the cad

drawing with the proper lengths and angles .. 

before sam could weld, Kristian had to grind and sand the steel parts.

all welded and ground with an acid wash patina applied ...

some assembly still required ...

while sam was welding, Kristian and i were in the wood shop 

fabricating the cushions, rails, and blinds.

we cut the pockets for the brass diamond on the cnc

and will was gracious enough to pull away from his

 seeders instruments business long enough to felt the rails in 

black simonis cloth for us ... he has done many rails in the past 

when he was working in the woodshop with me,

but none since 2016 ... he hasn't lost his touch though

 

we may not see this table fully assembled until it gets 

to its new home in northern michigan.  it will likely be 

leaving this coming week or next and we don't have 

enough clean room in either the woodshop or the metal shop

where it  can go ... the base has been assembled as have the

slate, rails and blinds, so it will be up to the mechanics who

set it up to send us a picture of it in place ...

rails and blinds in the wood shop

it all fits ..

Might be my last ... we'll see ...

it was set up in upstate michigan on wednesday 2/24

looks like a good spot

the cue rack has not been hung yet ...

some holiday wishes ...

 

          well, better late than never i suppose ... 

it has been a little crazy 

around here lately and i have let my writing slide a bit.

i think we are more under control now and i hope to pick back up with my blogging

after the first of the year ... in the meantime, best wishes for a safe an healthy holiday season 

from all of us here at dorset custom furniture to all of you out there ... 

i was a little distracted by physical therapy and surgeon sessions relating

to my new (and amazing) hip ... and then we had 3' of snow ..

it was 59 degrees on christmas (whiplash!) and all the snow is gone now.

back to work tomorrow ...