a vermont sap spout maple console table

 

ok ... this is a fun one!  

last week and some of this week we have been waiting for 

a big load of reclaimed chestnut to arrive from west virginia .. 

we got word yesterday that it will be here by friday ..

in the meantime we made some pieces for sale 

out of wood that has been 'hanging around'.   

these three boards i know i have owned for since at least 2015 ..

 
anyway,  this table is 18 x 58 x 30" high and would look great in your

entryway, behind your couch, or as a compact work desk.

ready to ship or deliver immediately.

vermont maple at its finest

more pieces 'ready to go' on the 'pages' section 

at the top of the home page on my blog ..

a few more ready to go in the previous blog post.

click the pictures for a closer look ...

some other recent pieces ready to go ...

in an effort to 'clean house' a bit, below are some pieces for sale,

ready to go, for immediate delivery .. 

the 52" round table below has a bit of history ..

it can be characterized as 'very slightly used'.

the top of the table above was once in a law firm in new jersey 

you can see it in the photo below ...

several months after they received the 52" table they asked if 

i could replace the top with a 60" round, which we did ...

they asked for a 'credit' for the existing top, which i sort of

grudgingly granted.  my delivery guys installed the new top

and returned the original to me in 2018, and it has sat, 

wrapped up in my office, ever since ...

last year we made this round expanding table, 

and as we got underway, the client requested

a change in the design of the base that you can see above ...

we had already made the base pieces so they went into the office

with the 'reclaimed' top ... they are now the base for this new table ...

 priced below the cost of new,

email, text or call me at 802-379-1478 to discuss ... 

 

here's another, a claro walnut, cut off, coffee table, 

28 x 46 x 18 high (adjustable), could be lowered ...

in the rough, with a pocket for the butterfly

nice figure!

this coffe table was made from one of thee these two cutoffs that

have been hanging out here for at least a couple of years

i found another nice curly claro cutoff in the cellar from 

which we were just able to get the four legs ...

the cutoff in the back of these two became the table below ..

+/- 38 wide x 40 long x 16 high claro walnut 'corner' table

we were going to cut a 30" round from it, but we decided

it might be a cool accent for the right situation.

the steel trapezoid base pieces came from a gallery table that 

a client purchased, but requested that we make that table 'taller' ..

a 'corner' application below ... the straight sides are +/- 22"

the lounge chairs are about 36" deep ...

and below, i updated my 'paintings for sale'

at The Coffee Bar, junction of routes 7 and 9

in downtown Bennington ... lots of art for sale there!

'my corner'

some of the other art, and the live music stage

great place! loads to see there!

 

and lastly, we still have this claro walnut desk that is looking for

a good home .. it is in a gallery in manchester now, but i have informed

the owner that i am trying to sell it on my own ......

 

 a claro walnut desk, with a drawer and a 

secret compartment .. steel base by sam .. +/- 44 x 70.

 

beautiful color and figure in the desk top

call or text for a price ... 

 

all for now ...

A new set of ladderback chairs, and a trestle table to match

I should start by introducing myself as Kit and Dan's nephew Kristian Moore

I have been working in the dorset custom furniture shop for the last four years and am excited to be writing my first blog post. Thank you Dan, for creating such a vast depository of custom furniture, art, and life!

For this most recent custom order of ladderback chairs the clients requested a taller back with more space between backsplats. After a few design changes and reprogramming we started cutting out parts on the CNC.

our traditional ladderback on the left, and the new design on the right

back legs and mortices cut with the cnc

Every time I build chairs I am surprised by the amount of time they take! Lots of parts and pieces to mill, each piece with mortises of tenons to cut, and lots of sanding…

Once assembled they get a once over before the staining begins. For this set of chairs the client wanted a near black finish, so we used three coats aniline dye, black, brown, and black again before having our neighbor Kevin spray a dull finish on everything.

For this project I gained some experience doing the upholstery. Using a ½” plywood seat blank I added three layers of batting for the cushion before applying this distressed cowhide. The upholstery was a new challenge for me and I’m very glad I took it on as it was gratifying to work with the leather, a new medium.

The table top was a beautiful set of variegated walnut from Irion lumber which we decided needed breadboard ends aesthetically and to ensure minimal movement over time as we were able to get the top out of a three board matching set. The Trestle base is very rugged yet appears light weight due to the two vertical legs on each end and two horizontal beams that mirror each other.

And here we are all finished with seat cushions attached. ready to be shipped

all the best for 2023

happy new year all !!

after 15 years of writing this blog, 

i am a little short on new things to say about 

the past, and about 2023, except to wish you all the best.

we had a great 2022 and i hope you did too.

here's what i said back in 2016 and again  2010

some of my favorite quotes are there ... like the one below

and others like that ...

and ok ... new year, new slide show

here is a link to the page where you will find it, 

down toward the bottom of it there.

'work from 2022'

i let myself get a little carried away, adding some 

pet photos, historic items, music videos, golf and weather stuff, 

making it a bit of a lengthy one ... you can click through pretty quickly.

42 years of our previous work there too.  literally thousands of photos ...

if you are looking for more info on any of the photos,

 you may see a link with the photo, and though it won't work, it will 

tell you the month in 2022 that i wrote a blog post about it

which should make it pretty easy to find ...

  

onward !

a live edge steel and cherry desk

we made this nice live edge cherry computer desk

for a long time friend of the family ...

 

the steel base spent a little testing time in sam's shop while we

worked on the slab top .. trigger approved it ...

there were two options, live edge up or live edge down ..

glad we ended up with the live edge up ... 

the angled cut is the notch that felled the tree ...

 

cad drawing above

 the design was loosely based on a pair of cherry 

recording studio tables we made for a friend

to see more of the live edge pieces we have made over the years

try this link

the mountain goat

 well, sometimes you have to step outside the wheelhouse to

help some friends, and it always feels good when you do.

our friends, the manleys, had been promised in 2021 that the work would

be done 'this year', but unfortunately, the contractor 'couldn't get to it' 

and it needed to be 'got to' ... so, kristian and i volunteered to help ..

kit and i have long been good friends with the manleys, and ace's family 

has owned this building downtown for over a hundred years. 

ace, briefly mentioned in my old man project, is the guy who hired me

to work at the roundhouse when i got off the bus in arlington 51 years ago ... 

looong time friends .... we skied and snowshoed, fished, played softball and 

paddle tennis, were more or less next door neighbors for 5 years,

vacationed together a bit, and all had kids the same year in the early 80s ...  

read on, and click the photos for a closer look .... 

 

here is the building in its original configuration as the combination cash store.

it was opened by ace's grandfather, and then run by his brother til the late 70s

when it went on to become a furniture store, a sheep skin place, and now,

the mountain goat, a patagonia store

 

we needed a lot of stuff to do what we needed to do, and on main st, no less

day 1... scrape and paint, polish the copper, consider the flaking plaster

day 2 .. upgrade/replace the floor, clean up the window over the door .. more plaster

there was some molding and flashing that needed attention,

and we noticed that there was something missing over the front entrance,

 

a matching cornice!

i photoshopped in what was missing and put it on the list

 

we started with the obvious repairs first, stripped off the rotten

crown molding and installed some new, and got monarch metal

to whip up some copper flashing to dress up the new moldings ..

after a little nibbler work by kristian.we were able to slide the new flashings 

under the existing ones we had cut back to get the old molding off,

and now the painter, mrs. manley is on the job 

with us daily, and making good progress.

on next to the new cornice ... 

we haven't built many 25' long things in the shop lately, but we got it together

and with a little help from sam and luke from the metal shop, 

we wrestled it into place and flashed it ... by this time, kristian 

had repaired the plaster, and there were

 only a couple more details to go ..

 

 the original window

we had to spruce up the original combination cash store co. window,

 and you can see a little of the new floor here ..

we just had to replace some missing molding pieces and spray paint

some 'fake' details on the blank new cornice brackets to wrap it up.

the brackets for the existing cornice had these nice carved through details and

looked more interesting than the blank ones under the new cornice

we played around with an mdf stencil and some spray paint and viola!

you almost wouldn't notice that they're fake ...

over and out ... this was a real 'feel good project' .. 

always nice to help out some longtime friends ..