High Chest Repair

We fixed the loose molding and big corner chips on this worthy high chest this week. We were able to remove the end moldings and reglue them with hide glued. It appeared that it was the first time the original end moldings were off the chest since it was built. The front molding, however, was more stubborn and had some serious big nails in the face of it. We had to settle for prying, cleaning and regluing with hide glue while the molding remained in place. Seems to have worked fine and the chest is headed back to its home tomorrow .... Click the pictures to enlarge..

We attempt to remove the loose front molding

Regluing the front molding without getting it off the case

Gluing a new piece on the miter of the short molding

Routing the broken section of the long front molding for the repair piece

The completed repair

Back to storage

A Custom Vanity Project

Like so many of our projects, this one started with an 'inspiration photo' of an existing piece of furniture. Inspiration photos are often clipped from magazines or books or collected from the internet. In one case last fall, I made a table for a woman who claimed she had had the photo on her bulletin board for TEN YEARS ! Anyway, this particualr piece is destined to be a vanity in a formal powder room so we had to make some design modifications. The vanity will have a stone top and the sink is about 8" deep, but is glazed on the bottom so any part that shows will appear finished. The original appeared to have elements that were gold leafed so we made some samples and decided on a palladium leaf. We first made a template to rough turn the delicate bobbin style legs which were then cleaned up by hand, turning with a center steady rest. We then tried a couple of diffferent detail ideas but in the end, settled for a plain apron and leafed appliques as on the original.

6/18/08 Well, we picked up the legs with the Palladium leafing today and they are something! We'll be gluing up the rest of the vanity tomorrow and after a quick couple of topcoats, itwill be on it's way south ...Can't wait to see the whole thing finished ..
Here it is 6/26

Finished means like, in New York, with the real stone top and the sink and faucets installed ... Next week


The inspiration photo

Ready for paint and leafing. The 'top' in this photo is painted mdf.

The original turning sample

Showing the duplicator template and the steady rest.
The Vega duplicator attaches the to lathe ways between the drive center and the tailstock.

The "Lotus" Bed

5/16/08 I've been talking with a client about a queen size bed for the last couple of months and we finally got underway this week . We went back and forth for a while ... I got too fancy with the design and she sent me a simple headboard shape sketch and a sample "lotus" flower which we put together into the drawing and inlay sample below. I'm working on a finish sample that will lend the ash a "pinkish whitish tone" and we'll also be calming down the inlay either by tinting it whiter or by making the background outline and petals in say cherry and curly maple so they stand out less from the light color of the bed .... I think it's going to be very peaceful. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

With short rails for photograph

6/13/08 ... All finished now ... story below ...

The client's guidance sketches

Working drawing, except for change to side view at footboard

Gluing in the inlay background

'Petals' glued in .... Ready to clamp

Second step on the finish samples ... The wood has been sanded lightly and oiled

... we're looking for something like the 'pinkish-whitish' tone on the left

Test cut of headboard in mdf to guage proortions and overall feel
It's hard to get all the information that you need from a drawing and this process doesn't take a lot of time and lets us see if we know where we are going. In this case, we're going to rotate the flower inlay slightly, move it so the bottom interesection is on the centerline and move it up closer to the top of the headboard....

Close up of sample cut

The top of the headoard to be cut, sanded and inlaid before gluing to the rest of it shown assembled below

The first rough assembly and dimension check

Several hours of jointing and planing rough lumber

Our first sample inlay The bubinga wouldn't lighten up with the white stain so we changed to ash

Fix the Pix

I had two friends who are professional photographers here today interrupting my lunch, checking out the shop, looking at my work, my photos, etc. We got to talking about photography and discussing Photoshop and to my surprise neither one of them were very familiar with the 'warp' or 'distort' feature found in Photoshop. Well, actually, they'd heard of them but had never used them much. We use them ALL THE TIME to correct our digital photos both for printing and for email. I send a LOT of email pictures, mostly via this blog, to keep my clients posted on the progress of their pieces. These simple fixes can change your photos from looking like this

With everything pointing toward the floor.

To eventually looking like this

Better, but the drwers are still sagging in the middle

To finally this edition .... straightened right up.

Here's how it goes in basic photoshop, including the relatively inexpensive version, Elements.

Start with your picture ... First hit the maximize box and "View .. Fit on screen" ....

Select All

Edit .. Transform .. Distort ... Little boxes/handles appear at the corners of your photo

Drag the boxes around until you get it the way you want it and hit enter. You may have to crop and fill various parts of the results after you do this, but eventually you'll be able to use this feature in almost no time, and you'll never email a crooked picture again. "Practice makes perfect. " I'm sure other photo editing programs have this feature though I have not had experience with them .....I'll cover the cutting out of photos and the 'Warp' feature (to correct spherical distortion) found in more advanced versions of Photoshop later .... Click the photos to enlarge .... leave a comment if you want ....

Tapered Hexagonal Columns

I have made, over the years, at least a half dozen different tables using the 'curved,tapered hexagonal leg' form, mostly as a group of columns on a central pedestal. It's a pleasing, simple looking form until you go to actually make it. I have taken notes on the process a number of times, but never clear ones, until this time. I don't want to cut any more 'samples' or 'tests', I want to get the lumber and have someone make the legs. Period. I'm posting the instructions here, so I can find them, show them to one of my assistants and then go play golf .... right? Here goes ... Click the stuff to enlarge the pictures and drawings ...

One of the finished tables

Early record keeping attempts .. at least I saved the pattern .. The notes were not helpful.

Here's the new stuff :
A .. The top and bottom hexagon inscribed in a circle (the taper)
B .. How you inscribe the hex in the circle .. Basic geometry ... A hexagon is 6 equilateral triangles around a central point. Therefore, the radius and the chord of the circle are the same and you can divide the circumference of a circle into six equal sections using the radius. Connect the dots and viola' a hexagon. Offset the lines by the amount of the taper and you have your two full size hexes. This drawing also shows the dimensions of the rectangular stock you will need to make the legs.
C .. Make a full size pattern with the curve like the one shown in C and D. It's best to use half of the wider rectangle
D .. With the bandsaw on 90 degrees. Trace the pattern and cut the curves on the narrower dimension of the stock. In this case, the 3.46" face. (G in the drawing) Tape the cutoffs back on (top and fce end of the cut) and rotate the stock 90 degrees and cut the other two curves on the wider 4" face. Now strike a center line up the resulting curves of the 3.46" face (H). Tilt your bandsaw table to 30 degrees (J) and with the stock resting on the wide side (I) and the first cuts still taped on, cut the stock using the new center line you have just made on the side. Peel off the the original taped on curved cuts and you've got your roughsawn curved tapered hexagonal form, ready to sand or plane to final shape.

Congratulations ... If you followed this, you're ready for rocket science or a job here ...

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

I think it was Andy Warhol who said we were all entitled to our 15 minutes of fame ... Here's one I caught recently. My friend, Marsha Norman, the editor of Stratton Magazine was kind enough to include me in her article on 'The Boys of Summer' in the current issue. It featured 8 local convertibles and their owners cruising the Vermont countryside, exquisitely photographed by Hubert Schriebl and nicely described by Anita Rafael. Free copies at many Vermont general stores, bookstores and other local gathering places.... FYI, if you've never met me, that's me in our blue cutlass below, cruising, just around the corner from my house. That's the wife and the boys in the bottom photo .... Click the photos to enlarge

The cover of the summer issue featuring Bondville entrepreneur Peter Cornell

Text by Anita Rafael ...Photo by Hubert Schriebl

The bill of sale above explains the little old lady story ... She was my neighbor in Arlington until we moved in 1996. In 1970 it was her 50th birthday and she traded in her 1964 Falcon convertible for the Cutlass, drove it for 48,684 miles, parked in her garage and sold it to me in 1989. Julie was pretty sporty ...

Christmas present self portrait by Kit and the boys September 1989

The "boys" will be 24 and 26 next month...

Slices of Maple Coffee Table

We made this table for Open Studio this year. ( See post below) We usually try to have at least one thing kind of out of the ordinary for people to see. I bought the slices at a local tag sale about 3 or 4 years ago for not a lot of money, stuck them in the basement of my shop and waited for them to dry. They had the matching splits when I got them and, while they got a little wider, they didn't change all that much. The slices came from a branch of what was, at the time, the largest registered silver maple in Vermont. According to my neighbor's daughter, this branch had 77 growth rings. When I asked Betsy, from whom I bought the slabs, why she didn't have any slices from the trunk she said they would have been 'too big'. I bet .... Anyway, we milled them flat on the CNC, belt sanded them smooth, shuffled them around til they fit, made a quick model, gathered some pieces of firewood, cut some notches out of that, welded up a steel connector piece and finished the finish just as people were coming in the driveway... It turned out to be a good conversation starter. However, it didn't sell at the show and now it's looking for a new home. Contact me directly for a price ....Click the photos to enlarge

The two slices in the raw with the chain saw marks

Shuffling for the 'fit'

The slabs and the model

Close up of the model ... photo glued to 1/2" mdf and cut to shape

Slightly fuzzy picture of the finished table
+/- 54" x 30" x 17" high