A Distressed Walnut Table Top

We're working on a distressed walnut table top for a client who has a masonry pedestal. We're just making the top and the apron/stiffener. It's nearly finished and looking pretty good. Click the photos to enlarge them ...

The rough lumber form Irion Lumber in PA ... Beautiful boards, all from the same log.

Glued up and cut to round with a circle cutting jig on the bandsaw.
Here's one way to do it ... circle cutting jig There are simpler ones, like a board and a nail

We like this next process. It's quite fun. You move the pin that you use to cut the table round out away from the blade and one person spins the table (Trevor in this case) and one person (me in this case) holds the belt sander square and level. Once that kicks in, then you actually have to keep the top from spnning too fast. Sanding the cut edge this way takes only a couple of minutes .... Don't skip grits .... Don't let it take off ....

Trevor mortised the six round apron parts with the domino and glued them up in a circle using the band clamp, adding small moldings to the bottom edge to reinforce the glue joints.

View of the table bottom.
More later this week as it's completed

The client's pedestal

A Summer Afternoon

Beets

Well, if you look up to the title of this blog, it's called a 'photo journal', so, occasionally, woodworking readers, you'll have to permit me to wander through the woods or my yard and issue a journal report. This is one of those times.
We have had an excruciatingly wet and cold summer to date. The joke was, in Vermont, last month was renamed Juneuary. Anyway, today when the phone woke me from my after work nap, it was one of those 6 o'clock afternoons where all the light is right, everywhere you look, and everything is beautiful and all seems right with the world. Kit gets ALLLLLL the credit for the gardens. I applaud and eat. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...


The front porch

The slanting sunlight in the dining room

This way to the porch

The back yard

Kit's vegetable garden

Outside the garden, 'buffalo rising' a new steel sculpture by Sam and Dan

The front walk garden ...

The pond with goldfish

Some decorative grasses ...

Day lillies and blueberries .. It's their time to shine

The shadow on the stairs on the way to my home office where I write this ...
Let's hope we get more 'summer afternoons' soon ...

A Custom Bookcase

We've got a nice painted cabinet project going. Though I've known the clients for a while and have done a few repairs for them, I have to give my friend Ceil Petrucelli, of Ceil Petrucelli Interiors, some credit for getting them to come see about this project .... She's a great interior designer and got the ball rolling with a concept sketch for them. The cabinet is about 88 x 50 x 16 " deep and will hold the tv/stereo equipment, books and photos, and at the same time, dress up a long blank wall. C lick the pictues below to enlarge them ....

The concept

The CAD drawing

Gluing on the face frame

With the cabinet base

We've got an unusual 20" wide spalted maple board that will make a one piece top for the cabinet ,,,

Close up of the one piece spalted maple top ...

Buckle Up

Sam's on a roll with his Vermont belt buckles. I think he's sold about 50 by now. He just finished a run of 8 for a groom to give as wedding party gifts, and as they were being picked up, he got a call from Hawaii with an order for five more ... Same deal, wedding party .... It's a great item ... customizable, as far as motif or stamping, other states, mountains, skulls, fish, whatever ... Get Yours Now !! ........... Email Sam at sam@dorsetcustomfurniture.com ...
Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Fully customizable stamping

Other designs

The Classic Vermonter ...

Sail Away

Pete called last night to say he sailed for a while Sunday afternoon. We made a new mast (see posts of May 2nd and 10th) to replace his original non-folding mast, and Sam made a tabernacle, a steel hinge thing like you might see on a flag pole which now allows him to conveniently trailer his sneakbox. It was his first trip out with the tabernacle and new mast in place. .... He was very happy with the whole deal. He lives in Pawlet and was able to trailer up to Lake St. Catherine, sail for a few hours, fold the mast back down, and trailer his boat back home .... He's psyched for a summer of varied location, small boat sailing ... and I'm looking forward to getting out there with him. Click the photos to enlarge them ...

Ready to roll on Saturday afternoon

Halfway down

Close up

Finished the Chestnut Table

Finished the table Thursday on the way out the door for the weekend ... It leaves for Connecticutt, Wednesday morning ...

7/1/09 update

Will and Jim sanding the second coat of stain .. The client decided to go with all stained chestnut, no paint on the base ... It's going to look sharp

Ready for the seal coat tomorrow
6/26/09
We're in the finishing process ... still work with the clients on the possible colors ( or not) on the base. the top color has been decided and that's set to go now ... We're debating a wash coat of paint, with more or less stain showing through .... click the pictures to enlarge them ....

Proposed paint samples for the legs and aprons

2nd coat of stain .. Lockwood aniline dye

The first coat of understain is sanded and ready to go ...
6/21/09
By the end of the day Friday, we had most of the construction and joinery completed .... Tomorrow we will cut the center legs and fit them up and then disassemble the whole thing for final sanding and glue up. Click the pictures to enlarge them ,,,,

Table top glue up

Handscraped and sanded ... Breadboard end stub tenon detail

Gluing up the two tenoned half rings ...

All together now .. 4:00 pm, Friday ... Trevor, doing his best 'Stayin' Alive' imitation before heading out for the weekend ...

Original post below

Close up of the original table base ...

We're making more and more pieces using recycled chestnut. It's a 'green' material, being that's it's timber recycled from old buildings, and, though I sometimes wonder about all the trucking that has to happen to get it to me from West Virginia, still, I feel good about it, people like it, I like using it, and it makes wonderful furniture. This table is more or less a copy of one we made in 2003 for my friends Susan Sargent and Tom Peters. It's a little wider than theirs, same length, and I think it will be all chestnut, no paint. It's an interesting table to build. Luckily, we have some handwritten notes from Ethan Verner, the last guy to carve legs like this in the shop. We don't do them often, but we've got it figured out now so it goes along pretty good when we do. Will's carving these and he's really got the hang of it now. More later as we progress.... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Laying out the spiral carving divisions using string and nails

First leg carved

Most of them done; top roughed out in the background ...

First page of notes from mahogany carved leg table 2004 ... I think Will used the saw on the first one, but then switched to carving directly with a freshly sharpened 1/2" veiner ('V' shaped chisel) (chizzle) ...

Page 2

Progress on the Cockatoo Chairs

The cocatoo chair prototype from my blog post of 6/5

7/1/09 ... Frames welded and arms on ... more tomorrow

Sam is underway on the cockatoo chairs ... It's going well for him. He made a new jig to make the seats all the same and then we had to figure out how to make all the chairs the same. Once he had the main parts made, we took the prototype and built a frame under it, marking the locations of the various parts and correcting the asymmetries of the prototype by averaging distances of parts from vertical and from center. It seems like it worked well as they all look the same to me ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

the main parts

jig from the back

jig from the front ...

And this from our client ... check it out; it's a hoot
http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html