what's happening now

we could be setting the record here these days with 'stuff going on at the same time 

right before the holidays' at dorset custom furniture this month.

started a couple weeks ago with this railing from sam's shop

and a stand for a 1953 packard hood ornament

and a maple leaf belt buckle .. first one of these i think ...

 and then these last week

 

and this one cemented in place, just before the snow ...

 

the terrain and the recent crushed stone fill around the new stairs made

this one a challenge.

and then, the snow

and the new railings at the dorset field club

still more to go there with railings at each set of stairs

and will's been busy .. here he is modeling a 'goatskin necklace', the trimming from 

a natural skin head installed on a recent banjo he finished.

more photos of this and other many other banjos at seedersinstruments.com

and i've finished some new pottery, just in time to give it away for christmas ...

and while it may not look it, this was a challenging redo, given the existing tile,

slightly out of plumb walls, and complex existing infrastructure under the old vanity.

after

and trevor's got a 42" round table with 4 -20" leaves

 home stretch; ready for light stain with black details soon ..

 and at the very last minute, a client we've been working with since may added these counters to the mix.  this one is 28" wide by 12'8" long by 350 pounds or so.

 this one is 5' x 6 feet by about 350 pounds or so too

 

 and this rather substantial claro walnut slab arrived last week from good hope hardwoods ..

63" at the wide end; 13' long; 3" thick in the rough ..

 trimmed er down a little at the local jk adams factory where we had it delivered

(they have a forklift)

 great figure !!!!!

 trimmed and in the truck.... now in the shop .. in the on deck circle for next year

and jim just sanded and reoiled a set of six of these outdoor chairs ... 

ugh! .. he was glad to deliver them back to the client

and the last two pre-christmas projects that should be finished at the end of the day today ..

above another 'x based table' from reclaimed barn parts; last coat of finish today

 

and this custom cue rack ... finished now, and i'll install it this morning

and on christmas eve, a last minute 'gift certificate' for a slab top coffee table .. 

i'm sure it was a hit with the client's wife on christmas morning

lit the tree at the shop yesterday .. 

merry christmas to all !!!

rudolph .. by sam, 1986

furniture from reclaimed lumber

we've been making furniture from reclaimed lumber for many years now.  i am in the process of collecting the photos of this furniture in one place and have created this slideshow where you can see some of them.

here are just a few of my favorites ...

the 'bridges' bench   .. made for the 2010 bennington museum show 'state of craft: fifty years of crafts in vermont'.  the theme of the show was 'continuity' and this piece involved 4 members of our family.

one of our early chestnut projects ... it was a project for a friend, and it involved this table, 

a gateleg pull up extension table, and 8 chairs

i put my feet up on this one every day.  it was an early collaboration involving me and kit, and our metal working son sam

part of our series 'empire deluxe' ... reclaimed chestnut and vermont marble

and who doesn't love a nice post and beam custom pool table

and about 50 more photos and blog links here

sunny winter light

friday morning was clear and sunny and the winter light was beautiful .. 

love the way it rakes horizontally across the house.

click the photos to enlarge them

makes the cherry glow

turkeys love it too

and the frost on the windshield was excellent

another sir edwin lutyens inspired desk

here we have another desk in the sir edwin lutyens style

click the photos to enlarge them and see it happen from start to finish below ...

nice desk, and a job well done by my man chris bowlen ... 

this desk is the third in a series ...will built the first two at the links below ..

hardware by horton brasses in cromwell, ct

sir edwin rocked!  check out his wikipedia entry, then scroll down to his list of 'major buildings and projects' any one of which would likely occupy the typical architect for many years.  in a minor aside, the entry notes that he designed a little furniture and 'some of his designs are still on the market today'  .. 

this is one of our interpretations of one of his designs seen in the photo below.

our original client in 2009 sent us this photo, which we 'interpreted' into the piece you see at the top of this post.  that one is in cherry, bubinga and walnut, as was the second version we made in 2013 ..

the new cousin is in walnut, ebony, and walnut burl, and has a couple more drawers than the original.
 we're coming down the home stretch on it now ..

at 28" x 72" x 31" (the client is taller than most), it's the largest one we've made yet ...

we went back and forth a bit on the details and palette and finally settled on walnut burl panels with
an ebony line, quartered claro walnut borders and an american walnut legs, frame and top ..
we've done some finish samples and i'm pretty sure it will be striking when it's done ... 

it started out as lots of  parts

we started with our revised cad drawing of the original desk, lengthened it and added a second row of drawers and since it will be in the middle of the room, a stepped up back panel
and interior panels in the kneehole ..

chris roughed out the legs from a template modified from the original on our vega duplicator,
i did the final clean up and shaping of them .. just keeping my hand in .. i also worked on the structure off and on for a couple weeks while chris was in australia and new zealand .. i was happy when he got back.

we got the walnut burl veneer from ben barrett at berkshire veneer in massachusetts.  we've been buying veneer from ben for quite a while and he's always got some good stuff when we need it. we also got the drawer pulls from horton brasses in cromwell, ct.

tricky construction with the step up in the middle

and lots of edging on the top and the panels ..

only sixteen like this one .. probably 30 pieces on each panel ... lots of tape.
onward ...

a reclaimed chestnut farm table

we delivered a reclaimed chestnut table to manchester today ..

the wood came from our friend jef harris at vintage log and lumber in alderson, west virginia .. 

another view, before it left the shop today .. mortise and tenon .. 

3" rails .. 3" leg stock .. click the photos to enlarge them ..

42 x 90 ... 1.5" thick top

we took the leg design from a chestnut table with three leaves that we built for another client in 2003

rough boards that were floor joists .. 2 x 8s and 2 x 10s

ready for the clear finish ..