time flies ...

3/6/16 .. no snow!

it's been almost a month since i wrote my last blog post ... don't know why, just needed a break i guess.  it might also be the spring in the air ... the convertible is out and the top has been down several times.  crazy weather for march.  the wood frogs are croaking (most years it's april before that happens), the robins and buzzards are back. ducks on the pond.  black spotted salamanders are out ... all that is also rare in march. and, i've golfed twice already!  once at 'arlington national', a par 3 down the road, and once at kingswood, a real course that opens early in nearby hudson falls ... manure on the asparagus and the garden today, kit stacked some of next years firewood.  cold again now though. so here's what happens in about a month at DCF. ... long post coming up ...

we have managed to get a few things out the door though, and that feels good ...

this 'black' walnut desk was a collaborative design with a new local client ..

and we did a couple small tables for the husband's office at the same time . 

they've got stone tops on them now

and i learned of the death of a long time friend ... i lived and traveled with mr. johnson, on the right above on his 59 caddy.  that's me on the left on my '61 f-85.  we lived and worked as bartenders/waiters for 2+ years traveling the country and europe .. starting in december of 1969, we moved from ft lauderdale to the ocean reef club in key largo, then to washington,dc for a month at blackies house of beef, 22nd and m st.,

then on to montauk, above for the summer of 1970.  fall we went off to san francisco, which turned out to be unionized, so we couldn't easily get jobs there, and then to palm springs, which wasn't.  we spent the winter there, saved enough money to do a couple months in europe, (on $5. a day as the book said then), and then to vermont where my sister got me a job as a bartender, and johnson got a job as a waiter.  i got off the bus in arlington, the 5th of july, 1971 with $6. in my pocket and everything i owned in one hand ... met the wife about a month later and here we are now, 45 years later, buried in stuff.

life goes on ...enjoy every healthy moment ...

from basket case to good as new (almost)

original horsehair upholstery

and here we have another challenging restoration ... it is the client's father's chair, and he has been sitting in it daily since at least 1992.  i fixed it quickly about 10 years ago, but this time we did a frame off restoration.  it's at the upholsterers now for the new leather .. should be sharp when it's done.

lots  of tracks of previous repairs ... a worthy piece though .

made me think of this new yorker article again

all in, all done .. new leather

and we delivered another spalted maple table this week.  this one with benches with little mini shaker legs.  the  benches will have cushions eventually ..

i received an enthusiastic email from the clients below who were not there when we delivered it ...

'We LOVE the table and benches!!! I'm working on the chairs that will go at the ends, and cushions or sheepskins to go on the benches, and once the look is complete, we'll send you some good pictures.

I'm at the office in Manchester today, Paul is with the boys- not sure if they'll be home this morning or not.

thanks again,

Chrissy'

and this fairly serious project metal working project will be headed for burke mountain vermont on friday.  a pair of bunkbeds above and a trundle bed below .. they have a bronze patina on them now and the walnut headboards and ladder are finished .. should be sharp when it's all set up ...

and we've got another bed headed for albany, probably tuesday.  you can;t see them in the photo, but there are also sort of 'hidden' big drawers under the platform.  they have angled faces, which were kind of a pain, but you'd never know they were there without getting down to look ..

the drawer box slabs will hang separately from the main headboard.

and we refinished a couple of small tables for a local client ..

and delivered and installed these 8/4 walnut bookcase down by new york city ..
32" x 7'  lookin' sharp

and we cut a long slab that a client purchased for a bar top and coffee table

sanded and finished them and sent them on their way ...

so, while i haven't been blogging, i have been posting to instagram, a newish thing for me ..
it's been fun trolling through the old stuff from the 80's and 90's, before digital.
follow along if you're interested ... #dorsetcustomfurniture

and sam is #sammovt

for banjo stuff, will is #seedersinstruments ...

manure on the asparagus 

and on the garden yesterday .. this time of years it's good to be on at least one person's shit list ...
all for now .. paddle tennis at 10:00 ...

3 instagrams from the dcf shop

 after some urging from will, sam and i are now posting to instagram too ... 

lots of banjo videos on will's page ... 

lots of photos from us and thousands of other folks too ... 

a 60" round walnut table with 3 leaves

we've got a new version of out 'mid century modern' round expanding table heading for chicago next week.  we made the first table of this design a few years ago ...

this one is natural finish, with matched walnut from our friends at irion lumber ...

moveable base, with 3 - 15 x 60" leaves

the cad drawing

the base halves ...

and a view of the table upside down ...
another fun project with a new designer client ..
we hope to do more work with her in the future ...

new claro walnut slabs for sale

 well, surprisingly, we had a little cash left over at the end of 2015, and an opportunity came 

along that was too good to pass up ... four interesting new coffee table/desk/countertop slabs ...

we are totally open to your input and ideas ...

 back side of #21 ... 5/4 (finish at +/- 1.25") thick

 another thinner slab

 8/4 i believe .. interesting crotch and crack pattern

would make a great anything

pretty rectangular, which is unusual around here ..

for inspiration, check out this slide show of other claro walnut projects we have done ...

and so, it begins with the daffodils

first bunch of daffodils open on the dining room table ...54 days to spring in vermont ... 

according to the weatherman, yesterday was the last day the 

sun set before 5:00 ... the days are getting longer ..

and ms. pileated was on the suet in the sun this morning ... 

the foxes are yipping ...

restoration? ... repair? ... thoughts on time passing

well, this one was around for a looong time.  i mostly finished it up yesterday.  the oldest of the photos below are dated 7/10/13.  seriously.  we made a table for these folks in the spring of that year, and a few months later the husband dropped this table off, and told me 'no rush'.  big mistake.  let me just say kindly, that it was not in the best of shape ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

i have no idea why i didn't follow through and fix this one right off, except that i knew it would take a really long time to get it back to useful ... the main problem, (i speculate), was that the table was stored somewhere that was very damp, and the veneer on the bottom of the top came loose, allowing more moisture in.  while i can't find a picture, i definitely remember that the top was dry and cupped about 3/4 of an inch across the 18" width of it ...

so, out came the skilsaw, and i made some not quite all the way through skilsaw cuts about an inch and a half apart until i could very easily flatten it with a couple clamps and a straight edge.

at that point i put the top in the veneer bag with the original bottom veneer (you can see it in the background there) glued on to it .. that flattened it out and that's when i dropped the ball, likely intimidated by the anticipated time and risk involved in repairing the missing veneer.

so then recently, (the clients have commissioned another table), i went on to the patching, trying to find a piece of 'new growth' walnut that matched the grain of the apparently 'old growth' walnut of the original veneer.  since we had no idea of the table's origin, (italian? french?) i'm not even exactly sure what kind of walnut veneer the original veneer really is. the photo aggravates the color and grain match, and it is actually a little better and less obvious, (but obviously still obvious), in natural light.

as i was finishing up, there conveniently appeared a relevant article in the new yorker entitled ' The Custodians'.  i have taken the liberty of posting two excerpts from ben lerner's thoughful article below.  well researched, well thought out, and totally thought provoking.  a wonderful read for people like me who occasionally are called on to to rescue the old stuff. 

The Custodians

How the Whitney is transforming the art of museum conservation.

'lacunae' ... gaps .. missing pieces.  'coeval' .. living at the same time.

enjoy!