wood and metal furniture and summer in vermont

 not much blogging this month  .. it is summertime in vermont and there are lots and lots of 

distractions.  youve got your birthdays early in the month ... dan, sam, and will .. wow! 68 for me this year.  at my birthday dinner, i had a distinct and extremely lucky pop the champagne cork event.  we were outside, and when i popped it. the cork went straight up about 8 feet and came, seriously, right back down into my outstretched hand .. didnt even have to move to catch it ... for other distractions youve got your golf, your tennis, your horseshoes and general beer drinking, your convertible rides, your live music here and there .... summers short in vermont, so we try to make the most of it .. we have been working though .. below are some highlights ... 

click the photos to see them better ...

 heres the rundown

 

a reclaimed oak bethlehem steel coffee table .. left tuesday ..

ditto on the cherry and steel huntboard

leaving next week

and a couple of crotch walnut bedside tables coming along ...

a small claro walnut and steel coffee table out the door ..

some new belt buckles by sam

chalkin up the states .. sams just finished new jersey, michigan, virginia,and new york above,

and now the south carolina palmetto thing ...

and will has updated his website with his five latest banjo projects ... lots and lots happening in his shop.

check it out on his website or instagram feed

a steel base for a 3m acrylic table top .. cant wait to see that when its finished

with the polish and clear coat

and a couple of steel and white oak nesting tables .. after

before

and a sap spout maple bethlehem steel console

cool wood ...

parts and pieces

a couple of add on railings to get folks down the steps in north bennington ... 

 

and we have a nibbler for a conference table using the crotch mahogany 

slab we are trying to find a home for .. so we made a model ..

itll be sharp .. hope it goes through ...

steel base in 3 x 3 square tubing and angle iron

finished the bar ... see the previous post ..

 and theres a cool project coming up involving a python snake skin ... a new one for us ..

and weve got a 10 walnut table going with self storing leaves..

should be ready for the finish process early next week

and we cut about 70 mdf stair balusters on the cnc for an architect friend whos building a house in florida

  and then you have your yard and garden ... crazy apples above ..

 the garlic is in .. bumper crop ...

and were about to be buried by everything else that kit grows ...

the employees will be lockin their car doors once it all starts coming in ..

                                                   all for now .. im sure thats enough 

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a bar

 well ok, heres a blast from the past ... we, or should i say, me and the guys who were working here with me in 2004 made this bar for a client at stratton mountain ski area, about a half hour to the southeast by car from my shop.  i had a request today from a potential client to look at an antique front bar he has purchased and to design and build a back bar and incorporate a sink and frig in the whole deal somewhere.  i havent been to see it yet, but i hope to get over to his house nearby to have a look next week. 

click the photos to enlarge them ...

 i like bars.  when i came to town here in 1971, i had been traveling the country for a couple years after penn state, looking for a place to live i was telling myself at the time.  actually, what i think i was looking for then was #1., a wife or significant other, and #2. something to do that didnt involve working late nights and sleeping half the day away.  the money was good though then and i got to live in some fancy spots along the way, fort lauderdale, the ocean reef club in key largo, washington dc, montauk, palm springs, and just before vermont, i made a brief trip to europe.  life was good.  and it got better when i met the wife, at the bar i was working in.  she went on to become the first female bartender there, and we are still friends with the gentlemen and his wife who hired me 44 years ago.  they were here for dinner last night. 

 ive made some bar like pieces of furniture, and i once helped build a 35 long, quicky commercial bar when i was a carpenter, but im hoping we get to build another small, intimate, classy home bar along these lines.

i was just learning my cad program in 2004 so the drawings are a bit cluttered, but obviously, they worked.  this was a challenging, fun project and it took me a good solid half hour to find the folder that the pictures were in.  that folder was entitled on site photos and it contained some real gems .. more on that, and hopefully, this project shortly ...

i can almost see that 2004 bar from here.  thats stratton mountain from the back yard, about 20 miles
away as the crown flies.  you can just see the top of mount snow behind it, another
15 or 20 miles to the due southeast of stratton.

all for now.

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the bar project

this project has been quietly going in the background for a couple of months now.  the scope of work was to add a frig, dishwasher, sink, wiring and plumbing to the existing bar, and try to make some sense of the blank back wall behind it.

the main part with the flaky paint is old.  actually, probably really old.  all really rough boards on the inside, hand cut  nails and rough construction, mounted on a new, raised up sub base that was added on site by the previous owner/original builder of the house.

what to do, what to do?  kind of a jumbled up space.

and what do we do back here?

ok, as usual, we got out the cardboard.

 

 and then change our initial concept after a site consultation about the cardboard with the clients ..

 

pick some wood and some details,

and have at it.  this is where we are as of this weekend .. the back bar part needs a little more refining and some moldings and then a nice rich stain and finish, as well as some bronzy, new antique arch top mirrors and lights.  its gonna be cool when it all comes together.

on the main bar, we first chopped out the existing base and decided where stuff should go ..

made a plan

got some plumbing and wiring in place with the constructive and creative help of gsk climate control and tyler electric.

it werent easy ...

but alls well that ends well. appliance installation by brook valley appliances of manchester, vermont on thursday, and once we finish the back cabinets and get them in place, well be good to go

lights on

with four of sams hill farm stools

 

 it was not our first bar rodeo.  above and below is another bar project from 2004 at a house at stratton mountain.

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