a claro walnut slab table 1st of 2016

ok, first slab table of 2016 ... a nice piece of claro about 130" long in the photo above ...

it started out as this slab from goodhope hardwoods

 

we nipped off both ends and cut it back to 130".

rough smoothed the bottom and routed for the legs

first coat of finish on the top .. we did a little filling with tinited advantech epoxy ..

and jim fabricated and polished up a set of our standard shaker style 1.5" thick steel legs

 couple close ups of the finished top here

ready to roll ... off to westchester county, ny

the next 60" round table with 3 leaves is stickered in the background ..

more on that one later

see many other slab tables we have made at this link

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a custom oval walnut table

a client sent us this image of an antique italian table they lived with for a while ... they wondered if we could create a larger one with a true eliptical shape ... they also sent the image below of a couple pedestals they liked.

so we blended the inspirations together and came up with the drawing below ... we sent them a full size cardboard template of the top for them to place in their room ...

 

for a minute, we explored altering the true oval shape to create more room at the ends, but i strongly recommended against it. we did one a few years back with a leaf.  ...
i must say, i feel its more pleasing as a fixed oval shape. 
you can see some of our other oval tables at this link

 

you can put 12 good friends around it, or seat 10 gracefully.

we glued up the top and cut the aprons and beads on the cnc ...

the top and aprons assembled, with 1" white oak stiffeners ... we filled in the space between

the stiffeners where the columns attached too, but i missed that photo

on to the turned columns ... we glued up two of these blanks, which weighed about 

70 pounds apiece before they were turned ... about 30 pounds each after

they were too big for our lathe, so we had our friend hannes michelsen, the original wood hat guy,

turn them ... hes about 20 minutes down the road, and weve been friends since the 70s.

 he is also selling his line of very nice turning tools and grinding jigs at his website hannes tools

there are some cool videos of his at this link

trevor turned the discs on the cnc and added the ply top that will be screwed

 to the stiffeners in the photo above.

altogether now

waiting for approval on the finish samples ... 

hope to finish up this week ... ill be back then ...

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a custom walnut king size bed

ok .. this was a challenging one .. a client we had done some tables for earlier this year sent us a picture asking if we could do a bed similar for them in walnut, in a king size ...  we adjusted the dimensions and details to suit her specs.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

to get started, trevor made a full size elevation below of the headboard with the xs and the footboard

next, he laid out the post mortises and the bolt holes and mortises for the headboard and footboard.

he drilled out the larger mortises first on the drill press and squared them up with the hollow chisel mortiser.  tenons on the table saw with dado blades and the fence.

he captured the nuts for the bed bolts using the moritser and a shop made jig for drilling the bolt holes

coming together here .. next, he tapered the posts on the cnc, which was a 

super safe way to do it compared to a table saw and jig, which i have always hated.

there were LOTS of pieces and LOTS of places they all had to fit.

count em ! on the headboard alone there are four center intersections on not a 45 degree angle, 32 corners where things have to fit 5 vertical rails, mortises for the top and bottoms of the frames, two with curves.  after that, the footboard was a walk in the park.

all done in the upstairs of the metal shop .. waiting for an on site picture soon.

fun, and very challenging, project

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a claro walnut slab for sale

here are a couple better pictures of the claro slab i have for sale .. 

its about 36" at the widest, 29" at the ends and about 84" long right now,

but it can be cut shorter.  its about 2.5" thick

 

 we had it set up as a coffee table for open studio weekend, but got no takers

it would also make a nice desk or small dining table  we used a log mate for a headboard

that you can see in this blog post from last spring.  open to your ideas.

this one is ready to be something ..  a coffee table?

a headboard? a desk?  whats your idea?  

call or email for details.

dan@dorsetcustomfurniture.com

802 867 5541

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CUSTOM WORK FOR YEAH! RENTALS

Michael Antonia of YEAH! Rentals came to me with a design concept for tables and stools he wanted for his event rental company.  We worked together to find the perfect wood and colors and are both stoked about the outcome.  Here are a few of the pieces I made...

YEAH! Rentals Coffee Table

YEAH! Rentals Table + Stools

All of these pieces can be rented through YEAH! Rentals and will make your next event way radder!

All images via YEAH! Rentals | Bottom photo via the YEAH! Rentals Instagram.

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what kind of custom dining tables do you make

someone, i forget who, asked me over the holidays, so what type of furniture do you make most often?  my answer was dining tables.  a lot of our projects take longer and require a lot more concentration, organization and problem solving, but im fairly confidant if you asked my guys what their favorite type of project was, youd get the same answer.  dining tables.  one of the reasons may be is the flow of them.  you start. not that long later, you finish.  they leave. you know people will have good times around them ...next project ...

  how many different tables have we made over the last 34 years?  more than a hundred for sure.  i put this slide show together as much for my own convenience, so i can find a picture of a table that is not on my website when i want it, and also so folks can see the different styles we work in.  this is certainly not all of the tables we have made, but it does cover some stylistic ground, from high traditional, to contemporary slabs.  click any photo at the link above to start the show, and enjoy your tour.  a few of the highlights are directly below.

some have carved details

 

some are very traditional

some are made from one slab of wood, in this case bubinga

and some have inlays and specific stylistic details ..

anyway, there are many different tables in the slide show, and were always on the lookout for new opportunities to stretch our design legs .. send us your ideas and well have at it ..

ps ... im working on getting links from the photos to the blog posts, but it will probably be a while before i finish that part of the show .. enjoy!

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CUSTOM WORK FOR MORRISON HAIR

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of working on a really rad project with Laure Joliet and Morgan Satterfield.  Morrison Hair in Laguna Beach is a new salon from Rachel and James Morrison, designed by Morgan and Laure.  They commissioned a wood slab dry bar from me and a couple of other pieces in the salon.  Below are images by Laure of my wood slab bar and the brass inserts I made for the hair dressers work stations.

SLAB BAR:

BRASS INSERTS:

Thank you to Morgan and Laure for including me on this project... I cant wait to work on future design projects with these two!

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