sometimes we copy stuff

occasionally, we are asked to copy existing pieces, often, as in this case, because the original maker is no longer in business, or in the case of antiques, no longer living.  those are basically our two criteria.  we often get inquiries asking "if we can make this" and you can usually google "this" by its title or description and find out if the maker is living and still in business.  no luck on these.  and they looked pretty old.  and they were really comfortable ... the first project was a bench, below, that we made from the original in 2011.

 the original bench came to our shop, and much to our delight, the entire structure was held together with stainless steel threaded rods, clever brass t nuts and elegant hand made brass cyclinder nuts.  so, we had patterns for the legs, with mortises and tenons to copy it.

lots of pieces and some fussy interlocking stuff, but we eventually got it together.  finished nicely with some brush on, soak in, wipe off penofin nantucket mist ... so actually, when the chairs gave up the ghost this year, we still had the original bench disassembled and piled behind the chop saw waiting to be fixed for the employee lounge .. after 4 years we still hadnt gotten around to that.

 

 you can see the original bench patterns in the dark wood in the pile of parts above.

 i thought these would go relatively quickly, but when youve got 88 pieces of wood with intersections and other miscellaneous joinery, and some threaded rods and t nuts to deal with, nothing is ever going to go as quickly as you might think.

but in the end, they are graceful and sturdy, and im sure will be around for a long time. i look forward to seeing them in the clients garden once the snow melts in boston ...

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sometimes we forget live and learn

so, i built this table sometime in 2013 ... the base was from the antiques show at brimfield, mass., and it was pretty cool.  the concept was a round table with a silver dollar inlaid in the center.  it was a busy time, and maybe i wasnt thinking 100% clearly, but anyway, i cut a plank of 1.5" reclaimed oak into four sections and glued them up into a circle without thinking about seasonal movement over time.  it made it through one set of changes, but last summer, it absorbed enough moisture that the weakest joint failed and opened up by about 1/4".  below is an email i sent this morning, and when i finished it i thought, ah, instant blog post  ... cautionary tale here with a happy ending.

click the photos to enlarge them ...



hi nina ...

sorry i didnt get the table fixed for t-day weekend, but it was not a small effort.  ill put the silver dollar back in tomorrow and well be good to go. 

c u soon ..
dan

heres what i did

 we cut the top into four sections and cut veneers off the bottom and top so that it will still look the same.  i wasnt thinking things through the first time.  we made the top in the winter, and when the table absorbed ambient moisture from the air in the summer, the planks got enough wider that the outside circumference was too short, which is what caused the weakest joint to open up.  using veneers will prevent that .. 

should have thought of that, but hey, live and learn.

 

 so we had the 8 pieces of veneer and the cores

 

  and then we cut the edges off the cores and joined them to an mdf top

rejoined the veneers

and glued them back on, one at a time ... then after a little sanding and refinishing,

 once i get the silver $ back in there itll be good to go ...

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arts and crafts stools

all finished now

we just finished building three of our arts and crafts, frank lloyd wright inspired bar stools for a client in st. louis.  they will be sprayed with a clear lacquer finish this week, and they will pop a little more once the finish is on them.  they are part of a continuation of a design we first built in 2003 for the client who gave us the inspirational photo of a similar short chair designed originally by frank lloyd wright.

these are in natural cherry.  the ones we just finished are antural finished curly hard maple

, with leather from universal leather in high point, north carolina

stragihtforward lines, with a few curves thrown in to soften mr. wrights rectinlinearality (is that a word?

 we have them in our own kitchen

and we have also done them in other colors and woods

as well as patchwork scrap leather seats

 for more information and pricing, visit our dorset custom furniture website

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a patchwork chest

well, chris and i finished up an interesting claro walnut patchwork chest this week.

we had a little help on the snakeskin and leather from isaiah mccaulliffe and his crew

at bespoke custom upholstery in manchester, vt .. the python was from edelman leather and the 

brown bomber jacket complement was from universal leather.

inside was northeast aromatic cedar paneling, planed thin to balance the veneered panels

the design was based on this claro walnut credenza we did for a client back in 2013.

we started with the cad drawing and a steel base by sam

and then we made a pile of shop sawn veneers from the various slab cutoffs we keep on hand

and worked our way through the process.  first step is to cut the veneers to shape and

temporarily tape them together with masking tape while we fit the pieces to each other.

          

 then the masking tape is replaced with veneer tape which is more easily removed

from the panel faces after they come out of the veneer bag.

once youve got the four panels cut to width and mitered, the next step is to glue up

the box.  in this case, we glued mitered clamping cauls to the faces of the panels with

brown paper bag strips to hold them to the panels while we (gently) clamped them together.

as i recall, we glued first the two opposite corners, let them sit, then finished up with the 

other two corners once the first pair were set.

we used the base as the reference for square and kept the pieces vertical with the L shaped 

supports to keep the panels plumb and square ... we also clamped in a temporary 

bottom of melamine to keep the case square.

once the corners were glued up, we knocked off the temporary cauls and
sanded off the paper bag remnants ... this trick works slick for tall miters.

glowing in the sun in the finish room

delivery to the client next week ... should be fun ... 

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