Friday, January 24, 2014

just this past week

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 well, i think im going to be writing on this one for a minute or two.  i have not posted much new stuff lately, and today, in looking at my pictures, i realize why.  the last two weeks have been pretty intense, all in a good way.  exactly one week ago today, i took a solo road trip to stowe to drop off the hanging swing and check our templates for our next project there, a curved, sort of built in bench.  click the photos to enlarge them ...
when i say sort of, i mean sort of built in, definitely curved.  it goes at the top of a three story spiral staircase, in a cupola, looking down the valley, over the top of stowe village ... great view !
our template, which we made from a paper template made by the contractor .. a 72" radius.
on the way up, i traveled over the recently reopened vermont route 107, devastated last summer by hurricane irene.  they are still working on it and in several places, i had to stop for one way traffic, and i have to say, the devastation that has been repaired in the last 8 months is hard to comprehend.  there were miles of this ...
on the way back, i took the scenic route over lincoln gap, to visit a client i made a table for in 1991.  i had seen her recently at an art opening and she mentioned her table could use a little sprucing up.  i could see that it had been used a lot, but after an hour or so of sanding and a new coat of oil/poly mix and it looked like a 20 year old table that was in great shape.  i plan to stop on my way back from dropping off the curved bench and give it another coat ... after that, it should be good for another 20.
i remember her sending me photos of the dining room details that she wanted included in the table inlays and though i remembered her photos, it was cool to see them in person.

and in the metal shop ...

sams got a number of projects winding down.  he rebuilt one of these forms he made a few months ago, and made two new ones.  its and interesting project in that he made the cad drawing in 2d, printed it at 1/8" to the inch, cut it out, folded it up and sent it to melansons, where they cut the pieces on their waterjet and folded them on their computerized brake.  very slick ...
heres the paper mockup ..

 and the finished form with the sliding bolts for opening, and the lifting handles added.  its a two piece form that is split after the concrete sets up.
 hes also wrapping up three fireplace screens.  the grid/screen material he got from mcnichols is really cool and ill post a photo when they are finished.
its a challenging concept as they have to fit and look good in some pretty rough stone openings.  we made some mdf mockups and fitted the trim pieces in place before getting underway ... worked slick ...
 and trevors working on a figured mahogany coffee table that will be going to california

stage 1
tah dah ... it will be in a room with a bubinga steinway ... hence the reddish finish you can see on the top in its early phase.
 
 and heres a new one for us .. a copper topped porch table.  we built this half size mockup just to see how the concept and processes would work and we plan to make it into a console for sale at our upcoming open studio weekend on  memorial day.
the individual copper pieces laid in place
a view of the painted bottom planks ... shes a big one ..36 x 132. it will have the x base like in the mockup photo.

we glued and nailed the copper on using jacks to the ceiling to press it into place.
were also exploring new bases for our claro walnut slab tables.  this one is in the works and we like it so far.  on monday, well put finish on the walnut and the steel and get sam to connect the two base pieces with another x of polished 5/8ths rebar .. we angled the bases to follow the angled ends of the slab.  so far so good.  were liking it ...
 

we also had a small antique restoration ... i wish i had a before picture as it was really not pretty.  lots of drawer borders and edge pieces missing and a lot of white scum like stuff on the shellac.  missing pulls, etc.  looks pretty good now ...
 
 and it had the coolest english style dovetails i think i have ever seen ...
 and we helped install the 4 x 8 piece of granite on the kitchen island
beautiful!  and im glad to cross that one off my list.  it was a great project ...
all in all it was quite a week.  in addition to being very busy in the shop, we also sent out a bunch of new quotes on new projects.  hopefully, the economy is gaining steam in the world of custom furniture .. all for now.  have a great weekend ...

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