a claro walnut sideboard

final update 6/7 ... ready to go ... click the photos to enlarge them ..

 all in all done ... rolling to north carolina soon ... good job boys ... will on veneers, drawers and finishing, sam on base, and trevor on case work ..

another update 5 29 ... almost ready for finish .. lookin' good

update 5 22

 faces of the drawers  .. inside of the doors

will is working on the faces of the doors and they should be glued up sometime tomorrow.

we're working on a fun one.  we have accumulated a small pile of cutoffs from the 15 or twenty claro walnut tables we've made in the past couple of years and now we've got a use for them.  this client bought our table back in february and it is being used as a desk in a law office down south.  so, next is the credenza and coffee table.  i made the sketch above assuming we would cut the cutoffs up into veneers and use them for the faces of the doors and drawers.  we're just starting that part of the project now, and i hope to have it into some kind of viewable shape by the weekend, when it's vermont open studio again !!!

more on that later.  in the meantime, click the pictures to enlarge them....

case with square pieces of mdf to straighten it up; before we added the back.  there is no face frame, so case stability and the connection to the steel base is paramount. 

here, the assembled case is sitting on a timber strand base mockup to work out the sizes and kinks in that.

and for the top and ends, we got these three incredible 28-30" wide walnut boards from irion lumber.

 

one piece sides about 24" wide and a one piece top, about 25.25" wide

here, we're working out the mdf substrate sizes for the doors and drawer faces.  in the end, trevor cut them back and installed 5/8ths x 5/8ths solid claro edges, which you'll see when the doors and drawers are opened.  it's now on its custom steel base that sam finished last week.

will, slicing up the veneers with out new starrett band saw blades,  mighty sharp!

 a quick mockup of a few of the slices ...

another

inside of the first door ... figuring out the process

ready to glue on ... i think we'll do the last piece of veneer and some butterfly work on the cnc after gluing.

the coffee table is ready to go and patiently waiting ... more later ..

a custom walnut sideboard

well, we're coming down the home stretch on this one ... it's walnut, and sam is nearly finished welding and polishing the steel base ...click the photos to enlarge them ..

 all done   1/15 ... off to long island

 here's the story ..

we started with the client's very detailed drawing with measurements that she kindly sent to start the dialog ... most folks are not this organized.

after putting it into my cad program, we made a few changes to get things under budgetary control and ended up with the elevation below.  the piece will have a stone top and a steel base,

here it is, early on,with the box defined, the runners in and the face frame on.

here, the drawers and doors are fitted up ... the client did not like our choice of crotch walnut veneer and so, will made a new pair of doors with calmer grain ... no problem.  that's why we send photos ...

it's in the finish process now.  the base is complete, and we'll put it all together next week.

there will be a wine rack in the center drawer, and room for other bar bottles stored vertically in a pull out drawer behind the center doors.

Greene & Greene Style Sideboard Construction Details

I'm a member of a Yahoo Newsgroup, fans of the work of the architects Charles and Henry Greene. Two of the recent posts were requests for information regarding construction of a sideboard similar to one I am currently working on. For more information on that project scroll down to the post below. The first request was regarding the details of the post and panel ends of the sideboard and the second was regarding the fabrication of Greene & Greene style drawer pulls. In the pictures and drawings below, you can find relatively detailed information regarding both processes. Click the pictures to enlarge ... The exquisite figured cherry, all from the same log is from Irion Lumber in Wellsboro, PA ... 200 board foot minimum, but shipped right to your door ... Ask for Myron .... Tell him Dan sent you ....


Leaving for Greenwich Tuesday AM 5/6/08

Close up of the shop made hinges and pulls
Making the hinges ...

My son Sam made the hinges by cutting down some 2 x 2 blank hinges that we bought from SSS Steel Supply and welding on the shaped long leaves. He then heated them in the gas forge and chased the detail line around the outside edges while they were hot. We then heated and finished them with a linseed oil and beeswax coating, and lastly, created the 1/8" offset by bending the long leaf cold to acommodate the stepping face frame, one of our signature construction details.

Hinges in the gas forge prior to finishing

Cold bending the 1/8" offset.
Clamp is tightened to offset the long leaf on a 45 degree angle.

Waiting for the hardware ... Pulls are done .. hinges will be finished very soon ...


CAD elevation of the the front and end of the cabinet

Detail of the layout for rabbeting and mortising legs of the cabinet

Detail of the end post and panel joinery

Top view showing end panel attachment to case after gluing up
The front frame is glued to the case first
Drawer Pulls

Side view of the pulls installed

Elevation, plan view and back side of the pulls .. 4/19/2012 ... i see this post has made it to the otp of my 'most popular' list ... i am adding a link here to a blog post i wrote shortly after this one that more thoroughly explains the steps to make these pulls ...

The sketch above shows the production process using a router table and curved fence. For safety, we tend to start with wider stock (6-8") and rip off a pull at a time and then the pulls are all from the same piece of wood. If you need more detailed instructions, email me, as I have written out very detailed instructions for my employees.

May 8th After several requests for the details, they are now in a post above dated May 6th .....