helen day arts center show

we'll be showing, along with other members of the guild of vermont furniture makers, at the helen day art center in a show that opens on the 18th of january, and runs through the 14th of april.  we'll have 6 of our ladderback chairs  below, with the table above.  stowe is a powerful tourist/ski area in northern vermont, and we already have some new, and old, customers in that area.  it should be a good show. click the photos to enlarge them ...

the chairs are ready to go ... 

 update 1/13

 

i dropped off our table and chairs at helen day yesterday and went to meet with one of my new stowe clients to make a template for a spark screen that sam will be making for an outdoor firepit at their home there.

i had to dig for a little bit to uncover it, but i think i got it ...

and i also got to see the house in its finished form, including the cushion on the curved, fitted bench we made at the top of the three story circular stairway..

we also previously made a hanging swing, which was fun, and a couple of other tables, including the main dining table
 
and in other news, (back to thhe january 4, post) the table below, another in our niche of big claro walnut slab tables, will be leaving for dallas, texas next week sometime.  it's a great looking slab with nice grain and a powerful presence.

 

 

it had an interesting flaw that went completely through the slab and was about 3/4 of an inch wide at its widest point once the loose bark inclusion fell out. 

 

we filled it with our usual stuff and added a little color with some oil soluble aniline dyes from lockwood.

all good ... ready for the legs and the finish

maybelle approves !

a 60" wide slab of claro walnut

well, we got a big one here. it's going to aspen when it's finished. this is the widest slab of claro walnut we have ever had ... it clocks in at 63" at the wide point ... after we trim it up a bit, it will be about 60" wide at both ends and about 8' long. it will have one of our new trapezoid bases. click the photos to enlarge them....

couple close ups of the rough slab here ... we're working on it in my garage as we're a little jammed up at the shop at the moment.

here's the cad drawing

will and trevor wheeled it out to the shade by the woodshed yesterday to begin the flattening process. fire up the makitas ...

the slab was astonishingly flat for something so wide ... a tribute to skip and norman at good hope hardwoods and their ability to dry this stuff so we can work it up. it's truly amazing. that really is a four foot level there on the right end. the winding sticks are about 45" i think.

time ran out before they could completely smooth the face, but the bottom side is pretty much ready to sand and they should be able to finish this side today ... more later as we progress.

today we finished the rough smoothing of the top of the slab, did some rough sanding and mocked up the base with some 2 x 4s we had from when we picked it up at our friend's loading dock.

just like this only in 'natural finish steel .. all for now

a claro walnut slab coffee table

we delivered the claro walnut sllab coffee table to connecticut yesterday. it was one of the slabs that we received back in february. one is slated to shortly become a gallery piece and two are still available. the clients found our website, and, coincidentally, they have a second home in the area and were able to stop by, select the slab the like, check out several base designs and finalize the details. it was one of those projects that went along quickly and smoothly from start to finish. i hope to get an onsite picture at some point as jim said it really 'completed' the room. click the photos to enlarge them ...this was our original photo shown on our blog ...
this is the side they selected and the details we decided on during their visit ..
the cad drawing
after the second coat of gloss ...
sam's welding jig that we made on the cnc ...
parts and pieces ... in the end, we used our blackening finish ..