a claro walnut slab table

add another one to the list ... we sent this one to shelter island last week.  and jim, who made the delivery, says that this table has 'the best view of any we've made'.  that's quite a tall statement, but he was there, and i wasn't, so i'll have to take his word for it.  anyway, we started with the slab above, and ended with the table below.

 

with a bit of back and forth in between.

do we cut of the 'swell'?  no .. it's got some really cool grain going on there.

do we fill the cracks?  yes, no, maybe, no ... we used this one as an inspiration.  we made it in 2011 and didn't fill the cracks.  never had a complaint.   i'm glad we left them.  in the end, they were really cool and kind of sculptural..  but how do we stabilize them?  how about some butterflies on the bottom of the table, like below.  that worked ..

below with the legs still in the 'bright polished' phase ..

and now with the bronze patina ...

 the polished cracks ... no crumbs will stick in there .

 and with the reinforcing 1" tubing structure to bolster the thin  slab and give it some rigidity ... that worked great . this, below, from the client

"Hi Dan, We loooooove the table. I will call you  tomorrow. Just got back from beach and am wiped out. Thanks and best regards, Joanne"

all for now ...

a claro walnut slab dining table

ok ... i've lost count ... this would be claro walnut slab table number ... hmmm ... 11? 12? more? i've lost count. anyway, they are all really fun and i will have another one coming out of the finish room this week for my upcoming svac show. this one is going to be crated and shipped to england, via boston or new york. it's an easy breakdown and the base bolts together so everything can be shipped flat ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
as usual, we started with a slab from our friends at goodhope hardwoods in southeastern pennsylvania .. this one had a small issue, but we were able to work around it with a little judicious epoxy filling which you'll see a close up of later in this post.
the client is an interior designer in london, and her client wanted a different shape, low to the ground for the table base. after a little model making (we sent one to england via fed ex) we got our deposit check and ordered the slab.
the slab arrived almost immediately and it was then that we learned that the house was under construction and won't be finished until may. so, we had a nice slab around for a few months and we'll keep it around maybe one more week to show it off and then into the crate it will go and off for a cruise.
we had our new base pieces cut at a.l. melanson in rutland, and jim drilled and tapped them, polished them up and made em black and then finished them with a little clear coat.
underview of the bases bolted onto the table ... RIGID ...
we stuck a few of our ladderbacks into the picture to make it look like guests were arriving ...
that's the hole in the front left corner ... we mixed small chunks of claro walnut in with the epoxy so it almost looks like a little burl rather than a solid color fill ... we used a knife grade epoxy from eastern marble and granite supply for the main fill and a little touch up and leveling with other epoxies and sawdust mixes ...
there were 5 butterflies total .... pretty good for a big slab like this ...
in this picture, you can also kind of see the filling of the ant spot you can see in the raw slab photo. all in, all done ... we'll be adding the base to the next one this week after we make a couple of deliveries to empty things out a little ...

the three photos below are from previous blog posts that you can find by clicking the category 'claro walnut slab tables' off to the right there.

transforming a big claro wlanut slab ... into a coffee table

well, the verdict is in ... the slab i wrote about back in april is now a coffee table ... on its way to aspen, colorado this week sometime ... it was almost a desk, and then it was almost a dining table. but this client came up with the both the idea and the bucks and now it is his coffee table ... looks great and i hope he has a big couch ...
4/29 ... on the wall ... waiting to be something ... +/- 50" x 108"
top view
seated view

first step in sam making the legs .. cap the open bottoms of the 3.5" pipe and tap it for adjustable levelers ... then he added the plates that attach them to the table top and painted them black. simple, direct, cost effective and they look great ..
desk concept with slab below before it was finished ...
table concept ... this client switched to and elm slab .... which was also nice ..
the finished elm slab ... arrived in chicago yesterday ...
more slabs, ready to go ... get em while they're hot ...

4/29/11
i bought a nice claro walnut slab last year about this time and the client i bought it for changed her mind to english elm at the last minute ... it's been gathering dust in the finish room for the last year and this week we decided it would be easier to sell if folks could see what it actually looks like ... duh ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
the photo above is from a post about a claro walnut slab table last summer. it shows me and my trustly (25 years), puny 3.5" makita power planer that we use as a first step to quickly remove the rough stuff and flatten it out ... just like a hand plane only louder and less tiring ...
the next step after the power planing is to scrape away the 'tracks' . in the video clip here, you can see the progress will and trevor make on removing the power plane tracks in the 21 seconds of the clip. it's why we don't much believe in belt sanders for table tops and panels. they probably spent about 5 minutes total, including short breaks, to completely prepare the slab for final sanding with our porter cable 505 sander. typically after scraping we start with 150 and finish with 180 ... i have written briefly about the two handled scraper in the past and i still think it is one of the essential tools a furniture maker should master ... with the grain, across the, against the grain ... if it's sharp, it doesn't care ... it leaves a most pleasing hand smoothed, 'ripply' surface similar to a fine antique ... try it !
you probably already have one of these gathering dust somewhere ... learn how to tune it up and get it working. you'll be glad you did ... in this photo, trevor lays out cuts that could straighten the slab somewhat to show a potential client it's 'mellower' shape .. inside the tape it measures +/- 48 x 102.
first coat of finish yesterday .. open studio is coming, and for that, the slab will be hung on the wall using temporary french cleats as on the bed we finished recently ... as i mentioned in this previous post, it is hard for a client to visualize the finished look of a slab in the rough ... more photos later next week ...

Because something is happening here ,But you don't know what it is, Do you, Mister Jones ?

you'll note that in the last three weeks, i have written exactly ONE blog post, and that one i had been writing as we worked along on the project ... a record of blog inattention, even compared to my 'bloggavacation' i took a year or so ago ... mr. dylan asks: what is going on here? i don't know, but, well, let me tell you, it's all good. as you can see from the list above, we have (now) 12 committed projects, (13; one just came in by email) including two 54 x 85 x 26" deep recycled chestnut cabinets, a ten foot table, a 17' table, another dining table, six chairs and a coffee table ... lots of stuff. but, on the right, you'll notice in the in process column 21 other proposals we're working on, most of which, as of right now, are out in the ether, awaiting replies or commitments. the photo below was taken around 11:00 this morning, just before i started scanning and emailing ... just finished it all up a minute ago ... i'm going to write this and then go have a couple of tall cold ones ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
a few new models ... a 30 x 60 dining table with a steel base; a 60" dining table with two leaves and a stainless base; and a little mockup for a 9'8" table with a rebar and steel base ... with that project there is also a 42" x 17' table ....
an assortment of proposals, ready to go ...
next up, the two recycled chestnut cabinets mocked up with photoshop
along with those cabinets goes this 48 x 72" recycled chestnut pedestal dining table we finished last week ...
with 3 15" leaves ... better top color in this photo ... love, love, love my red walls, but they can really change the color of things ...
this 38 x 62 mahogany table with a steel shaker base left last week for california ...
bottom view with the actual mahogany color
and now we're working on a version of this table we made in 2002,
the main difference in the new design is the shape of the pedestal, which the client took from our walnut and leather poker table ....
and will had to refigure out how to make the edge inlay blanks ... burl, bubinga and end grain peruvian walnut .. he wasn't here yet for the last time around and i couldn't exactly remember how to do it ...
here's how it looked at the end of the day today ... the edge inlay is all in and trevor will glue the burl center inlays in tomorrow in the vacuum bag ... a little clean up, some aprons and the runners and we'll wrap this one up ... i am planning a post on the whole table process, but certainly, not now ...
close up of the center inlay fitting
next ... this is the model for the 30" x 9' 8" elm table with the rebar base, made from an architects sketch ...
the client was concerned that the welded rebar base might need some other support, but sam convinced me that that would be totally unnecessary ... just as a fun test, we took the unglued rubber wood 1/8th " dowel model and loaded it, and put a little side sway weight on it ... no problem ... i imagine the welded steel base will be fine ...
to select the elm slabs for the table tops, i took a little trip to berkshire products in sheffield, mass last week ... if you haven't been there or checked their website, it's a fantastic wood resource with a great photo website.
bought this one for the single table,
these two for the 17' table ... they will join in the center around an existing brick 30 x 30 column ...
bought a little burl for the cherry table we're working on too .. lots to choose from
big leaf maple from the west coast ...
the black and steel 60" table with the stainless base and two leaves ...
and we have a couple serious nibbles on the big claro walnut slab on the wall in the finish room. in this drawing, it will become a 9' x 50" coffee table in aspen.
and lastly in the new model department, we have this maple and steel dining table with a clever adaptation by the clients of our 'shaker' steel base ...
and finally will got his banjo pot turning aparatus for seeders instruments rigged up and it works really slick. it a combination of wood and metalworking tools that, with a little help from some online googling and some parts from grizzly and mcmaster carr, he adapted the whole works to suit his process. this is the inside of the pot turning set up ...
and, to turn the outside, you flip over the tool holder and angle the base plate. he's got two more parts to turn for some banjo orders, so he is really happy that it worked as well as it did.

all for now ... thanks for sticking with me. gold star for you if you made it all the way through. turns out i had to have the tall cold ones before i finished ... have a great weekend.