a small claro wlanut dining table and some other stuff

 we got a call today that the claro walnut slab table we finished recently was successfully delivered to brooklyn yesterday .. yee haahh.  it's always good to hear from happy clients.  when they placed the order for the dining table above, they also purchased the coffee table i had for sale back in november, so they got a double dose thursday.  i hope to get pictures of the pieces on site soon.

 the design was similar to others we have made with our standard steel trapezoid base.  the new one had the dark bronze patina on the steel, rather than the polished steel on the larger table above.

 sam is cruising through the metal work in his new shop

the dining table started with one of a pair of slabs we purchased recently

and after we smoothed it out and fitted it to the base

we put a little finish on it ,, nice curl!!

a fine slab, all around

at the same time, we finished this reclaimed chestnut coffee table, which will be 

delivered to a local residence on presidents day weekend

nice chestnut too !  from our usual source in west virginia

those same clients also received the walnut table they ordered for their home in connecticut

it looks like a regal spot for it ..

and also in the works is a coffee table with a new base design using the other claro walnut slab.

since it was the adjacent slab in the log, this table will have the
same figure as the table at the top of the post

we did a little mockup with some mdf and the base .. more on this one later ..

i'm going to be posting something here about taking quick 'record' photos .. this one was taken in the shop, during the day, with all the florescent lights on, and without dealing with the reflections.  it's an excellent example of a rushed photo that, with a little effort, could have been a lot better.

more new projects

following up on some stuff from the previous post, and getting some other new projects underway.  happy to clear the decks a bit and make room for some new stuff.  we hung the big mirror yesterday, all 13' 5" of it.  it was interesting as the building is old, the floor and ceiling or both out of level and when we hung it up level, it was just so obviously wrong that we had to move it around until it looked right with everything else that is going on there.  as it hangs now, the right end is about 7/8ths higher than the left end but it totally looks 'right' given the other stuff that is going on .. haven''t had to do that for a while.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 

 and the cherry bookcase clients will be in town this weekend ... that piece will be 

joining its friends that we made previously ...

 and the dart cabinet is happening now ... it can be fun working with crooked old barn boards.

 you certainly can't be fussy, and you definitely have to go with the flow.

 and it's been a good excuse to have a dartboard next to the chop saw for a while.

recipe for a railng .. cut a bunch of steel up into very specific lengths, and weld it all together,  

then take it to the client's house and bolt it to the posts you put there last week ..

 looks easy when it's done ...  

 

and sam's got a couple other table bases in the works.  the one above will have a danby marble top.  that's 1" rebar .. polished .. it's a nice look and the rebar is becoming popular with our customers .. 

 

 and another nakashima style base 
he's just making the base.  the client is making his own top.

and there's a new claro walnut table happening too ...  4' x 8' x 2.75" thick, with a 

beefed up steel base to go with the beefier slab.  it's gonna look good.  we've done a 

heavier base before in 1.75" steel, but this looks fine in our regular 1.5" steel.

the price of steel has increased so much lately that it's hard to justify working in the thicker stuff.

 

 the slab had a few surface, non structural, cracks that we filled with our usual advantech tintable epoxy.

  

chris finished the chest of drawers for the shaker piece .. we may install that tomorrow.

and trevor's underway on a new 60" round walnut table with a 22" crotch walnut inlay in the center of it.

 

more on that as we progress ... all for now ... dan

Some Claro Walnut Slabs

2/28 .. the three slabs with one coat of linseed oil

Close up

2/26 ...Oiling the first of the three slabs earlier this afternoon ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

In the last year or so, I've had a couple of clients interested in tables made from big slabs of wood and we did make one from a huge claro walnut slab from Goodhope Hardwoods, but I haven't convinced anyone to bite the bullet buy one of my slabs yet. I've had these three in the rough since 2006. People would look at them, hmmm around a little bit, but end up passing. It was, I think, too hard for them to see the potential in those big rough boards in the somewhat dark upstairs of my garage. I even have a picture of a cardboard mockup I made for a potential client on my website. No luck ... This time, I decided I would just go ahead and sand and scrape them up so a potential client can see exactly what they might be getting. I don''t think I'll regret it ... They're looking pretty good.

#2

Butterfly keys for the cracks

A little more sanding and we'll put the oil to it

Slab #2 ... This is what they look like after they go through the widebelt. Sanding out all the roughness on the widebelt would have made them a bit thinner and I think we'll like the 'wavy' texture of 'not perfectly flat' table top just fine

Here's the cardboard mockup I made for an 'almost' client last year

I also found this 32" wide piece of cherry I forgot I had. It's got about 6 and a half good feet in it and then there's some funky stuff at one end. It's also got a little bruise that wll need some creative attention too, but overall, it's got some subtle figure and will eventually make somebody something pretty nice ...

what kind of steel base can i have on my slab top table?

invariably, after the question 'how much does a slab top table cost?', the next question is, 'are there other kinds of table bases i should consider?'  there are.  the legs shown above are our most popular style.  based on a shaker design, below, they are cut (wastefully, i admit), from a slab of 1.5" thick steel on a waterjet, at a local steel fabricators shop.  the process is extremely accurate, but slow going through the thick, solid steel, so the individual cut pieces are expensive even before we grind, polish, drill, tap and assemble them.  they are beautiful though, and extremely rigid, and give the heavy slabs a lighter, sort of 'floating', familiar, yet contemporary look.  click the photos to enlarge them. 

each section consists of the main vertical, a 10" 'wing' for stability and a 2.375 x .375 bar  to tie the whole thing together.  we offer 'natural', top and below, rainbow, a dark browny, bronzy, patina, and black.  these finishes are then top coated to stabilize them.

we can also easily alter their shape as our cnc uses the same programming as the waterjet.  if you can draw it, they can probably cut it.

a flattened version for a smaller table

we also offer fabricated metal bases in a variety of styles.  above and below are our 'trapezoid' bases.  also offered in various finishes, they can be fabricated in any size and can accommodate a design change to allow for a drawer.

more information on this piece at this link.

with the square or rectangular tubing, we can offer a variety of shapes, including squares and xs, shown below.  these bases can be polished and patinated, or left more or less 'as is', like above, for a sort of industrial look.

the restaurant tables below we re fun.  randomly space 5/8ths rebar was welded between two steel plates, randomly painted and randomly rusted.  given that these were 42" high, tghey were bolted to the wood floor, but shortened to traditional dining table height, i'm sure they would make for an interesting look.

we also use plasma cut tapered legs on some of our dining and console tables.

or, our 'bridges' base could also be adapted somehow to a larger, taller scale table.

then we have the 'wood and steel' combinations ...

the 'nakashima inspired' welded steel bases ...

coffee tables ...

and your imagination .. we're open and happy to discuss your designs, either for a slab top you already own, or for a whole table we can design and build for you.  in general, prices for custom steel bases start around $1000. for the welded tubing designs and go up to $3500. to $4000. for the waterjet cut, thick, patinated steel bases.