the friday before christmas

well here we are, approaching our 34th christmas at dorset custom furniture.  we got the spirit friday, when jim put up the traditioinal 'tree' lights on the end of the shop.  it may be the last year for this string as about half the lights are out, and the local stores no longer carry the bulbs ... maybe we'll get lucky and find some in 'the big city' (rutland or bennington)  if we get there over the holidays.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

as usual, there is a lot going on in the shop this time of year .. the pool table is part 

of the hill farm project and it looks like that will be finished by the 1st.  

it's now ready for blinds and finish and felt on the cushions

we're working on several projects for a local inn restoration

down the road a piece in sunderland

one of the projects involves some steel cut outs, based on their logo, on the gable end, and trevor cut some samples for size.  i took them to their friday christmas party and nina mooney, the designer we're working with, bravely got out on the porch roof after lunch and held them up .. 

we decided the deer has to be bigger.

back at the shop, trevor was putting the finishing touches on the inlay in the 

trestle table for the same project

the base is finished

but we were all concerned the the deer antlers would get lost in the sky

fortuantely, we had an antler that sam or someone found and we sliced a couple pieces 

up and trevor cut them out and fit them in ... viola!  antlers!!

and we installed the drawers in the 12' bedroom piece we've been working on

the faces will have an ebony and quartered cherry detail to go with the ebony and burl edge inlay ..

and we're waiting for the custom cast pulls to arrive from ball and ball.  they've done them for us before and they should be here soon.

and will's wrapping up another banjo to be shipped out before the 1st.  it was a tricky one where he had to figure out how to steam bend and laminated curly maple for the rim, engrave a bunch of pearl inlays, and engrave words and initials into the ebony on the finished rim .. not an easy task ..

talk about the workmanship of risk ...

and sam has finished his first 'larger than a belt buckle project' in the new metal shop

the client sent us a photo of a similar wood base with funky metal connectors and we figured out how to weld it up in 3" steel tubing.  cool object.  it will have our bronze patina on it before shipping.

and the carpenters wrapped it up on friday .. they finished the siding , installed the collar ties on the second floor and insulated the ceiling so we can at least heat it occasionally for painting

we'll finish it off as our cash flow allows

ta dah

and tah dah  in here too

and the final part of the dorset church rails is ready for christmas services .. just in time ..

merry christmas to all !!

seeders instruments banjo #12

will wrapped up banjo #12 last week and his client/friend is coming to pick it up tomorrow afternoon.  jeremy is going to be one happy banjo picker.  his friend is a part time professional musician and you can here jeremy's band, the flat top trio, at this link .  click the photos to enlarge them.

will used his newly learned engraving talents on this project.   he learned his new skills in west virginia this summer in a class taught by kevin enoch, a banjo maker and master engraver.  coincidentally, kevin lives in beltsville, maryland, and will and i were able to visit him when we were on our way to deliver the pool table we took the virginia in august.  it was about 5 minutes out of our way and it was a unique experience for me.

kevin enoch, of enoch banjos, is a master banjo builder and master engraver and he was kind enough to give us the tour of his studio. 

 he had a 'work in progress' and i wish now i had taken a little more time to get a good photo of it.  amazing, artistic craftsmanship, and i know will was totally inspired by the course, and by the studio visit.  it's not often we get to beltsville.

#12 has a 12" pot with a very mellow sound.  the pot is constructed from blackened claro walnut, of which we seem to have many scraps of lately, with a mahogany end cap and a wenge tone ring, an ebony fret board, and a figured mahogany neck.  a handsome combination for sure.

 vermont pride is strong here, and at the 5th string fret and a few frets below, will added new versions of his 'vermont' touch.  these are the counties engraved on a miniature map of vermont.

 the little 'flowers' are actually dots with engraved dividers that make them look like multi piece inlays.  clever.

 a little carving by the 5th string tuner

 the whole deal ... 

and on will's website, seeders intruments , there are a couple short videos so you can hear it as well as see more photos and a list of the banjo's vital statistics.  this is the banjo will was working on when the 'made in vermont' video was made for WCAX.  in case you missed that profile, you can see that short video here.

all for now ...

a little more detail ... copper top table .. claro walnut table

 

as i was a little rushed setting up for open studio, i feel a couple of our pieces that we finished last week deserved a few more comments and photos, so here they are, along with some other photographic highlights from the weekend ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

above the open studio shop photo is a better photo of the claro wlanut slab table we had on display this weekend.  it is leaving tomorrow with the ladderbacks to spend the summer at the vermont visitors center in guilford.  a lot of folks (about 600,000 stop there per year) enter vermont from massachusetts and connecticut on route 91, and we're hoping that some of them will see our work and contact us with new commissions .. it seems like we ought to be able to get at least one or two out of 150,000 or so.  summer's a good time here ...

 

this is a close up of the under structure with our new base design using polished and welded 5/8ths" rebar.  people almost smiled when they noticed the rebar ... it fits in with our 'bethlehem steel' and 'bridges' series too.

for the copper table, which was the other big furniture hit of the weekend, we started out with a 1/2 size model a month or so ago.  i did that on my own nickle, even before i actually got the commission for the big table.  i figured i couldn't go wrong with whatever i wound up with, and i was intrigued with the clients' concept as well as my concept for executing their ideas.  it also was a test of my local sheet metal shop on the execution of the design ...

the clients loved the model and i even found a half size chair mockup i made a long while back to contribute a sense of scale.  this is it in the raw and our only objection was that the copper didn't lay perfectly flat and 'humped' and rattled occasionally, a problem i expected to get worse as the individual sheets doubled in size.  i also figured there are only so many nails you can apply before it would look too 'naily'.

so, our solution was to get some weldwood contact cement and glue each copper piece to the plywood and 2 x 10 substrate as we went along.  before we got our veneer bags, this was our typical process for installing central inlays in our dining tables.  it also works great for male/female lamination forms. these are mostly 2 ton hydraulic jacks you can get quite cheaply on line or at your local hardware.  i think i have about a half dozen.  be sure to support the table underneath before cranking them up.

 the last little bit of design was stablilzing the two base pieces and supporting the 9' span, which we did with sam's help and a little twisted and welded steel ...

 tah dah ...

after sanding and sort of polishing the copper and the nails with some red 5" round scrotchbrite pads we found at the hardware store, we applied a chemical called liver of sulfide (outside please... rotten egg smell) and today, after some back and forth, i oiled it with a polished on coat of linseed oil which blended the fingerprints from the weekend and made it look like a beautiful old penny.  i absolutely love the look and i have a couple proposals to send out for other sizes and different bases.  liver of sulphur is available from dickblick art supply.  clean the copper first with dish soap and a little ammonia. follow the directions and rinse neutralize (2 spoons of baking soda to 2 cups of water) the copper when it looks they way you want it to.  the initial cleaning seems really important ... 

here jim patinas the 1/2 size mockup.  you can clearly see the before and after here.

a view down the table's 11' length ... it's off to Connecticut tomorrow ... 

 and we have a 10' claro walnut table that is virtually finished, slightly ahead of the house where it is going to live. it needs only a final topcoat and some polish.  i thought about setting it up on its base for the weekend, but it's really heavy, and the shop was too full, and maybe we'd drop it, or someone would scratch it ... in the end, we left it on edge, covered with soundboard and only occasionally allowed interested visitors to have a peak ... enlarge this one.  it has a great fiddleback figure over its entire length and is without a doubt the most consistently figured slab i have ever seen.

   we did set up its blackened base though .. folks are always amazed at the minimalness of the structure, but that is made up for by the weight of it.  steel prices have skyrocketed lately though and that is the reason we are exploring other base deisgns like the rebar above.  just the steel and the cutting was $1800. and then the pieces still have to be drilled and tapped, ground and polished, sanded, patinated and finished, a process that almost doubles the cost of the steel.  i get a lot of inquires on these, but few takers.

 

 sam's spark screens above and will's custom banjos below were also much discussed items.

he's got a pete seeger type longneck in the works at the bottom of the photo above.  the fretboard for that one is as long as the entire new 'daffodil'  picolo banjo below. 

 skin head, nylon strings, canary wood inlays, antiqued brass hardware, warm tone.

kit's jewelry is back in the safe and

penny's paintings are back in her home gallery ...

the rhododendrons and peonies are blooming, most of the garden is in and dinner is done ... lights out ...