what kind of custom dining tables do you make?

someone, i forget who, asked me over the holidays, 'so what type of furniture do you make most often'?  my answer was 'dining tables'.  a lot of our projects take longer and require a lot more concentration, organization and problem solving, but i'm fairly confidant if you asked my guys what their favorite type of project was, you'd get the same answer.  'dining tables'.  one of the reasons may be is the flow of them.  you start. not that long later, you finish.  they leave. you know people will have good times around them ...next project ...

  how many different tables have we made over the last 34 years?  more than a hundred for sure.  i put this slide show together as much for my own convenience, so i can find a picture of a table that is not on my website when i want it, and also so folks can see the different styles we work in.  this is certainly not all of the tables we have made, but it does cover some stylistic ground, from high traditional, to contemporary slabs.  click any photo at the link above to start the show, and enjoy your tour.  a few of the highlights are directly below.

some have carved details

 

some are very traditional

some are made from one slab of wood, in this case bubinga

and some have inlays and specific stylistic details ..

anyway, there are many different tables in the slide show, and we're always on the lookout for new opportunities to stretch our design legs .. send us your ideas and we'll have at it ..

ps ... i'm working on getting links from the photos to the blog posts, but it will probably be a while before i finish that part of the show .. enjoy!

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 ...

an oak slab trestle table

we just finished this fine white oak slab top trestle table ... the slab itself was cut from very near the center of the tree and it is about 46" wide on one end and 40" wide on the other.  flat as a pancake .. 

click the photos to enlarge them ...

beautiful quartered figure toward the outsides of the slab and interesting edges where insect worked under the bark .. this mist have been one fine tree.

a view from the bottom, before we cut the top to length.  trevor did a great job on this one.

three oak butterflies to control the crack in the end

there was some discussion of light vs dark butterflies and we were able to mock it up 

in photoshop to help the clients decide .. light above ..

dark ones ..

laying out the parts ..

trevor, pegging the top rail joinery

it's headed for sugarbush, in warren, vt, on monday

you all have a great thanksgiving weekend ... after turkey day, we'll be finishing up the move to the new metal shop ..

can't keep up

busy, busy, busy here the last couple of weeks.  so busy, i haven't been able to keep up with my blogging ... it's a GOOD problem, actually.  possibly a sign that things are finally, maybe, picking up a bit.  we have had some good new sales and a definite increase in requests for quotes on new projects.   let us all knock on wood here.  where to begin?  above, is the finished upper cabinet for the kitchen we have been working on.  that project is all installed now.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 in the works now is another pool table to go in the room with the 12' claro walnut table we shipped back in july.  must be a big room !

there were two different designs floating around and so we made a scale model of both options, and the client chose the 'long x' in the top photo.  sam will be making a welded metal base for this one ...

the only problem was, not one, but TWO different sets of slates arrived from florida broken.  definitely a setback as we had to drive to albany to purchase a third from an old friend who restores pool tables, so we could finally get underway this week.

 will has about got the rails under control ...

and jim and i have about got the slate support frame under control.  it will have metal edges to match the metal base that sam is making ....

and sam is ready to weld tomorrow

besides the pool table, sam is extremely busy in the metal shop.  he installed two railings this week, a short one at a home in rupert, and then a more substantial one at the new chamber of commerce building in manchester ... photos of those later.  he also delivered the bench above to go with the 'x' table he made a few months back. (scroll down)

and back in the woodshop, will wrapped up this cherry trestle table Thursday, and it is in the finish room getting its final polishing.

it's a new, custom version of one of our early (1980's) 'shaker' inspired designs

.and we went to a wedding and celebratory bonfire last weekend ... it was a good un.  we burned 10 years of old bookkeeping in that one ...

hot an fast

and quite beautiful ...

and will found us an almost 'new in the box' number 80 on ebay ... you can't have too many of those around when there are four people in the shop ...

and, we've also got a pair of cherry tables going that will be mostly separated, but can be put together for large parties.

we had some beautiful matched figured cherry boards from our friends at irion lumber.

and laid them out and cut them ... going to be cool ...

and i loved this one from the new yorker ... the red sox fans are back to moaning now ... there's always next year ... what else ... oh, and we stripped and refinished a nice knoll-like teak veneer desk/table from the 60's or 70's? i think ... looks like new, thanks to our friend steve holman ... spray finisher extraordinaire ...

 all for now .. gotta get those quotes out ...

wait !  it's hard to believe, but i almost forgot the next big claro walnut table.  the slab for it is now in the garage, waiting for the pool table to get out of the shop.  we'll be working on that soon ... it will have a metal base like the table we recently sent to aspen.

really, now, all for now ...

a walnut trestle table

jim and i took a road trip to stowe, vt, yesterday to deliver the walnut trestle table we've been working on . we also dropped off the 'x' table while we were there. whatta place! ..right at the base of the mountain with a shuttle chair to the main base of the mountain literally right outside the sliding glass door. the dining table went in the great room, which was pretty great. the 10' table seemed a little lost for now without the rest of the furniture, but once the house is complete, i'm sure it will be right at home ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
they were installing the pavers in the driveway, which at first we thought would be a problem but they let us back right in over their completed work and we went in through the garage door.
it was too heavy to carry in one piece, so we assembled it on site.
there are 9" flip up leaves on each end which add 2 more people to the mix. the supports we designed for them worked pretty well. sam milled up some metal supports on his new milling machine and the way they work is they have a notch on the face side. you push the support in until it hits wht stiffeners, fold up the leaf, then pull out the support so the notch supports the leaf. total view of the underside below.
sam made the twisted metal bracing which added a really nice handmade dimension to the design.
in place, more or less. i think it will actually be turned 90 degrees when the room is finally finished.
the 'x' table downstairs ...
and the process is below ...
rough lumber from irion lumber
glued up
routed on the ends for the leaves with sam's steel bracing in place.
early stage of the leaf installation and figuring out.
routing for the breadboard ends ... the taped together file folders on the table top raise the breadboard ever so slightly without changing the router setting ...
the breadboard is clamped to the bench to rout, and the clamps are leapfrogged until the groove is complete ... we then fill the slot with short, long grain loose tenons and the breadboard is secured with square peg covering long screws in ovalized holes ...
and we had a nice, tbough gray, ride home down the champlain valley with the adirondacks in the distance ...