The Lutyens Desk

Finished the interior structure and the base stretchers today .. 2 19
If you blow it up, you can see where we left extra stock where the curved stretchers join the side stretchers. We'll cut that curve and sand it to a point just before we glue up ...

Inspiration photo
Long post coming here .... Lots of stuff working up to this one. It's a desk based loosely on a design By Edwin Lutyens, a British Architect who worked from the 1890's into the 1940. And, whoa, was he prolific. There is a great book by Elizabeth Wilhide on his life and work ... Amazing dude. So, we took a big desk in a castle he designed and chopped out the center section, redesigned the palette and the turnings a bit, and we're having at it. It's going to be a good one ... Lots of challenging techniques too ... Click the photos to enlarge them

The finished elevation

The desk as it is today ... 2/18

Leg stock pregrooved for moldings

Rouhging out the legs with the Vega Duplicator ... chips are FLYING !

The CAD files for the stretchers

which were cut on the cnc

So they fit real nice

We mortised the legs and the lower stretcher structure on the Multi Router ...

More later

another post and beam pool table

this is what a set of pool table supplies looks like when it arrives here at our shop ... well, it's actually not always quite this beat up, but we have had a couple sets of slate arrive in more than one piece ... better luck this time.  no lost pieces; no broken slate.  click the photos to enlarge them, though you'll have to bear with me as i learn adobe lightroom.  my ancient photoshop 7 program stopped working with the last windows upgrade .. i am NOT happy about that.  'image/adjust/autolevels' .. i am really missing that one.

roughed out rails and cushion wood and cushions above

 

 miracle of miracles .. it is to be exactly like the one above that we made and 

installed about this time last year.

we're even using the same drawing, materials, and cutlist.

 here we go .. the new guy chris, finished the slate support frame last thursday ..

 

 and here he is beginning the assembly of the base

 all together last friday ..

 and today we added the slate frame and the slates below

 as of the end of the day today, we had the rubber cushions glued on to the poplar, and 

tomorrow we'll get them bolted to the slate and add the curly maple rails ...

i love a pool table project ..

and just sos you know we're not loafing, we've got some other stuff going on in the shop too .. 

a 12' cherry chest of drawers above, with bookcases and ebony and quartered cherry details

and this 9' curly maple trestle dining table with an inlay.  trevor's got that one in the finish room now.

more on those projects later ..
for more pool table posts, click on this link

back to work

we'll ok .. it's the new year, and we're back at work, and from the looks of it here, we're pretty busy.  luckily, the last few days things have kind of come into focus and under control ... a little new year miracle, compared to the last couple weeks of 2013.  click the photos to enlarge them.

trevor seems to have the 12' cherry cabinet details mostly complete, and we'll be doing some preinstallation recon work on site tomorrow or friday.  it's always nice to check the floors for level and the walls for plumb when you are installing a major piece in an older house.  well, first we have to finish the piece, but as soon as everything else here leaves, we'll be on that ...
it should be ready for finish after tomorrow.  next week after the other stuff leaves

the pool table is finished now that will has felted the rails below .. the felt is simonis, dark green and i believe it's the first time we have used that color .. like it.

and for above the table ..

 

we're working on this light, assisted by authentic designs, up the road in rupert .. 

it's nina mooney, the designer's concept, and i think it's going to be cool ...

we had to do some creative cutting, drilling, tapping, and epoxy work,  but i think we've got it.

 

photoshopped concept by nina here

and in the pool table photo above, you can see the model for the table in the drawing below.  it will be made from recycled chestnut and we should be starting the joinery tomorrow sometime.

and the benches below go with 8,  30 x 36" quartered oak table tops we finished on  monday.

the commercial pedestals are on site, and hopefully we'll install them next week with the 

pool table, the benches, and the dining table below.

we're using a fine (new to us) polyurethane varnish.  it's by a company called lenmar, which has been recently purchased by benjamin moore.  we used a coat of gloss as a base and applied two coats of satin on top with a 3" foam brush.  flowed out like it was sprayed.  i'm going to go out on limb and recommend it ... not something i usually do, but i like it as a finish.

this is another project for the hill farm inn, a rehab of a venerable bed
and breakfast down the road in sunderland.

there was concern that the antlers on the deer from the logo inlay

 would disappear if we left them in the burl.  sooo.

 

there was an antler that sam found in the woods rattling around, 

and trevor made some 'antler antlers'.  fun.

and we moved the mill from the old metal shop

 to the new one thanks to the help of our friend malcolm cooper, president and owner of jk adams

and his new company peace street rigging ... any excuse to use one of his tractors.

 the mill is happy to be back in a heated space ...

 sam's busy in the new metal shop .. knocking out a few projects before 

starting on a new big one next week

this coffee steel table base going to san francisco

and this one will be a base for a new claro walnut slab table we'll be building from the slab below.

it's going to be a nice one.  there's some good figure lurking in there

all for now ..

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!

a walnut table with leaves

headed for vegas next week sometime .. more photos later

 this table started with an inquiry from a client about a 'mid-century modern' style table.

she sent us the photo above from an antique dealer's website and asked us to 

size it to suit the needs of her and her family and stain it a rich chocolaty brown.

which led to the cad drawing above and the stack of nice wide walnut from irion lumber below.

we didn't think we wanted our base frames so close to the edge of the table as

in the original photo, so we made a couple sample panels from mdf ..

looking for that 'goldilocks moment .. just right, above

too small on the left, too big on the right ..

and because, in the end, we decided on three leaves, we had to add the frame you see

above to support the moin runners and stabilize the base.  if you look closely (click

the photo to enlarge it), you can also see we added some arced 'rails' that are not visible

when the top is on but stiffen the base elements considerably when the table is opened.  

not a lot of structure to this design, but it's going to be fine.  no dancing out on the ends ...

all good in this photo, except for the apron. trevor has got it in the finish room now with all the stain

and the first coat of finish on it today .. won't be long now ...