summer 2013

well, ok,  this is gonna take a minute ... loyal readers might think that since i haven't posted many new projects lately, that not much has been happening.  they would be wrong.  it's summer, and there is more going on at dorset custom furniture now than there has been for, literally, years.   lots of projects in the works, on the board and committed, and in the design stage.  i'm thinking that maybe this time it's for real, that the economy is finally rebounding, though i have been fooled several times in the last few years.  cautious optimism creeps in ... click the photos to enlarge them ... 

 the kitchen we started back in may is slowly getting finished ... we're on the home stretch, and the painters have taken over now .. here are a few progress shots, the last being from wednesday, the third.

 

we've got a little cornice work, and some pantry pullouts to construct and then we put it all back together when the paint is done and the appliances arrive ... 

 it's starting to look like the model ..

 next up on that project is a nice 8' x 8' master bath vanity, again painted.  this is an early elevation that has since been revised.

this is the inspiration photo, with notes  ...

we made the round corners and the main drawer box on tuesday and we'll be assembling the rest of the boxes later next week.

saw it, plane it, sand it ...

 lots of parts to this project .. two other interesting vanities ...

 this one in reclaimed barnboards, with their original, exterior texture intact ...

and some unusual corner shelves involving a hand hewn beam salvaged from the restoration process and some 3" thick torsion box shelves to fill the notches in the beam that were formerly occupied by the floor joists ..

 plan view

 above is the cardboard mockup, with some assorted door frames ... it's a busy site

and for the same builder, on a different project, we're going to get to do a slightly smaller, 8' version of this 10' cherry shaker style wall piece we did back in 2006, in the same house .. it'll be old home days .. 

 and sam's busy in the metal shop .. working on some new railings for the dorset church ..

  there will be a nice handrail and some forged scrolly things .. more on that later ..

 he is finishing up a couple more steel lounge chairs for a landgrove client, and we've got 3 or 4 more steel and wood furniture pieces on the board ... coffee tables, two dining tables ... i just noticed a couple sections of recently completed railings in the background of this photo ..  and so it goes ...

and will's off to west virginia for next week to take an instrument repair course with bob smakula ... in the near future, he's intending to really focus on his banjo business and see where that goes.  banjo, i think, #17, above.  cocobolo and brass, fretless .. cherry and walnut neck and pot ... more info on will's banjos at seedersinstruments.com

 and, weather permitting, which lately we certainly can't guarantee around here, we'll be having some walls for the new metal shop.  drawings are finalized, windows are ordered, used slate has been purchased ... it's all good.  but did i mention the tropical  monsoons we have been having here in vermont?  like clockwork, most afternoons we're getting an inch or so of fresh rain daily and it's supposed to be 90+ degrees again today.  sam's backyard trout stream is running at 10 times its typical cubic feet per minute for this time of year.  ten times its typical july flow, i said.  blown out, is, i believe, the term.

walls monday ...

the kitchen island ... over and out

5/1 12 ... ok, the curly maple island is ready to go ... we're going to move it in one piece to the site tomorrow, weather permitting.  it was an interesting project, more complicated than it looks, and we're looking forward to seeing it later this week with its granite top and sink installed in its new home.  we finished it at the client's request with a wash coat of shellac and two wipe on coats of waterlox.  very smooth feeling and easy to apply.  fast drying too ... good job trevor ...

 end view with the open shelves for large pots

 other end

stool side ... still can't figure out this new blogger interface ... i may have to actually watch the video ..

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........................................................ 4/12/2012 above ...........
island update 4/11 ..... ok, we're coming along now ... after working out the construction details with the full size corner mockup in the two photos at the bottom of this post, we started actual construction by building the kick space directly on top of our full size cardboard layout drawing. on this drawing seen below, (a bad image, poorly photoshopped to compensate for low contrast and glare) we laid out our cabinet and corner post lines, the sink, and inverted between the orange lines, our vertical section which shows panel and face frame details .. click the photos to enlarge them ....
from that drawing and the original mockup, we turned our round column bases that the octagon columns sit on. we then drilled the rounds for timberlock lag screws which we used to attach the round bases to the tablesawn octagons. the orange arrows on those indicate the sawn faces which came out ever so slightly smaller than the planed faces ... it seems impossible to get them all perfectly the same size but we wanted the face that our face frames attached to to be all the same size. follow that? good for you. we notched the octagons for the face frames and routed L shaped recesses in the round bases for the little bead moldings that allowed us to transition the beveled tops of the turnings to the panels. got that? really good ... i think you can see that detail in the mockup too.
i forgot to mention we also had to cut a freehand 'corner' out of each round where it intersected the toe space on the bandsaw before attaching the whole deal to the kick with more timberlocks ... got that?... i'm trying not to bore you with all the details; but there were certainly a lot of things to think about on this project before we could even begin ...
now we're on to the more straightforward part of the construction where we build the boxes and add the face frames and panels ...
one more shot of the base with its curly maple kick faces and all the columns in place.
and we had a moment where we stopped to appreciate mother nature's veneer work with the naked lady doing a handstand ... fun!part of the project was that the owner would supply the wood, but after struggling mightily to make silk purses from not so great material, the owner graciously allowed us to get a bunch of matched curly maple lumber from our friends at irion, and you just can't believe how much happier we all are ... piece after consistent piece .... beautiful panel after beautiful panel, matched drawer face with matched drawer face ... it's a true pleasure to work with their stuff ....
tomorrow we will finish the frame joinery and assemble it all for a test fit before gluing all the panels up .... more as we move it along ... we're liking it ...

3/27/12

we have a new kitchen island project getting underway in the shop ... all natural curly maple with a stone top. open shelves,drawers, a recess for seating, pretty straightforward except for the octagonal columns on the corners .... finished my full size mockup today and once that is approved, we'll have at it ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
here are the cad drawings that we made from the owners graph paper layouts ... the plan view shows some of the complications where the octagonal columns meat the panels and cabinetry and open shelves but conceptually at least, i think we have it worked out .... we're currently working from a full size 4' x 8' cardboard plan view which is a great tool for making cut lists and box sizes. we find the full size things can minimize errors and they don't take too long to create ...
since i sent these photos to the client, i thought i might add these examples of other islands we have built in case you are thinking about designing one yourself. the island above is in my home ... cherry counters with tile around the stove; the seating on the end is where we live, lunch and dinner, good for up to 5 people seated ...
and we built this one in 2007 i think ... it even made it into house beautiful ... actually, it was one of my very first blog posts in october of 2007
another view of it ... the rest of the kitchen and the reclaimed chestnut stools are ours too ...
and here's a nice walnut island for the same client who got the walnut paneled room in 2009...another wash painted island, very similar in detailing to my own kitchen ... we did some tin punching on that project ... and then there's 'the big island' ... almost a continent by some reports ... quartered white oak
and here we arrive at the mockups for our new project ... the octagons seemed simple until i actually had to add the kick spaces and the turned round pedestals ...
the base will be the first piece and it will have a 3/4" top that the cabinetry will be attached to from above ... like a really big puzzle ... more photos as we progress ....

on site but the house isn't quite finished