happy new year !

well, we're off to 2014 ... on to our 35th year of full time furniture building .. i wish all my readers, my clients, and my family and friends all the best for the upcoming year.  it's another door to open and another path to follow .. we'll see where it leads ... 

if you like, at this link, you can see where that path took us in a slideshow of our work from 2013 ..

click the first photo to start the slideshow ...
 i hope that this upcoming year will be equally challenging and interesting ... 

the 'basque style' chestnut table

 1/30/2014 .. we delivered the basque style table to its new home yesterday.  it's got a wonderful, up close view of magic mountain, a local ski resort, out the windows to the left.  the home has dramatic soaring ceilings, lots of light and an open barn like, yet cozy and comfortable feel.  it's a lucky table.

see the full story below

well, this one started back in august.  the clients sent me photos of 'an early 18th century "basque style" farmhouse table and a link to hastings antiques where there were pictures and descriptions, and the 'sold' price, $18,000.  not worrying to much about design copyrights, we set out and made the chestnut model above, based on the clients' desired dimensions and photos from the hastings antiques website.

click the photos to enlarge them ...

 

the photos showed a framed top with angled trestle supports and some diagonal bracing, not too 

unlike a reclaimed chestnut table we made back in the spring of 2011. 

our next step was the cad drawing below

then with some fine reclaimed chestnut from our friend jef harris in west virginia

 

we set to work

we mocked up the base, and, since the clients were local, we had them come by and check it out.  we added some spokeshaved softening and detailing to the top and base elements to add to the antique effect.

after some back and forth discussion, we agreed to fabricate the top with the solid wood frame around the solid wood center section, which was a concern to me because of the typical expansion and contraction of wood that happens during seasonal humidity swings in a vermont home.

we made the top up with the boards tight together and pocket screwed the parts temporarily.  and then before gluing the outside frame, we created a total of about 1/8th" of overall clearance between the boards in the center section for the projected summer expansion, based on 'the coefficient of expansion' (a technical term) of chestnut.  it's really an attractive design, and after our research, we're pretty confidant it's structurally sound, and will remain so over time .. after all, the original is 300 or so years old, and looks fine in the photos.

 we're in the finish process now

home stretch .. some sanding on the bench tops, and they are off to the finish room too.

 delivery later this week i hope ..

the year in pictures ... 2011

at my age, 64.5 years, i think that most people would agree, time accelerates (is it already the 15th of january?), memory becomes less able, and when we think back, we sometimes wonder, 'where did last year go'? so, for the last 3 years i have collected relevant (to me) photos in folders on my computer appropriately called '2011', or '2010' or 'recent work 2009'. this morning i uploaded the 2011 folder to my picasa account and it is now online and i can access my photos from anywhere with an internet connection. looking through it, i might have included too many pictures but it makes me realize that the year was actually full of life, full of work, and full of important moments. if you are a new reader, there are dates attached to some of the groups of photos showing the relevant blog post, which, if you are interested, you can access through the archives of my blog.

if you are interested in how to create online slide shows for your ownself and don't have an easily accessible young person, i wrote a blog post back in december of 2010 with instructions for downloading picasa and uploading your pictures ...

it's a beautiful sunny winter day and i am outta here ... on to 2012 ...

Dorset Custom Furniture Featured On The Cover of The Woodworkers "Rolling Stone"

Dorset Custom Furniture is featured on the cover of this January's (2008) Woodshop News. Woodshop News is a national magazine that bills itself as 'The News Magazine For Professional Woodworkers'. It is a nice, widely read trade magazine similar in size, shape and feel to the music magazine 'Rolling Stone', and we're very honored to have been selected for the cover story. The article, written by Brian Caldwell, features a brief history of the business with a focus on our fairly recent purchase of a MultiCam CNC router. Woodshop News is available at many fine local building products stores.