Trestle Table with Painted Base

This is a trestle table that I made for my house.  The base is my standard trestle table design but I decided that I had to speed things up a bit so instead of full through mortice and tenons on all of the trestle joints, I used my bed bolt joinery techniques.  It saved me some unpaid time but is just as strong as the traditional methods.  Also, the the bolted cross beam instead of the wedged tenon leaves a cleaner look I think.  The only drawback is the visible socket where the nuts are inserted in the inside.  On this painted version, I do not mind that.  

Anyway, I will be offering this to Trestle Table clients as an option.  

The slots on the top are for the table top hold-down cleats.  The other three are for the nuts that go with the bolts which hold the trestle parts together.

I really like this bolt on the end of the trestle.

My table is curly maple which can be very hard to find and is finicky in that it moves a lot.  Cherry is more stable and would look great with a painted base.

Enjoy the pre-Christmas season,
Tim

Finished Cherry Pencil Post Bed

This king size pencil post bed made it to the New York City area last week. Below are a few shots of the finished bed.  

posts and top cross pieces ready for loading into the car

My signature, date and weather when finished, on the back side of the headboard.

a bed, too big to photograph properly.  photoshop?

My slat system that supports the mattress.

The rail to post bolts that I use on all of my beds.  Very strong.

Right now in the shop, I am busy on a Farm House Bed, a Painted Pencil Post Bed, and a couple of  New Waltham Side Chairs.

It should be getting a bit warmer tomorrow.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.
Tim

Pencil Post Bed Progress

Fitting a headboard for a pencil post bed can be a challenge since the posts are not straight and as you can see in the picture below, the joining face on the post can not be scribed directly from the post to the headboard stock.  That was a long sentence.

 Below, you can see the cutout and joint marked in pencil and a spline is bent to create the curve of the top edge of the headboard.

The shot below shows the headboard joint during the first test assembly.  The post is not yet sanded.

Here is the whole bed, minus the top cross pieces.

Finished photos will come soon.  As you can see, it can be difficult to set up a king size bed in my shop. Photographing it is much harder.

This bed is getting it's final wax coat today and will head to the New York City area early tomorrow morning. 

Enjoy the cold.

Tim

Making the Pencil Posts for a cherry king size bed

Making pencil post is one of my favorite jobs that I do.  The post that runs as a square for about 2' (depending on the finished height of the mattress) and then transitions into an eight sided taper to the top is a very complex piece to create.   It starts with machine accuracy as the four posts are milled out square, drilled at one end with a registration hole, and tapered on four sides on the table saw with a jig that is only used to that purpose.  Then the fun starts.

The spar-makers scribe scratches lines that follow the taper and designate where the addition four facets will be added.  I have been using this same scribing tool for about 27 years ever since Tom Kiley showed me how to make one after learning from an article in WoodenBoat magazine.  I started my professional furniture making career while working for Tom in Charlotte, Vermont in 1986.  

Anyway, this tool was originally used to help make a tapering sailing ship spar even as it was cut with hand tools.    In the case of the pencil post, we are leaving the facets on the post.  If I wanted a rounded taper, I would just plane off all of the edges of the facets. The spar makers scribe is pictured below. The tiny points between the pegs are the scribes.

Back to beds.  In the image below I am carving the fair curve of the lamb's tongue with a straight chisel.  It takes a lot of practice to get this right but it is the best way to make this transitional part from facet to square.

The images below are of a completed lamb's tongue and facet.  At the bottom is a video of finishing a facet with a hand plane.

Back to the shop to get this bed done.

Enjoy the darker evenings with the clocks changed back an hour.  Personally, I'd rather that they did not change it so that I could get more done outside in the afternoons.

Tim

New 5' Waltham Bench w/ Thin Crest Rail

This is a design that I have wanted to do for a long while now and I was lucky enough to get an order for one and then another order for the same bench and two matching arm chairs to go with it. Below are some shots before painting.  The black bench is very pretty but hard to photograph. Some of the details come out a little better when the bench is in its raw state.  This bench was delivered today to the New York side of Lake Champlain.  It was kind of a wild ride on the ferry crossing. see video below.

the bench in place in its new home. the new owner tells me that the chairs will be replaced to go better with the new table and bench. 

All Work and No Play? Settee Delivery and Sailing

I recently delivered this 6' Cod Rib Settee to a very nice house on Lake Memphramegog in Vermont. 

I was happy to be able to take advantage of being in that part of Vermont with a sail with Paul Donio and his wife Heidi on their very nice little cruiser, Evo.  Paul and Heidi showed me a very relaxing time on the lake,  away from the shop.   Paul is also a furniture maker and we are both members of the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers.  The Guild is a group of about 30 juried members who while being professionals and competitors also manage to enjoy each others company.  More than making furniture, most of us share a lifestyle that we have chosen and worked hard to make work.  Many of us share, creativity, perseverance, love of figuring things out, stubbornness,  cantankerousness in some cases (no names).  Anyway, we always have a lot to talk about when we get together. You can visit our website at www.VermontFurnitureMakers.com.

Cod Rib Settee all ready to go in my van the night before delivery.  ( I put blankets on it right after this show so that it would not get cold.)

The settee in its new home.

Tim and Paul after a good sail.

Paul and Heidi 

Evo

Looking into Canada from Vermont.

 Enjoy the beginning of fall,
Tim

Benches Delivered and in place at Shelburne Museum Center for Art and Education

I really do love this building. It is so easily photographed.  I took this image yesterday after delivering the benches and it looks so much like the artist's rendering. 

The helpful crew at Shelburne Museum easily carried the benches from the van to their places.

Below are shots of the benches in place.  I do not know what else will be on the porch but they will be using it for functions so probably tables and chairs for catered affairs.

5'

7'

9'

This porch is huge.  I suppose I could have made ten more.

Yes, that is a camel with two humps. Ollie, as the locals have named him, lives on a farm between Shelburne and Waltham, where I live.  If you drive Route 7 in that area, you can't miss him.

Benches for Shelburne Museum Center for Art and Education all Finished

The benches are all done and a bit ahead of schedule.  This job seems pretty straight forward but there is a lot going on that meant there were many unknowns to deal with.  The difficulty lies in meeting a deadline when there are unknowns.  So many unknowns, so little time.  The heavy stock of the seats was hard to find and very difficult to work with. I was lucky to find the stock locally and also lucky that I was able to mill out and glue up the seat blanks without help.  I knew what I wanted for the steel back supports but I was not sure how they would come out.  How precise would the bends and drilled holes be, etc.   Time is what makes almost anything possible.  A lack of time when it is needed can cause much stress.  Well, it all worked out. 

Much thanks to the many sitters who watched my daughter, Claire. They took morning and afternoon shifts and made this project possible.  They gave me the time that I needed.  See the picture of Claire at the bottom of the page.

5' bench

7' bench

9' bench

the three bears

Claire. You can dress her up but...

My next post should have picture of the benches in place.

Stay tuned,

Tim