6' Waltham Bench with Arms delivered during Covid19

This bench was just delivered last week, during the Covid19 shutdown.  I am luckily still able to work and my usual shippers are also hard at work during this time. Myself and the shippers are sensitive to your concerns about social distancing etc and are open to your thoughts on following protocols that will help you to feel safe about accepting a delivery. 

This is my latest Waltham Bench with arms.  The first benches of this design had my thin crest rail. This one has my traditional rail design that I used on my first Waltham chairs and benches.  I think this one looks very nice and the curves of the rail accentuate the shape of the seat and the curves of the arm rail.  The look is more formal than the thin rail.

This bench has legs added to support the center as do all of my benches over 5' long. 

 Also, the arm rail which floats behind the spindles has a 'knee' brace to support the center of the rail. I add this to all of my arm rails on benches over 4' long.

Try to get out to enjoy Spring a bit. It has been a bit chilly here in Vermont lately but hopefully it will be warming up a bit.

Take care of yourselves and your family.

Tim

Lucy, contemplating the patio that my wife and I built last fall. We are eager to use it this Spring.

Custom Windsor Benches- contemporary and traditional

I have found a nice niche in the furniture making world with my contemporary Windsor benches or settees.  While both lines that I build are rooted in tradition, my New Waltham line features natural finishes that show off the warm wood of the pieces and has a more modern look.  These work well for someone who loves wood everywhere or just wants a warm accent to contrast furniture or surroundings that are not rich in natural wood.   My Waltham line features, pieces with milk paint finishes and hand carved details that give a more traditional look while not screaming "fife and drum".  These pieces also have a warmth that is a nice contrast to an ultra modern decor while blending with a more rustic or period surrounding.  More of my benches and settees can be found at my website. TimothyClark.com 

5' Waltham Bench with thin crest rail

cherry highlights are seen at edges of the rail with a
rubbed out finish

the carved "gutter" detail is part of my
painted  Waltham line.

When I paint a piece, I ask the customer if they want more or less "wear through" of the paint.  As the paint is rubbed out there is sometimes a small bit of rub through.  My favorite look is to rub through a bit more at high contact edges. This adds highlights that define the lines of the piece. You can ask for more or less of this.The bench below is a 3' version of my Waltham bench with the traditional crest rail.    This rail  results in the most traditional look of my designs. 

This last year, I added a bench with an arm rail to my Waltham line.  This design is based on my Waltham Arm chair.  If a bench is to be used at a table, I suggest a bench without an arm rail but this design works well in a hall or a spot where the sitter does not need to slide in from the side.  

The arm rail passes behind the back spindles as in all of my arm chair designs.  This is my "Floating Back" design.

Enjoy the snow,

Tim

The 28 Leg Windsor Bench Odyssey

I delivered this bench to the NYC restaurant Rouge Tomate in Chelsea this last summer and much of the previous six months were taken up with its creation.  It was a very challenging project on many levels. The main challenges were physical because of its sheer size, and technical for figuring out the corners and to make the four sections function as separate pieces as well as working as one.  My back took weeks to get to normal after straining it day after day of moving the sections around my small shop.  

I started referring to it as the "28 leg windsor bench" as it was a bit difficult to otherwise describe. It is 25' 10" long and at both ends it takes a right angle turn to extend 54" from the back (of the long section)  to the end of the arm rail.

This shows one of the corner sections with the bench unassembled.

Below are a bunch of shots taken during the building process.  The order in which the parts are made is critical in a project like this since all of the parts need to end up working like a huge whole unit. There are no guides for how to do a project like this.  As far as I know, this has not been done before, so I was making it up as I went along. The challenge of making it work as a single unit is that I was never able to assemble the whole bench until I installed it in the client's restaurant.

parts for the corner sections

corner getting lined up for making the permanent corner joint

shaping the joined corner with hand
and power tools

lining up the two straight center sections

this is 1/2 of the total base.
one corner and one straight section

never a good way to work on the corner sections and notice the other two sections down the right. they are always in the way.

my daily game of large format Tetris.
they just didn't mesh together nicely

rails were created in sections.
this one of the four 90 degree corners being glued up

rail sections after glue up

crest rail corner reader to be
mated to straight sections

scarf joint of corner to straight section

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

Shelburne Museum Benches Final Assembly

This job is a great illustration of keeping your money local.

The steel tabs below were made for me by Robert Grant of  Rand B Tooling in Orwell, Vermont and delivered in a nice wooden box. These will hold the bench seats down to the base.  The stainless steel back supports were made for me by Nop Metal Works in Middlebury, Vermont.  I purchased all of the lumber at The A Johnson Lumber Company and Lathrop's Maple Supply, both of Bristol, Vermont.  I purchased all of the the stainless steel fastenings from a Fastenal franchise in Middlebury. Vermont.

That's around $4,000. spent locally in 2 months.  

Once the back supports are bolted in place and the base is fastened to the seat, the bench then needs to be turned over and lowered to the floor.  The 9' bench pictured below weighs 260 lbs. Too heavy for me to safely turn over on my own, so I used my chain fall to lift and lower the bench.  The chain fall made this job possible.  

The 9' bench flipped and ready for it's back rail.

The 7' and 9' benches all ready to go.

The nylon feet are adjustable just in case the surface where the bench will live is not level. They also will keep the wood up off of a possibly wet porch deck.

Stella was not happy to have a friend's dog stop by for a visit.