Anticipate.

Well. Stanley table is complete. 6 coats of special/secret/magical/oil/varnish mixture.

(not a secret, 50% gloss varnish, 25% Boiled Linseed oil, 15% Tung Oil???, 10% spirits... or 15 to 20% depending on how thin I wanted it. Probably don't need the tung oil but.. why not??? it smells good). 2 coats of wax on the top. Sparkle.

But... This post is not about the finished project. Next time my dears. This time we discuss the butterfly key and how (or the way I) put them in. Essentially an inlaid double dovetailed piece that resembles a bow-tie and joins or prevents a joint from opening by spanning the joint and connecting 2 pieces of wood . Commonly used to stabilize cracks in monolith slabs. I used it on this table to secure the breadboards. I only put one in the middle to allow for cross grain expansion and one on each side spanning the joint.... you'll see.

There are a billion ways to do it. Some use a template set for the router that is quicker, but this method is all hand baby. Here are the steps I use.

First I make the butterfly keys... which we will refer to as "the key" from here on out. I cut a 4"x 2 1/2" piece off of walnut scrap making sure... making double sure that the grain is all long grain at the end. If it is cross grain, the piece will snap within a month. (see pic) Then I glue it to the longer piece of scrap so I can make a stable cut on the table saw. Set the blade to 13/14 degrees and make 4 passes, 2 on each side.

Cut a few off ( 5/8" thick for this table), clean them up with a sharp chisel and I am ready to start putting them in. The first thing I do is find the center of the table, make some reference marks and number each key so I know which one goes into which hole in case things get mixed up.

Now I whip out my knife. Exacto to be exact. But..... first I put 2 little (seriously little) pieces of blue tape to help prevent slipping before I start cutting.

I use a knife here instead of a pencil because a knife is much more accurate plus it gives the chisel a reference point to fall in when cleaning everything up.... and we want a very tight fit. Lightly score around the key. After a light scoring, I go back and carefully make the lines a little deeper. Careful!!! For the next step I trace the lines with a pencil to make them more visible when routing.

Bust out my Bosch Colt router with a 1/8" straight bit. and remove the waste. With a steady hand, you can get extremely close to the edges. The closer the better for cleaning everything up.

I make multiple passes, adjusting the depth gradually. Makes controlling the router easier.

Sharp chisels make quick work of squaring up the sides.

Test fit, cut a little, test fit, cut a little. Repeat till it is a tight fit and your depth is right.

Glue it up with a little clamping pressure and wait. After the glue dries, I take the high parts down with a block plane then finish with a scraper until its flush.

When its finished, it looks badass. Try it.

Hope you are all well.

Revelations

Revelation 1: At 11:00 am, I turn on the Martha Stewart Show in the shop.

Well, baby girl room is near completion. I'll be sanding and refinishing the floors throughout the rest of the house in 2 weeks while Elise and Milo take a trip down east to Jacksonville (NC.) Man... that is a process. Its the fourth time I've tackled floors. It must be the closest I'll ever get to multiple pregnancies... after a certain amount of time passes you forget how bad it sucked to do that.... so you do it again. My arms are still vibrating.

Revelation 2: If it weren't for all the carcinogens and lightheadedness... I could smell spar varnish all day. Smells old and new at the same time. Genius!

Post holidays, house renovations, sick boy, daddy, and mama... furniture making ramped back up last week. Over Christmas, I noticed that the top of the Stanley table had cupped just a bit. After lots and lots of brainstorming I decided breadboarding the ends may be the best solution. Breadboard ends are an extremely practical approach for keeping a panel flat and they are also synonymous with rustic. We're building the modern farm table!!! By making them slightly larger than what is normally seen, I thought it would add super cool, functional dimension to the top. Chrissy gave me the tentative go ahead and I promised that if she didn't like it, I would completely rebuild a new top. Now that they are on... I think they look perfect!!! Modern update of a classic detail. That's just me though.

This was the first time I have ever made breadboard ends. I scoured old Fine Woodworkings to make sure what I had in mind was not crazy. There are many methods, as is always the case... here's mine.

Started by routing a massive tenon on each end. Took great care to make sure everything was repeatable so everything would remain flush.

Revelation 3: One of the greatest gift I have ever received was the entire back catalog of FW's. Not the disc. The real deals. What a resource!!! There's so much in there. If you are new to woodworking, it would be one of my first suggestions. They now offer every issue on disc... but I prefer the hard stuff, the visceral, the tangible.

Here's the tenon after the shoulders were cut with a tenon saw. A little work with a sharp chisel and everything was nice and clean. Many articles I read showed multiple, smaller tenons. I decided to use one large tenon with a little extra space on the sides to allow for movement. I was worried that this approach might remove too much material and compromise the strength, but after putting them on... they are super solid.

Cut the mortises very very very carefully with the dado blade and squared the ends up with a chisel.

Traditionally, breadboards are only glued in the center of the mortise and pegged to allow for the cross grain movement of the panels. I don't like the look of pegged anything so I decided to inlay a single butterfly key in the center so the top can expand, and do the same on each outside edge of the end grain. They will be flush when installed but this picture gives you an idea. The result is elegant. Hitting the home stretch on this table and I'm getting excited about the finished product!

Here's a video my pops took of Milo during the East Coast snow dump a few weeks ago.

The craziest snow angel you've ever seen. Watch till the end. He wasn't happy with the end product.

Hope you are all well and having a great 2010!

All Brass

Nothing but brass. And little sass.

With the reality of a new family member joining us soon, "fix up" mode kicked into high gear over the holidays. Crown mouldings, pink rooms, refinished floors, re-hang doors...

By far the best task over the course was stripping the mid-century brass plated door hinges throughout the house.

A: its a relatively easy job, albeit messy

B: the payoff is quick and worth it.... for real.

(these had very little paint. they were the last to go in and I forgot to take a picture of the others... my bad... but you can get the idea)

Painted hinges are a little pet peeve of mine. Nothing I lose sleep over, but something so easily avoided. So here is the deal. Take said painted hinges and submerge in stripper.... paint stripper people... After they soak for an hour or so, I dump the hinges and goop that is left over into a 5 gallon bucket over chicken wire. This gets rid of most of the grossness and catches the hinges in the wire saving you from fishing them out with rubber gloves.... oh yeah... wear some serious rubber gloves and eye protection.... paint stripper is serious...

Next I soak in mineral spirits to neutralize the goop and begin scrubbing with a light steel brush to remove any stubborn pieces of paint. That being said, the paint usually falls off without any effort.

Now I soak the hinges in steaming hot, soapy water,,, rinse and dry. Now I am not a fan of shiny brass hardware unless it is very specific to a period piece.... However, what you have now is a beautiful patina on brass hinges that you can't go out and pick up at the local hardware store..... It will change your doors!!! Serious character. Makes me happy.

More Brass:

When one of these boxes shows up in the mail, you may strip your clothes off and run through the streets screaming.... it is that exciting.... beware....

Finally, my new Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw. Chamfered brass back... told you there was more brass.

Make 'em say uhhhh!!!

Hope you are all having a great start to the new year!

Let's Embark...

365 days. Its been full. Full of ups, downs, completions, beginnings.

I finished a project decades in the making, watched my best friend marry his dream girl,

suffered through some tough heartbreaks with Elise, watched my boy grow even more

sweeter, cuter, smarter, beautiful every day, Finally got the good news we had been waiting for (baby girl in the womb), saw my bike shop go away, watched my friends form an even tighter group, started this blog.

So... 2010 holds some promise, excitement, and a little sadness. Gonna miss some friends who are moving on, but I am glad its to bigger better things. Can't wait for my baby girl. Look forward to growing closer to Milo and Elise. Spending time with family and friends. Whatever I did to be surrounded by such good people... It was probably not warranted. I am lucky.

I hope all of you have a 2010 filled with happiness and love. Damn that's sappy... but sooo true.

Best wishes.

Warmest Place on Earth.

A Christmas Miracle!

Happy Holidays Folks.

Starting.

Beginnings fascinate me. How it started. How you started. Your progress. Your evolution... Yes yours. Doesn't matter if you are a woodworker, artist, musician, banker, teacher. I am interested. Its interesting. Post it in the comments if you feel like it. That being said, my story isn't that interesting.

I am largely self taught (fairly evident if you have read any other posts or seen any pictures on this blog.) And... I learn everyday in the shop... mainly from my mistakes. I have been building what some might call furniture for nearly 10 years now with stints as a bicycle shop owner, student, and a historic preservation carpenter along the way. I still have the first piece I built tucked away in the attic. My wife won't let me throw it away. If I ever get brave/drunk enough... I may post it one day. Its pretty bad. I'll say this... lots of screws, lots of wood filler, and lots of little pastel ceramic tiles.

But...

No matter how ugly that block of wood is,,,, it got me started... well... it was my start.

What got me started was a combination of childhood/ job/ a table. Spending most of my childhood in the woods building things, growing up with uncles that built everything.... everything. Then I started work at SECCA, the contemporary art gallery here in W-S. It was soooooo badass. Such a great place. It was family. And they had a woodshop... But that wasn't all. Much of the furniture was made by artist, craftsman Bob Kopf, the Director Vicki Kopf's (VK) husband. My table included. It was walnut. It got me thinking. I began to build things in the shop. I began to read. Then I asked VK if I could get Bob's advice. He was the first to tell me where to buy lumber, what I needed to start, how to glue to boards together.

Now full circle. Ten years later. Last Saturday VK and Bob were having people up to their place to tour Bob's shop. I was flattered that they remembered me. It was a half hour trip in the cold rain, but Milo and I made it. The shop was everything you want it to be. Down a dirt road in the country, nestled in a sort of artists' community with potters and such surrounding, warm wood stove, essential machinery, stacks and stacks beautifully restored planes and hand tools, simplicity at the finest level. Bob was nice enough to spend time answering all my questions, showing me some of his methods, and occupying Milo with a wooden train set. I was amazed by the hand tools. The volume and their condition. Lots of vintage Bedrock tuned perfectly. You feel humbled talking to someone who is a master at what he does. I left feeling like I had a very long way to go. But I was excited about it and more ready to get rocking. Thanks to Bob and VK again.

OK. Hope everyone who reads this is doing well and taking care and having a nice holiday.

Warming Up.

Thanksgiving 2009: The Rundown.

Robbery, Cops, Turkey, Football, Head Injury, Concussion, Table, Turkey, Vicodin.

But otherwise... not much happened.

So there have been some bumps over the last two weeks,,,, but things are back on track. Over Thanksgiving, my brother in-law asked me to help build a table base to support a desk top for his daughter/ my niece. I was excited for the chance to A: Hang out with Brian in the shop B: Escape the madness of crazy children running, shouting, stabbing (my own included). This was quick. When I say quick, I mean from rough lumber to finish ready in 4 hours. Brian got to mill all the lumber, make all the cuts, and glue it all up himself. Most of which he had never done,,, and I'd say he did quite well.

Fun time B.

Next post: I was lucky enough to take a trip to master craftsman, furniture maker, artist Bob Kopf's studio. Bob is literally the reason I became curious about building furniture. I sat a walnut desk of his every day at SECCA and from there,,, was inspired. Gonna talk about that humbling experience next time.

Close to a finish ready Stanley Table. Below are some shots of the gluing process for the legs. I built some clamping jigs from 3/4" plywood in order to prevent slipping and also keep it all square. The joinery is mortise and tenon. Good stuff.

Clamping jig

CLAMP IT!!!

Taping joints = less work

Clean.

My bird.

Happy Holidays.