Chair Construction Started

Received our lumber delivery from Highland Hardwoods this morning and started building the Kingston Library chairs.  Matt chalked out posts, sawed them out and milled them, while I put the chair down on paper so we could dimension the rest of the parts.  Here are a few snap-shots from today's action:

The drawing

The mockup

Matt sawing posts

Matt jointing posts

Picking out wood!

Picking out wood this morning at Highland Hardwoods for the Kingston Library Project.  500 BF of 8/4 hard maple.  Delivery tomorrow and then time to start milling!  Thanks to Highland staff for helping us pick boards.

Office Cabinets

Just finishing up a few office cabinets for delivery tomorrow so we thought we would post a couple photos of them before they leave the shop.  They are constructed in hard maple with maple plywood panels and case sides.  The inlays are kingwood.

Chair Mock-Up

Starting our newest project - Library Chairs!  We're making mock-ups in poplar to see the design at full scale.  Here are a couple quick shots of the process:

Cutting the crest rail shape

Initial shaping of the slab seat.

Roof Terrace Cabinet

Here's a photo of a project we just recently completed.  The challenge was to build a knock-down cabinet that would reside on an exterior roof terrace in Boston and be used to store cushions for a suite of deck furniture.  We ended up building the cabinet in African mahogany, a good exterior material, with marine grade plywood panels. Door handles, Euro-style hinges, shelf pins and fasteners are all stainless steel.  The cabinet is 9' long by 38" wide and splits into two boxes with the top removed.  The finish is stain with a topcoat of Sikkens Cetol exterior finish that can be brush applied on-site to maintain the finish over the years.

Cherry Dresser

Here are a few snap shots of a tall chest of drawers in figured cherry that we finished a month or two ago.  The fifth drawer divider down is a solid panel that is house taper dovetailed to the case sides to keep the sides from buckling.  Drawers are hand cut dovetails with hard maple sides and bottoms.  The back of the case is shiplapped hard maple.  We turned the knobs in cherry to match the rest of the piece.  Finish is a hand rubbed oil/varnish mix.

Kitchen Renovation

Here are a few snapshots of one of our recent kitchen renovation projects.  The pine flooring is cut nailed down to match other old flooring in the 1850 home.  The pine is then finished with five coats of Waterlox Original.  The cabinets are in hard maple with a brushed finish.  The paint is by Fine Paints of Europe, Hollandlac Satin, with a color mixed to match Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter.  The color is great, a really warm grey.  Pulls and hardware are from Horton Brasses in antique brass finish.  We also made the counters in hard maple to help keep the room warm and bright.

The fridge location is a little unusual.  Prior to the renovation it was located on the left wall at the beginning of the cabinet run.  This blocked the view of the kitchen from the rest of the room and made it feel like a separate space from the dining area.  With little other space in the dining area to locate the fridge, we thought we could really open up the room if we could move it down on the back wall and eliminate all other upper cabinets.  By choosing a tall narrow fridge (27" wide), we were able to incorporate a full floor to ceiling pantry unit to the right of the fridge and still allow for the fridge door to swing open.  For the small family of three, the location and fridge size works great and the room is now much more open than it was previously.  The deep floor-to-ceiling cabinets surrounding the fridge also provide lots of extra storage for little used items like extra glassware, fondue pots and other items.

Here's a before shot:

Here's what we designed for the space:

Here are a couple snap shots with new work in progress:

Drop Leaf Parts and Wood Box

We've had down time for a couple days before starting our next project.  Matt is putting together a couple drop leaf table samples for his trip to Williamsburg in a couple weeks and I nailed together a wood box for the house.   Here are a couple photos of Matt's rule joint and finger joint samples and in progress shots of the wood box.