Preparing For The Grind

Back in the fall of 2005, I got a call from an old family friend who had built a small empire in a segment of the auto sector. His company was responsible for making the aluminum molds for the foam seats for many North American car companies. It's a very technically driven field that has computers doing incredible calculations to design the necessary components and in turn, more computers to figure out how to make the tools to make these parts. It's a huge web of interconnected processes, parts and companies too. The thing is though, computers can only go so far and eventually you need a human to do the final fitting sometimes. This is why I got the call. At the time, this hand work was causing a major bottleneck in their process, and they needed to sub out this work immediately since they had deadlines coming up and they had run out of space in their industrial unit for grinding bays. As the conversation started, I was very curious about how a guy like me could be asked to jump into a field without any direct knowledge of what was required. Brian explained that they needed guys with a "McGyver skill set" to work on their own and figure out what each mold needed based on certain guidelines. His description of the work sounded well within my capabilities, so I said: "I'm listening...". Then he mentioned that they need a satellite operation to be able to take 4-6 of these a week, meaning 4-6 guys per week, one mold per man, averaging 25-35 hours per mold.  Then he mentioned how much they pay... "Go on...(!)" I said. He said that the work would come in waves lasting 3-4 months in the spring, once a year usually. So, in my head I did the quick math and realized that if I trained 5 guys to come into my shop and help me, I'd make enough so that I would be able to make furniture in the "off season" on complete speculation. Hey, I could handle that. Basically, If I wanted, I would be able to make furniture sculptures with no worry of them having to sell.   ...You want me to do what? So, I agreed to take a 3 week intense crash course to get me up to the level of the guys who had been doing this their whole lives. The guy that taught me had been doing it for 27 years and spoke little English; it was a little stressful, but I was focused and toughed it out. The plan after "graduation" was for me to get one mold a week for a while until everyone involved was comfortable with me picking up and dropping off these hunks of metal. Here's a few snaps of the first mold I did by myself in my shop:   1) The inside of the solid cast aluminum clam shell-style mold, just after I had finished the grinding / polishing phase. Wax strips are applied to control the squeeze out of epoxy.   2) After the epoxy has hardened, a perfect seal is created, but it still needs much trimming, grinding, sanding and finicky fitting.   3) All the trimming is done, bonze fittings have been installed, paint is applied to this side before it is closed to verify a perfect fit. (An even distribution of paint to the other side means that the seal is even.)   4) Perfect fit! My week is done and it's only Thursday, sweet!   5) Ship it!   The beam overhanging the front of my shop has a chain-fall style winch for lifting heavy stuff in and out of my trailer. I knew that beam would come in handy.   One down, bring it on!....   Then...  Hello?....         hello?....                         hello??   Yes, 2005 was when the auto sector actually started feeling some signs of slowing and downsizing, and so, that was my first and last mold. Back to making furniture full time with an added set of skills under my belt, which I would end up using later; stay tuned.  

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Fireball Cocktail Table

Fireball_cocktail_table

Applying the red shading lacquer to the insides of the legs at the bottom created a beautiful and anxious rise to the top of the table. The top surface is smothered in a red-orange lacquer on intense curly maple, which in the end made it look like lava.  Absolutely Killer.  Maybe I've looked at too many electric guitars, or maybe I have a secret wish to dive into a volcano...?     ( "Paging Dr. Freud...")!

I can recreate this finish on anything if it's called for. These tables are like swatches for me; great for playing with colour combinations.

What's your favorite colour?....  What looks good beside it?  Do you have some swatches tucked away that are tugging at you to accent your room?

Pedestal Tables

My Pedestal Table design took a bit of time to refine. I wanted it to be tall enough to stand out as a place to put a small sculpture, or to be used as a plant stand, but not be too tipsy. I also wanted to make the top a perfect 12" X 12", a single square foot, don't know why I stubbornly wanted that, but it's done. They're 28" high.   The first one is made of imbuya with ebony accents on the top's edging and the beading, however the legs are not ebony, they're died poplar, because I didn't want to blow that much precious wood all at once. If you've got a trained enough eye to see that they're poplar, then you probably also are a woodworker and therefore probably appreciate my reasoning. (Not too mention that ebony is about 20 times the price of an average domestic wood like maple, cherry etc.) This was the image used on the poster for my solo exhibition not too long ago. They sold.   The second pair is curly sycamore with cherry accents. The finish on the sycamore is amazing, like a hologram. The cherry brings out the tiny threads of tan in the grain of the sycamore, a fabulous combination of woods. As of today, these are still at the Mad and Noisy gallery.   The last pair is made with curly maple with dyed black pear. One is dyed a "Heineken Green" and the other was hit with a purple dye. However, the purple didn't end up being very vibrant compared to other colours I've used on maple; it turned out to be more of a silvery eggplant, which I ended up liking a lot actually. The curly maple had been in my possession for 12 years. I had kept it waiting for just the right project to highlight it's incredibly tight grain pattern. This kind of curly is also called "fiddleback maple". The curl was so tight and brittle that I couldn't put it through the planer because it would just totally chip out and all end up in the dust collector, so I had to basically saw and sand the legs straight and square, what a job. They sold at the M&N gallery.   If you look at the pictures and put your finger up to block the shelf, you can get an idea of how they look that way.   They go for $350 - $450 each depending on the wood, finish and shelf option. They're a really nice accent piece and I enjoy making them. Shipping one in Canada is not horrendous too. Feel free to request a quote for shipping to your neck of the woods.

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French Cherry - part 2

Along with the two armoires I covered in "part 1", there was also a 6 drawer high boy, an 8 drawer lady's dresser, 3  bathroom vanities, a queen bed and about 13 interior doors.

(This next paragraph is really geared toward "woodies" and techy people, skip it if you want...)

The two dressers were really special. They were made using an old style of frame construction that makes it possible to hold together virtually without glue; it's called a sliding French dovetail. Most people are familiar with the proven dovetail that you'll find when you pull out a drawer on a nice old piece of furniture, or possibly on a recent studio-built piece. (I'll ramble on / discuss the definition of studio-built furniture sometime in the future.) This kind of dovetail is like a long key with a very shallow taper, so that it slides easily all the way in and then finally firmly engages all along its length as it reaches the end. Between each drawer, there was a reinforced frame with this sliding joint machined on both sides to lock the cabinet sides in place with precision. It took more time to machine initially, but the assembly was brilliant. As I slid in each frame, the carcass became stiff and was pulled square and even. I remember standing there admiring it in the open garage doors at the end of the long day. "Wow, I don't even need to glue this or put clamps on it!" The next morning I was up early, eager to disassemble the trial "dry" framework. It was a breeze to pop out each frame and then add a bead of glue and nudge it back home. It was almost sad that it was the last time I could play with it again. Eventually, as a rounded front frame work went over the carcass with it's nicely bordered beading around the drawer openings, this fancy-shmancy construction was hidden forever. Even if someone took out a drawer and inspected the inner construction with a keen eye, it would be impossible to know if this joint was there, or if it was just a common dado joint. (Although, I guess you could take the solid cherry back panel off it you really needed to see it...) This was all done just before a digital camera was always lying around my studio, so it was never photo-documented. (You'll just have to believe me, OK?)

OK, on to less wood talk.
Except... this is more cross appealing I think...  As I said, the high boy is a 6 drawer. First glance says it's a 5 though. Well, as the last picture shows, there's a special and less obvious top drawer hidden in behind the graceful moulding that wraps around the top. It's got a nice smooth finger groove concealed on the bottom to allow it to silently slide out on beautiful drawer slides, using one finger. The same with the 8 drawer lady's dresser which appears to be only a 6.
While the armoires are huge and powerful, these elegant pieces are very inviting at their more human scale.

This vanity had just a bit more flair than the other two I built, so it's nice that the master bathroom it went in was so big that I could get back far enough to take a picture. Every bit of space under the sinks was utilized by having 2 top fold down "drawer fronts" for a compartment amongst the pipes. The stool's top hinges up for more quick storage. The gentle sweep on the bottom of the legs was actually the mark of when I began my small table series. Since my tables are stand alone pieces and aren't supporting slabs of marble as with this vanity, the design has evolved in proportion.

The headboard's double-S was Dianne's idea. She sketched it out and faxed it over, I refined it and made up templates for her leather guy. As always, storage in every possible area was called for, so 6 deep drawers on soft casters were designed in.   

A couple years later I did a curly maple home office for Dianne. Fabulous.  More on that later.

Sorry, I don't have a sarcastic, witty ending for this one, just a great deal of pride and gratitude for yet another person to take such a leap of faith in a designer / maker.

They're happy, I'm happy, there ya go.

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French Cherry - part 1

 
Putting a title on this house full of furniture didn't seem necessary when I was designing it, but as I sit typing now, coming up with a title forces me to recall where all the design elements came from.
It was so much fun receiving snap shots of ideas from my client along with scanned rough sketches. We would discuss on the phone what we both thought were interesting details, and I might show an interest in something in a corner of the photo, and the next thing I knew, she was off to get a different angle shot or a close up on some other "French Country" armoire.  It really was fun. (The only frustration on my part was that I was still on dial-up, and the 5MB uncompressed pictures would tie up my phone line for hours. Now, with higher  speed out here in the country, I'm finally able to send links back and forth while chatting on the phone with clients, what a difference.)
Eventually, I had pages printed out with lines drawn on top, rescanned, redrawn, resent, and on it went till my desk was covered with sketches and pictures taped together with notes and dimensions scribbled all about. Luckily, since she and I knew that I was completely absorbed by all these details and was obviously keeping track, further cleaned up drawings were deemed unnecessary, as we both just wanted to get the wood into my studio and get to it.
I got the message early on that this was going to be "heirloom furniture" for her boys (to fight over). This was all that was needed to trigger a woodworker's desire to finally build a full bedroom set with all solid wood and all traditional joinery, but with today's stronger adhesives, hardware and better finishes. This personal mission was a secret bonus for her, and an excuse for me to use my accumulated skills once again.

The first "Mother" (and I'm using that in the respectful way) of the bedroom set was a triple armoire. Oh boy.  It had to house a medium TV in the upper center, and then have clothes hanging below the TV, and 2 levels of hanging in each side wing, all with a 90" ceiling. The kicker was that they are both taller people, and so the hanging room had to be carefully accounted for. The hanging space inside on the 2 side compartments actually extends up into the crown area, and down below into the base, both of which are lined with aromatic cedar. As space requirements were worked out, I had to work overtime to make sure the proportions were still going to sing. They did. Once again, I put the extra time into going through every single board of air dried lumber to select the positioning of critical pieces. Most importantly were the panels in the doors. The Furniture Gods came through once again and gave me enough boards to make all the front panels with single pieces. Amazing. Only another woodworker can appreciate this satisfaction I'd have to say, unless you are the deserving person leaning back in bed every night staring at a carefully chosen grain selection of solid cherry across a whole wall.

Finally, I should point out the rounded corners.  This is something I saw in one of Dianne's shots of some dilapidated European armoire sitting in the corner of a crowded antique barn.  It hadn't been made with enough consideration of seasonal changes, so it was severely buckled, but it had some beautifully thought out curves. In order to get the more elegant French Country look, I was determined to incorporate these graceful curves instead of a standard sharp corner. This means that the radius increases as it gets bigger up at the large crown, so the crown had to be extra thick to allow for the corner getting chopped off and rounded. I still have a pile of templates from this job. The machining was all done with a series of router set-ups, the table saw and finished by hand. Needing bun feet gave me an opportunity to pull out my lathe and make a copying jig to make them consistent.

Pulling off the triple armoire made the single armoire seem easier.
All pieces were first oiled to bring out the depth of the grain in the cherry, and then sprayed with lacquer.
Fabulous pieces I must say. I hope they don't get scratched when the boys start to fight.

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Happy Earth Day! - Shades of Green

As you would all know now, going green in the manufacturing industry is currently a very hot topic. It has lead some companies to sinfully re-brand themselves as eco-friendly suddenly. This "greenwashing" is an unjustified appropriation of environmental virtues. Occurrences of greenwashing have spiked significantly. Instead of lying, I wish these companies would just say they're trying, and let people know what they're doing. It's impossible to have a zero carbon footprint, so why pretend? There are many shades of green, and with more effort the shade will get darker, but it does take an effort and more money is not uncommon.   So, what's Jim doing? I'm trying, and as it turns out, I've been a pretty darn eco-friendly woodworker all along. In fact, I wouldn't doubt it if my supplier for finishing supplies and my supplier for sheet materials refer to me as "the pest." I'm constantly asking about and trying out the latest and greatest water based lacquers and formaldehyde free particleboard. I've bought some, tried some, and some work fine, while others just are not going to make a product sellable. For example, due to basic physics, a water based laquer is much harder to apply and on some darker woods, just looks terrible. It can look great on blonde woods like maple, gives it sort of a "euro-look".  While it costs me much more, I've used it whenever possible, mainly because you can drink its solvent, which is water. (The solvent for standard laquer however would not be as refreshing.) As far as particleboard goes, my supplier wants me to take a lift of "eco-board" which means 40 sheets and also costs more, is only available in certain thicknesses and it's a special order which takes longer to get. Ugh! First of all, a lift of sheets wouldn't fit in my studio. (However, if I get a call for a large order of sheet materials, they say they will store some in their warehouse for me for a period of time... )  I'm still bugging them to stock it so that smaller shops like me at least have a chance to buy one sheet at a time to try out. That doesn't work with them I'm told, in the current economy.   In some ways, I've been scoring very well I'd say. A lot of my work is solid wood and the majority of my lumber is domestic with smaller accents of exotic woods from other countries. When I need some lumber, I first check out my local suppliers. I've gotten quite a bit of solid maple and cherry that was grown well within 100 miles. It comes from properly managed tree lots where trees are selectively cut.  Some of it has been hauled out with horses. Also, it's all patiently air dried for at least a year in barns instead of being taken to be kiln dried by huge ovens. (Air dried wood also has better character since the colour hasn't dripped out in the kiln's steaming and drying process.)   Sometimes, as I've got the go-green mantra on my mind, I find myself doing things that are a bit silly. Like, I cut up some sheet scraps into smaller chunks so that I could pack them into a wall I was building upstairs in my studio. The quick thinking was that I didn't want to see all of it go into the landfill, and the extra mass in the wall would help with soundproofing up there where I record music. I don't think the extra electricity to cut it up was much, so I guess it came out on the positive side. At least I know that I'm not producing disposable furniture that is going to be thrown in the landfill.   If a client approaches me with a strong desire to have an "all green" or "dark green" project, I'm all for it, bring it on. I will be happy to discuss special material options, different processes and how prices might be affected. In the process we'll all probably learn something else we can do for our planet.   I'll check in again next year on this day and tell you how green I've gotten.        

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2nd Orbit Mantel Clock

When I finally finished my tour of duty in the college system, my first goal as a craftsperson was to get on a track that I wouldn't easily fall off of. That meant concentrating on smaller pieces that I could sell at craft shows and in galleries. They would be easier to focus on mainly because of their scale; concise with dead-on accuracy and not needing a bigger studio space yet.  (I actually wrote my thesis in 3rd year at Sheridan on this concept of starting off small to ensure that skills would be honed while likely being overwhelmed by the need to make rent as a creative person.)

The first mantel clock (shown first) was developed as I recognized that I could do wonders with rock solid jigs, sharp router bits and a design hammered out into a template to make limited production runs. This one is veneered with wenge, the four number markers are nickel plated cap screws, and the hands are made by carefully (!) heating aluminum welding rod to make it flexible enough to bend fluidly without it turning to sudden white powder. The triangular hands are glazier points, which are supposed to be used for setting glass into frames. Making these wiggly parts to a consistent level of quality gave me added respect for the jewelers I knew, and still does. 
Eventually, as I knew the exact wiggle I wanted in the arms, and realized that "exact" didn't come with my one-off "pliers and torch technique", I decided to bend my head around a mantel clock design one more time.

"2nd Orbit" was the natural progression as I was bringing in more calculated curves to my work. The center piece is again a suspended element with perfect spacing from the body. (This concept was first played with in "Liquor Cabinet 1".) This time the feet are not painted with flat black bumper paint; they're solid ebony, the real deal. The markers are painted aluminum rivets, which are likely obsolete except for my small stock pile. (Could be a problem in the future.) The hands this time around are cast sterling silver; I spent the time to design exactly the shape and had a mold made. The arms are sand blasted and the hands are again painted with my favourite bumper paint from "the inverted red triangle store".

My appreciation for the work of a fine jeweler was played out in every detail;  the veneer seams are asking for a magnifying glass, the small slot screws on the back plate all point the same way. Ya.

I think the only thing that stops me from doing a small run (3-5) of these, is knowing that I'll be intensely concentrating on such small pieces in a small localized area of my studio while the rest of the space screams at me to use it to make something bigger.  Hmm.... but once again,  bigger is not better, while less is not more...no,  Better is Better.   So..... hmm...    Anybody need a beautiful wedding present? (It really is a great wedding present, I've done a few and they were accepted quite graciously.)

$450 ea., in any veneer available on the planet.  Call for scheduling, please do, I would like that.

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Shadow Box

As I'm writing the stories behind these pieces, I'm realizing that in all cases, the final impression that a commissioned piece leaves on me is based mostly on the customer and the interaction I have with them. I suppose it's natural after someone takes the time to find me, trust me, get excited in an evolving idea with me and agree to pay me fairly to create the design. It's is a leap of faith on their part that I don't ever take for granted.   In this case, a local writer commissioned me to make this "Shadow Box" for her. It's a functional mirror with halogen lighting, and also a series of carefully spaced compartments behind concealed hinged doors for storing small things. It is veneered with curly maple, with solid purpleheart edging to make a dramatic graphic border. As I was designing it with an emphasis on making the proportions really sing and make the grain punch out with a rubbed clear laquer, Jackie became so much more excited about the whole small but precise project that she decided that her daughter in NY, NY needed to have a twin piece. No problem.   I was about 3/4 the way through making both, when Mother called Daughter and convinced her to come up for an extended weekend visit, with the excuse that they should visit the maker of their pieces which were being assembled. It was a beautiful early fall day when they came up; we had a wonderful time standing around in my studio drinking coffee, looking at the wood grain selection and all, enjoying the breeze coming in the open garage doors, bantering on happily.   That was Sept 10th 2001.   Early the next morning, Jackie's daughter Jessica set off back to New York City to her job in one of the twin towers. Around 10am, as she was approaching the border, she heard the news on the radio and turned around safely.   Both identical pieces were completed shortly after with absolute precision. I installed Jackie's, and shipped her daughter's to be installed by her trusted friend. My wife Judy and I went over for a dinner to Jackie's one night a while later, and I paid a visit to her shadow box again. As I entered the beautiful bathroom,  I noticed that the mirror and the cabinet of the shadow box were perfectly clean and dusted entirely.  I then opened the 4 hinged doors to find that the compartments were also perfectly clean,  and empty.  

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"Sunglasses Required"

Every once in a while, a job comes along with a special perk. In this case, I already knew that my current customer's company was involved in creating white noise environments for offices, but finally, I wised up to the fact that they must handle a lot of speakers to create a massive network of sound waves in these offices. So, the next time he dropped in to see what was happening in my studio, I said: "So... would you have an angle on some really good  speakers for electric guitar cabinets?... like maybe 12", 100 watt?" He looked at me very inquisitively, so I pulled out a well worn speaker brochure, and pointed to the ones I was thinking of ordering, and mentioned that "...a pair would be great, but, if, while you're at it, 4 would be... "  He just said: "Those speakers are krap, I'll tell you what we can do..."
Well geewhiz, it turned out that his daughter (who already had one of my small multi-coloured tables) was always wanting a coffee table with my bright yellow finish to be a focal point of her sitting area. Perfect.
Through another related perk, I was supplied with some nice wide yellow birch. I thought it was a good opportunity to make the grain run across the width for a change, since this wasn't going to be a conventional looking table once it was finished.
The deep finish is a technique I've honed over the years. It is a multi-step process of applying dye and also mixing the dye into a laquer to make what is called a "shader". The shader gets finely sprayed on in translucent layers to achieve the desired intensity. It's not easy, but very satisfying.
The first 2 pix are the resulting table, the 3rd was taken while I was pondering the lay up of the top, and the 4th is the pay off of the nice little project.

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Cornered

Cherry_antique_black_36w_corne

Another small custom table. The size was critical, and with a quick glance at the hallway, I saw the constraints, figured the flow-through, necessary size and took notes. Went home and drew it up, emailed it over, got the OK, delivered soon after.  Again, custom furniture is based on the customer's needs, situation and environment, and it's sometimes my job to decipher it all and come up with a way in which I can make it work.
 
There are worse jobs, and I did some of them way back, so I don't mind having to hustle a bit sometimes to stay home and pump it out in my studio.