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Posts from the “Shop work” Category

Making it

Posted on 5 October 2013

After my obsessions in the previous posting about the shapes of back band molding profiles, it was nice to get the opportunity to return to the physical realm and run some molding. The wood species is poplar, our standard choice for paint-grade millwork.   We ran the profile on one of our SCMi shapers. This refrigerator-sized beast is essentially a stationary version of a hand-held router, but as when moving from a pedal bike to a large motorcycle, there are some qualitative operational differences.   The cutting head holds a pair of custom-fabricated knives to match the molding profile we want to reproduce.   Connecticut Saw and Tool fabricates the knives for us from a drawing of the original molding.    

Categories: Shop work

Tagged: bed molding, Connecticut Saw and Tool, molding profile, poplar, SCMi, shaper, shop work

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Moving in

Posted on 3 September 2013

It’s always gratifying to know that our clients are getting use out of the things we build them.  In this case, Esther the cat took up residence on the mantel within five minutes of our finishing the installation.

Cat sitting on newly-installed fireplace mantel
Categories: Seen, Shop work

Tagged: bookcase, cat, fireplace, mantel

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How to turn 6-foot boards into a 7-foot table

Posted on 3 September 2013

We had finished the carpentry for the kitchen, and the only thing missing was the table.  The clients and architect had long planned a large, counter-height table to complete the kitchen, but a suitable table was not presenting itself.  The unusual dimensions almost certainly precluded finding a pre-built table, and no custom design had gelled yet.  The call from Paris (Texas) broke the logjam.  It turned out that our client’s grandfather, a woodworker, was close to retirement, and he was clearing out his shop.  He had a pile of walnut that he’d had cut almost 50 years before and never gotten around to using.  Would his grandson be interested in it?  He was, and worked to convince me that I should be too.  Several…

Categories: Found, Shop work

Tagged: Helios Design Group, Paris, table, Texas, veneer, walnut

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3-D printers?

Posted on 14 August 2013

I believe it’s rare for tradespeople to think of themselves explicitly as business owners, and I’m not an exception.  We see ourselves as makers of things, and we grudgingly accept the business side as the necessity that allows us to keep making.  For example, in the past when people asked me about my business model, I used to fumble for a coherent answer.   I’ve gradually come to realize that I do have a business model, though it’s been implicit for much of my company’s existence:  We can succeed if we provide products and services that can’t be replicated in a factory.  We’re based in Boston, where wages and expenses are very high, and we rarely make the same thing twice.  This is not…

Categories: Shop work, Uncategorized, victorian, vintage

Tagged: bracket, corbel, Jamaica Plain, mahogany, sapele, shop work, victorian

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Winston banished

Posted on 21 September 2012

Winston cutting metal

 

We try to balance the needs of woodworking and metal fabrication in our shop, but sometimes the metal worker gets sent out to the porch in front of the shop.

Categories: Shop work

Tagged: metal working, shop, Winston Braman

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Only the best

Posted on 22 May 2011

masonite-caliper

 

Outside calipers, finely crafted from old-growth masonite.

No one seems to make really big calipers any more.  We had to turn a couple of column bases for a porch in Newton, MA recently. The porch roof was up on jacks, though, so we didn’t want to peruse flea markets and tool auctions.  Evan got the job done anyhow.

Categories: Shop work

Tagged: lathe, masonite, turning. calipers

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Work of double curvature, or how to bend handrail the way it doesn’t go.

Posted on 12 May 2011

Mary Horst, of Horst Buchanan Architects, Inc., approached me in November of 2010 about reworking a stair in an early ’80s condominium in Jamaica Plain, MA.  The original stair was open, giving the new homeowners visions of late-night tumbles, and the design had not aged well.   Budget and logistics required that the framework of the stair remain, but Mary wanted to add risers and half walls, and eliminate the oak balustrade.  The biggest challenge of the job would be fabricating a new wall-mounted handrail. Mary’s new design required a continuous, smoothly curving handrail with no visible joints.  Because the stair transitioned from straight rise to curving rise and back again, the handrail would have to change pitch in addition to following the curve of…

Categories: Shop work

Tagged: curved work, epoxy, handrail, Jamaica Plain, lamination, Stair

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Kind of Blue

Posted on 14 April 2011

We’ve gotten a chance to do some fun work lately — curved handrail, walnut tables in the style of Nakashima — but it seems that the formula for getting good press is staining some plywood bright blue. My friend David Doyle, longtime owner of the bookstore Rhythm and Muse, called me recently about making a table and drink rails for his new tapas restaurant cum vinyl haven Tres Gatos (a reference to beloved family members, not menu items…).  The goal was to make a big impact on a light budget, and Dave fell in love with an intense blue stain from Trans Tint. The stain, plus shellac and a UV-blocking top coat from Target Coatings gave us what we were hoping for: The funny…

Categories: Shop work

Tagged: Blue table, David Doyle, Jamaica Plain, restaurant, Rhythm & Muse, Trans Tint, Tres Gatos

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Rotational symmetry

Posted on 3 November 2010

After years of threatening to do so, we’ve finally launched ourselves beyond the realm of planar symmetries.  We found a lovely old Powermatic #90 lathe (born in 1971) that we purchased from a machine dealer (and upstanding fellow, by all appearances) named Mike Savoie.

Powermatic Model 90 lathe

 

Evan, who helped to catalyze the purchase, put our newest chunk of cast iron through its first paces .

Man turning spindle on Powermatic lathe

 

Evan turning 2
Categories: Shop work

Tagged: lathe, Powermatic 90, shop, turning, woodworking

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