Brookside Woodworking Blog

Hi.  I am very encouraged.  I have gotten some complimentary comments on my work lately.  People are reading my blog and like what I’m doing.  It kind of makes this a little more enjoyable knowing I’m not just doing it for me.  Thanks for the comments and the kind word.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  I have no secrets.

Anyway, like I said, the show is over.  Attendance was good and traffic was steady.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make any sales.  I did have a lot of interest.  I think, given the state of the economy, people were a little afraid to spend money.  Some of the production company made sales from what i heard.  I’m hoping to get a phone call or two in the coming months.  I did get the bed done in time for the show.  I even had some time to spare so I made four small display tables out of some really nice curly maple that I’ve had for some time.  These tables are something I have made many times in the past and they are usually popular.  I can price them low enough to be cash and carry.  Trouble is, nobody wanted to carry last weekend.  That’s ok.  You can’t have everything.  Where would you put it??  So, here’s a picture of the bed all done.  It’s in my booth from the show. 

Walnut and Bird's-eye maple sleigh bed

I’ve got to admit, I like the way it turned out.  I had some good interest in it too.  You can see a couple of the small tables I made beside the bed,  Now I have to find someplace to put the bed.  My showroom is small. 

I have to say, I finally got my new pellet stove installed in my house and we got to fire it up last night.  I think I’m going to like that thing.  Especially when I pay $200 per ton for pellets versus $3.50 to $4.00 per gallon for fuel.  They say a ton of pellets equals 115 gallons of oil.  I don’t think oil will ever be that cheap again, do you??

Alright, that’s all for now.  Thanks for staying with me and please keep those comments and questions coming.  It’s very encouraging.

OK.  I got the tables done.  They came out great and most importantly, the customer was thrilled.  They were impressed that I got them done in time.  It was close though.  I delivered them on Monday, and they needed them Tuesday.  I don’t have any pictures of them yet.  i was having trouble with my camera.  They said they would get me some shots. 

The show in woodstockstarts Saturday.  I finished my new pieces this morning.  I made the bed I mentioned earlier.  Here’s a shot of it.  It’s not done in this shot, but you get the idea. 

Walnut Sleigh Bed

 It’s not a great shot, but I took it with my cell phone.  It has great resolution, but the shutter speed is so slow, that it’s tough to get a good shot.  The head board is bird’s-eye maple veneer.  Check my website.  When i get a good shot of it, I’ll put a picture of it there. 

I also made a set of four small display tables.  These are tables i have made a lot of over the years.  They have done fairly good for me.  They are intended for a cash and carry item.  Not too expensive and easy to carry out.  I try to have a few impulse type items at shows I do.  Sometimes they sell, sometimes they don’t.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  Still some bad news about the economy.  Hopefully George’s replacement can do better than George.  Tonight we’ll start to load the heavy stuff and tomorrow I’ll load the rest myself so we can get right out the door Friday morning.  We are having a guild meeting before the show. 

Speaking of the guild, We just finished a show in Brattleboro.  I am happy to say that one of my pieces was one of only two sales at the show.  I sold the blanket chest I had there.  I had several pieces and that was the one i wanted to keep for a while so I could use it in Woodstock, but hey, I’m not complaining.  The show was well attended, but participation from the guild members was a little sparse.  Maybe next year we’ll have better participation. 

I know this was a short effort, but I still have a lot to do to get ready and I want to get in a last bike ride tonight.  I’m going to get busy.

Thanks for sticking with me.  Feel free to post you comments.

It never fails.  I spent all summer trying to find stuff to do.  School started today so I am back on the bus.  Suddenly, I have more to do than I can get done.  I mentioned that I am building a bed for a show coming up.  Suddenly I get a call from a past customer who needs two or now three tables made by the end of next week.  I have to get the lumber shipped from Pennsylvania.  It is going to be quarter sawn cherry and I can’t find it locally.  PA has the best cherry anyway.  Now I’m under the gun for the bed.  I have to get it done but there isn’t going to be much time.  This is going to seriously cut into my biking time.  Oh well.  My lumber should be here on Thursday and then there are going to be a few long days and some nights.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I just wish the powers that be could have better timing. 

I’ve Gotten off to a good start on the bed.  I am currently bagging the panels for the headboard.  As soon as i get them done I have to put it on hold until I get these tables done.  Then I can get the bed done just in time for my show.  ( I love it when  plan comes together.) 

That’s all for now.  I have to get on the bus.  Don’t forget to visit my website.  www.brooksidewoodworking.com 

Thanks. Bye.

OK.  The ride is over.  It was 105 miles on Saturday and 77 miles on Sunday.  They had to shorten it on Sunday because of a washed out road.  I told you it has been raining a lot.  I rode with a friend both days.  We averaged almost 19 MPH on Saturday.  That was with 5000 feet of climbing.  We were the first two to come in.  That included the people who did the shorter routes.  I didn’t know I could go that hard.  Sunday we went a little easier.  We averaged 18.4 MPH.  we had a head wind for a lot of it though.  It’s a good thing they shortened it because if we had done the whole ride, we would have gotten soaked.  As it was, we only got a quick shower.  After we got back, I joined my wife at the last rest stop.  She was volunteering at it.  It rained so hard they wouldn’t let the last 10 or so people finish.  All in all, it was a great weekend.  I think we raised $740 in all.  Not bad for only two weeks.  Next year, we will do better. 

As for work, I won’t lie, It’s been real slow this summer.  I haven’t had much work at all.  Right now I’m building a bed for a show I have coming up.  It’s one i designed for a customer.  They didn’t go for it.  Theprice was a little too high.  We  like the design so we decided to do it for the show.  It’s going to be walnut with a curved bird’s-eye maple headboard.  It should be nice if it comes out good.  It better come out good because it’s costing a lot of money.  I hate spending a bunch of money on spec, but you have to spend it to make it, right??  This show has done well for in the past so I’m taking a chance on it.  It’s in Woodstock at the end of September.  Details are on my website.   Be sure to visit it.  

All right, that’s all for now.  Thanks for sticking with me.

www.brooksidewoodworking.com

OK, so I told you I’m doing the MS Bike ridein a little while.  If you want to donate some money to this cause in my name follow this link.  http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/VTNBikeEvents?px=5304950&pg=personal&fr_id=8983  This takes you to my page where you can follow the links to donate.  My goal is $2,000 and right now I’m close to $600.  I don’t know if I’ll make it because I’m getting a bit of a late start.  I’m looking forward to the ride.  It’s going to be 200 miles over 2 days and that’s going to be a challenge.  I’m confident I can make it though. 

Man, the weather lately has sucked!!!  It rains all the time.  I need to get in some training miles, but it keeps raining.  I was hoping for a few hours this afternoon, but then it rained.  Maybe it’ll stop later. 

Anyway, this is going to be a short one.  I’m going to get to work.  Thanks for hanging.

I am sitting here watching the Tour de France on Sunday morning.  It’s the first day in the Alps and I’m eagerly awaiting the last climb.  Should be exciting.  It’s been a good race so far.  Not great like in the days of Lance or the year Floyd won (then lost) but still some excitement.  I think the next few days are going to be real exciting.  Anyway, lot’s of news this time.  First, on the fourth I did a 104 mile ride on my bike.  I had a headwind for the entire ride.  I was sick of fighting the wind by the time I was done.  I didn’t eat enough either, so I kind of ran out of gas at about 75 miles.  Had to gut out the last 25 or so.  It was still a fun ride.  I am going to sign up for the MS bike tour which is a fund raiser for the MS foundation.  My goal for the weekend is to ride the 100 mile leg both days.  I have to get it going so I can raise some money.  Here is the homepage.  http://bikevtn.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_VTN_homepage  I will be on there this week if you want to donate.  Instructions to come. 

OK.  I finished the coffee table I was working on.  Here is a shot of it.

It came out real nice.  The drawer has no handle on it.  It is on a touch latch.  Simply push it in and it pops out.  That’s how the customer wanted it and we aim to please.  I had a time finding the hardware for it, but ended up modifying a catch for a door.  When I was designing this table, i thought the legs would be too big.  The customer wanted them this size so that’s what I did and I find I like them.  I think they fit. 

The phone has been busy lately.  I have been getting a lot of calls and e-mails for quotes.  Unfortunately, they are not turning into sales.  I have one that I think will happen tho.  It is a coffee table that doubles as a blanket chest.  It is for the mother of a customer.  She is a quilter and wants a place to store and show her quilts.  It is going to be on short legs and the top, sides and ends are going to be glass.  It will be oak in the Arts and Crafts style.  I have to check on the price of tempered glass so I can give her an estimate.  I’ll let you know. 

OK, that’s all for now.  Don’t forget to check the MS Bike Tour site and look for me.  I’ll have instructions for donating later.

Thanks for staying with me.

www.brooksidewoodworking.com

walt@brooksidewoodworking.com

I actually finished it last week.  I have been on the bus so much that I haven’t had time to get much done.  It’s always like this the last weeks of school.  There are extra trips for exams, class trips etc.  Makes for a nice paycheck but I don’t get much done in the shop. 

Anyway, here’s the bench.

It came out pretty good.  The blue tape is there because No-one said anything about a handle.  I asked but got no answer.  It was originally going to have horizontal dividers in the cubbies but we determined that the openings would be too small to be useful.  A funny thing about this bench.  I made a pair of end tables for this same customer (I think that’s going to be my next furniture story) and part of that project was four flat panels.  I made them too small by just a little bit, but I kept them for whatever.  Turns out, they were the perfect size for the drawer front on the bench.  Sometimes things work out.  The drawer is full extension and has a divider down the middle fron to back.  Not sure why, but it was part of the specs. 

As for the new project, the coffee table.  I sent the customer some wood samples, walnut, cherry and bird’s-eye maple.  He liked the cherry so much, he changed his mind and decided he wants it in cherry instead of walnut.  Too bad I already got the walnut.  He also decided aainst the inlay around the aprons.  As it turns out the lack of inlay offsets my added cost in material and I don’t have to charge more for it.  I like when that happens.  Here’s a drawing of the table.  The darker wood is cherry and the lighter is bird’s-eye maple.  The square on the apron is a drawer.

The top will be frame and panel with the panel recessed 1/4″ for a piece of glass.  Should be nice when it’s done.  I’ll be getting going on it in the next week or two.  After I finish on the bus, I have a couple of things to get caught up on first.  I’ll keep you posted.

Now I want to rant a bit.  I have discovered that nothing is immune to spam.  When I first started this blog, I got a few spams here and there in comments.  It’s now up to 50 or so a day!!!  That’s right, A DAY!!!  These spammers have got to stop.  We can do our part by not respinding to it.  EVER.  They wouldn’t send it if it didn’t work.  My website guy, Tom at VT Web put in some software to fight it and it helps but it doesn’t get it all.

OK, I know i have been rambling but that’s all for now.  Thanks for sticking with me.

Hi again.

I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me.  I have been both a bit busy and a bit lazy.  You know how it is.  First of all, the new job.  I got a call from Philly the other day and it was someone asking about a coffee table.  We talked about it, I drew it up and gave him a price and he went for it.  it is going to be walnut with a bird’s-eye maple top.  At least that’s what is is for now.  He seems unsure exactly what he wants.  There have been a few revisions so far but that’s part of the process.  Now for the bench.  I don’t have any pictures to show you this time.  I took some but I don’t have them here right now.  It is coming along good.  It is about 90% done at this point.  About all I have left is to rout out a recess for the leather seat and finish up the drawer.  That and put a finish on it.  I’ll be glad to get it out of the shop.  It’s heavy!!!I committed the cardinal sin on this job.  I didn’t get enough veneer.  I was just a little bit short.  I called Certainly Wood where i get my veneer and they had plenty of that log left so it worked out fine.  It cost a little extra but that’s life.  S%&t happens.  Don’t sweat the small stuff, you know?? 

OK, I know it’s not much but that’s all for now.  I’m going to bed.  I”ll have pictures of the bench next time.  I’ll get them tomorrow and post them.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Hi faithful reader.

So, I finally heard about the other project I had in the works.  It’s a bedroom set.  King sized bed and two end tables.  It’s on hold for now.  The price was a bit more than they thought and they had some unexpected expenses. (do’t we all?)  With the price of fuel driving up the price of everything else, it’s a wonde anybody has any money.  Anyway, I got started on the bench today.  I got the patterns for the back and ends done yesterday.  Here they are.

The big one is obviously the back and the small one is for the two ends.  I think you can see what it’s going to look like from this picture.  The seat is going to be a cubby unit that fits between the arms.  If you can’t picture it, it wil make more sense later.  The actual pieces are going to be 1 1/2 inches thick and veneered in walnut.  The seat will be leather.  It should look nice when it’s done.  To make these templates, I would normally swing them with a router.  By that I mean I would make a compass with a router instead of a pencil and cut the arcs that way.  These are elipses, which means the radius changes in the arc.  The only thing I could do was draw them on the computer and print them out full size on multiple sheets, tape the together and cut them out.  I then trace them on the work piece and cut that out.  A bit of sanding and iI have my templates. 

Today, I get started by making the blanks that will be veneered.  Heres one of them in the bag.

This is going to be the back.  It’s two pieces of plywood glued together and pressed in the vacuum bag.  Next I’ll be edging them in solid walnut and veneering them.  I’ll have pictures of that process too, don’t worry.  It’s nice veneer too.  So anyway, that’s where I’m at and what’s going on in the shop.  Hopefully some more work will come in in the next few weeks.  This bench won’t take that long.

I almost forgot.  The guild will be having a show at  Vermont Artisan Design.  This is a beautiful gallery in Brattleboro Vermont.  The show will run for the month of August.  I have a few pieces there already and a few other pieces I could put in the show.  I don’t know if I will be making any new things for the show.  I’ll let you know. 

That’s all for now.  Thanks for hanging in there.

Hi all.

I finally got approval for one of my new projects.  The entry bench going to Manhattan.  It’d going to be walnut (mostly veneer) with a lot of storage underneath in the form of both cubby units and a drawer in the middle.  I can’t put a picture of it here.  I drew it in Sketchup, but I can’t seem to save it as anything other than a Sketchup file or a PDF file, neither of which will reproduce here.  I’ll keep working on it.  Anyway, I ordered my veneer yesterday.  I got about 120 square feet.  This should be too much, but it gives me some wiggle room.  If I get a panel wrong (which I have done) then I can re-do it and I know the veneer will match.  If I need to get more later, it may be a different log and it won’t match at all.  It’s a bit of insurance and walnut still is not too expensive, so it doesn’t hurt too bad. 

I won’t be getting under way until Thursday.  I’m part of the Guild of Vermont Furnituremakers, (check us out.  There are some really talented people here) and we are having our quarterly meeting Wednesday at my shop.  Know what that means?  CLEANING!!!  Yeah, it needed it.  I have been in John’s shop for much of the last few weeks so I have been neglecting my own place.  I am really looking forward to this bench project if only to work in my own place again. 

This last week has been a school vacation, (I did mention that I drive school bus, didn’t I?) so I was able to get in some serious miles on my bike.  I got in about 300 miles.  It’s been a good week.  That puts me over 1000 road miles so far this year and it’s only April.  The weather has been spectacular.  Sunny and warm every day and it’s about time.  Seems like it was a looooooong winter, wasn’t it? 

OK, I’m going to go now and get back to my meeting preparations.  Still a lot to do.  Next time I will have pictures and updates on the bench.  I’ll try to get a picture of the drawing too.

Thanks for reading.

www.brooksidewoodworking.com