Tuesday 19 May 2009

First Commission: A Coffee Table for Sivan

Just a brief break from Hooker. Well, on the blog that is. My friend Sarah (who lives in New York sent me the following email:
Can you take some pictures of some of your supposed "woodworking"? I have no idea what the hell any of this is!
So i am posting some photos of my first commission--a mission-style coffee table that i built about a year ago. I didn't really have a shop (still don't) so i had to work on my counter. It's not an ideal workspace, but it works pretty well, especially when your room mates are not home! The table had a little curve to it to soften the boxy mission-style. I shaped the aprons with a block plane, although a jigsaw could have done the trick. At the time, my brother Uri was living with me for a bit, and he got into it as well . You can see the apron beginning to take form here: Here is the frame glued up Here you can see the curves a bit more--so it's a modern take on the mission style (obviously from a plan...) And here, you can clearly see that in my exhaustion, i actually glued the bottom rail in upside down! You can also see its twin, my first table (and the one that got me the commission) behind it.
Apologies for the format--i have not been able to figure out a normal way to do this.

10 comments:

  1. well, NOW I hope your friend Sarah will understand what woodworking really is....let her come to Amish country here outside Cleveland and I'll show her!!!
    I am ready to order something from you N. that will make you use that expensive dovetail thingamajig that you bought a while back! But only as a reward for finishing that chapter on the Hooler dude... JK - love you to bits!!! Piep!

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  2. of course I meant Hooker - typo sorry

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  3. ;-) Dovetail jigs are for losers. I was young and foolish. But it does work as a nice little, or rather, in lieu of, vise for me. Did you ever look into taking those woodworking classes?
    Ooh-i like the idea of a reward for finishing Hooker. Were you joking about that part?!? ;-)

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  4. Great job, Naomi! I actually like that the stretcher is in upside down. It reflects the curve of the apron and creates an oval shape.

    And way to go—chopping mortises by hand! Your minimalist "shop" shows all of us that resourcefulness and passion are the most important aspects of woodworking.

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  5. Good work. I completely agree with VC on both points. I thought the same thing about the upside down stretcher and it shows that it doesn't take a shop full of tools to be able to produce great work. You did a great job shaping those curves with a block plane. Was your dining room table the same style?

    TK

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  6. Thanks, TK and Kari! I must confess-i did drill the motises. I have found that it's a bit difficult to make mortises without a mortising chisel... ;-(
    It was way more fun to use the block plane! My dining room table is (well, a mess) a trestle table, so it's apronless. Matt Vanderlist suggested it when i asked him about making something quickly that didn't require so much skill..
    Come on, TK-when are we going to see your work?

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  7. If only I knew how to post pictures here;-) Really, I'm a wood hack.

    when are you going to finish that Hooker chapter?

    TK

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  8. TK-did my mother or my advisor tell you to ask me that?! Now i am getting paranoid-do you work for the university?
    Aargh! A year ago! Writing is hard. I prefer research. Also, since my organisational skills are crap, it's quite difficult to structure my arguments, as well as have a grip on all the info and ideas i have amassed. Plus, i'd rather learn about stuff than write...who wouldn't?
    What's a wood hack?

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  9. TK - I confirm that I did NOT ask you to ask about the Hooker chapter but I'm SO GLAD you did!!
    I am ready to take a woodworking class myself, although I always thought I'd go to the Amish down the "street" but now i'm thinking Thomas Moser...too bad their workshop is somewhere out east...
    Dag schatje, werk hard en mooie foto's hoor!!
    Veel liefs van je moeder!

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  10. wood hack = woodworker sans talent

    For classes, I would suggest Woodcraft in Bedford to get started. Small classes, relatively inexpensive. It's a good way to decide what your woodworking interests are before you go to one of the nicer schools. Given the definition above, I should listen to my own advice.

    TK

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