Thanks, tktoo.
The joinery is primarily glue (Titebond III) -- another essay in large-area simple laps to secure the legs to the horizontal members. Biscuits are used for strength and (primarily) alignment at the right-angle joints between parallel members. Most of the parts are chamfered before joining, to articulate the parts from each other; one exception is the double T joint of the principal horizontals ( where a hidden half-lap is employed, incidentally). The pair of metal fasteners -- RTA furniture bolts into buried threaded steel dowels -- add strength to the single iffy intersection, where end-grain wood meets the main "girt."
There are four screws covered by bungs, on the three legs, where I decided after glue-up that I may have been a bit sparing with the glue. I neglected to make the bungs for the wide leg from matching stock, which is why they show. After that was done, I felt as if a "design object" had been transformed, just with the appearance of the two visible bungs, into a "craft object" -- which was a bit of a disappointment, in this case.
The design makes use exclusively of standard lumber sizes -- 1 x 3, 1 x 4, 1 x 6 inches -- as a sort of game, comparable in a way to restricting oneself to a layout determined by a grid, say. I'd be interested in exploring with you and others design determinants like these, for their possible rationales and their effects on the designs. This piece was drawn for construction on 1/8" gridded paper, at 2" = 1' - 0" , so that the 3/4" thickness of all members corresponded to one increment of the grid -- as an aid to clear presentation, as much as anything else, and because the piece drawn at that scale nicely fit on a standard page.
I've been using water-based finishes primarily for convenience. I like the buttery yellow that maple seems to acquire after being sprayed commercially, usually with lacquer or conversion varnish -- but these water-clear products aren't bad, either.
The two pieces of glass, not tempered and with a "flat polished" edge (with a bit more chamfer than I'd like) came to $130. I spent another $100 on wood (Home Depot had the nicest milled maple I could find locally !) and I'll be paid $1000 for the table.
I had a hard time photographing the table (with glass) indoors; my friend the contractor suggested I could use the inside of his "dump" truck, which had just been emptied and swept. Voila !
Thank you, SDR.
As usual, you've been more than forthcoming and a good sport.
I live in a house designed on a grid of 6' squares. Mostly, I like it. Occasionally, though, I'm left wondering, "What were they thinking?" I'm sure the finish carpenters had that question more than once, too. I find myself searching for furnishings with simple, sweeping curves to help break up the sometimes overbearingly rectilinear feel of the place.
Love to chat about it when I have more time to devote to it. I'm a terrible writer and a worse typist. Gotta run, thanks again!
One change
that was made after construction began was to enlarge the bottom horizontal members from 1 x 3 to 1 x 4. On the drawing everything looked good enough, but when handling the actual pieces it became clear soon enough that the members as drawn wouldn't have provided adequate joint sizes, in my estimation.
ever do any without the cutting-out process?
Just wondering... But actually, of course you have.
They all start out that way at first, correct? I have seen your work firsthand, and they hold up vey well in real life too.
But one not only "looks" at a drawing-- you also "feel" a drawing.
And I found that the feeling of the cutting-out process eventually became somewhat "painful", on a process or conceptual level. Just to think about all of that careful, slow, tedious exacto blade cutting around every edge of what were once very simple, direct, honest, gestures...
So back to my original point. Do you do ever do any without the cut outs? I believe that in the end, I might like those better. Hard to tell without ever having the chance to see one though...
I realize that the sharp, thin, cut-out edges also create another illusion of "line" because of the shadow that is caused. Thats the whole point i suspect.
Just my two cents. I like em !!
Thanks for posting.
My best and oldest friend suffers from a phobia.
I forget what it's called, but he can't look at pointy things. No kidding. I didn't find out about it until we were in our 30's and I've known him since we were 12, he concealed it so well. And he's a career cabinet-maker no less. Turns out it's not an especially rare condition rooted in an irrational fear of being poked in the eye.
I've sent him a link to your pic of the jarred #11 blades.
Eameshead
You make a really...
Eameshead
You make a really good point and thanks for asking. I started cutting a number of years ago, more as an experiment and in order to have a closer relationship with my gesture. I think what makes an artist honest is when they recognize when they stumble on something and when to let things go. When I started cutting I knew I stumbled into something more important than myself and what I was doing and I still feel like I have a ways to go before it gets stale.
You got the gist of what my work is about, something that took me a long time but where you see it as a problem I don't, the idea of making a fast gestural drawing, then taking the time which by the way is a very wonderful and not in the slightest painful to remove the negative space connects me to the work and the line in ways I can't explain. The painful part of my work is the planing and drawing, artists make things, we love it and love the tedium.
Thanks again Eameshead, I'm impressed that you were able to see from that image so clearly.
Tktoo
I've yet to poke my eye out, but thanks for the warning.
I bet you friend may have a particular distaste to the jar in the center.
Sometimes investing in a single process
is the bravest thing an artist can do.
Putting all of your eggs in one basket and going down the river with it, for better or worse, is what many artists never get up the courage to do.
That is one problem you DON'T have!
Getting out of the way and going with something you stumble upon is just nature asserting itself in another way. I agree with you about getting out of your own way and letting things go.
And speaking as an OCD type person myself, I can very much relate to the satisfaction and/or sheer pleasure that you might experience in carefully cutting out every last bit of negative space around those lines.
The obvious time element itself is something that I enjoy.
Learning that you make such a huge investment of time to cut each line edge by hand gives the work more meaning for me. It has a much different feeling to me than if the cutting out were done by some "automatic" or machine process.
The cutting out of each line objectifies each gesture in a way that is double edged for me. (No pun)
Your flawless craftsmanship steals the show, and mostly in good ways, to be sure.
I guess there is a "synthetic" feeling that I wrestle with. It is both a strength and the possible weakness.. Again, in a good way.
The almost sterile "cleaning up" of the gestures gains something and loses something simultaneously. But It is this very dilemma that gives your work its meaning though, in my opinion. Gives it its edge, and its question.
All artists have to make choices and go with them.
It's obvious that you have developed things to a very high level in your work.
Thanks for not misunderstanding my "tone" the first time around. I would not have commented on your work if i didn't feel it was strong in the first place.
I love the complexity and the overload. So beautiful. Keep at it!
(And interesting story about your friend Tktoo. Life is so weird, huh?)
Black Walnut Slab coffee...
Black Walnut Slab coffee table. The slab is from a local outfit that only pieces slabs from trees that have naturally fallen in the area. Hand sanded and finished with Danish oil and furniture wax. The legs were welded up in the prototype lab at work (the joys of having a full machine shop beside the office). Roughly 6 feet long by 12-18" wide.
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