Well, as you can guess given this post, I did just recently turn all that talk into action. Check out my first attempt at creating something out of wood (before and after).
This is your basic laminated table top that was one of the six projects you could pick back in the aforementioned 7th grade wood shop class (I think technically the options were: fish wacker, cutting board, toy truck, pencil holder, plant stand, or chess board).Due to our in-progress change of residence, Kelly and I have decided to acquire a few new pieces of furniture to go with our new house. We found these end tables (we purchased the pair) at the warehouse sale of Ballard's Collective. They were created in the 70s by a local metal worker named Harry Lunstead. The hipster in charge of the cash register at Collective was really jazzed about Mr. Lunstead, but I've used the Google on this person and have yet to dig up much info. Despite their creator's relative obscurity, these end tables are indeed quite cool; they are solid brass, very clean design with seamless mitered joints (welded on the inside). They really look quite modern and cool. They are technically retro I guess, but I think they've held up well and their age is really more of a subtle afterthought. This is all just my opinion of course. The only exception to this opinion is when it came to the oak inlays which neither of us liked very much (probably because the color and grain remind us too much of the 70s). Thus, and so forth, I took it upon myself to build something to replace these less than desirable inlays with.
To make an increasingly long story short, I bought some hemlock strips from Home Depot, laminated them together, cut the resultant board down to size, planed, sanded, planed a rabbit joint into the bottom of the board, sanded some more, finished with an oil finish, sanded some more, finished some more, repeat a couple more times, and viola! a new replacement inlay for the end table!
This was a huge learning experience! I made about 50 mistakes and the next project I do will turn out much better. It actually looks pretty good (my opinion and Kelly's... I think), but it could be much better. Squarer, straighter, truer, flatter, cleaner, fitter, and happier.
More pictures of this initial adventure are located here: Woodworking Project #1
6 comments:
Looks good man. Guess this is where you are getting all those sanding / tool tips huh?
I'm impressed! I've never made anything that cool with my tools! No looking back now....you need a router and dovetail jig next. How long till you loan out that planer? :)
Were it my table, and were they my shoes, I would place the shoes on the table when they weren't on my feet – on a raised glass stand, maybe, to enhance the presentation of the shoes without obscuring the surface of the table.
Very nice work!
Wow, good job. I'm glad someone saw fit to replace that awful oak on those tables. I was just going to refinish them and stain it super dark - or redo the tables (as you did) with walnut...but instead I sold them to you so you could do all the hard work. They are great tables, though. I hope you have them for a long time.
If you hadn't guessed, I'm the guy who you (indirectly) bought them from. I used to be an owner at Collective and was the buyer for the store. I'm now in Portland and have a new store here.
Jeremy:
Thanks for commenting. On our behalf: nice find!
What is the name of your store in Portland?
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