| Blog series by CaptainSkully | updated 1183 days ago | 7 parts | 15212 reads | 39 comments total |
Part 1: In the Beginning...
This is my most ambitious project to date. I’m going to make a Greene & Greene sofa table that closely follows the design of premier G&G LJ Darrell Peart. I pinged him the other day, and he sent me to American Furniture Design Co. to buy plans. As you can see, they’re not identical to the one made by Marc in Darrell’s class at William Ng's woodworking school. American Furniture’s Version: TheWoodWhisperer’s Version: What I plan to do i...
Part 2: Virtual Design
I’ve spent a couple of hours in AutoCAD trying to find the right proportions (using the Golden Mean religously), and here’s what I’ve come up with: It’s 36” wide and 30” tall. Please let me know what you think. This project is too important to leave it up to me…
Part 3: Wood Selection
Being as it’s Labor Day Weekend, and I’m out of QSWO, and my lumber yard isn’t open until Tuesday, I turned from my other projects and worked with what I had, a butt-load of mahogany. My buddy was over talking boat stuff, so I asked him to give me a hand with the behemoth boards. We laid out both 3/4” x 18” x 10’ boards on the sawhorses and looked at the magnificent, flowing grain patterns. We picked out the nicest 4’ section and he helped me rough...
Part 4: Table Top
As I was waiting for another project to dry, I did a little work on the table top. I had cut it oversized on purpose to take advantage of the wavy figure in the board. I then had to face the difficult decision of how to trim it down for a sofa/foyer table that didn’t stick too far out. I settled on a 14” wide board, which leaves plenty of room for a decent overhand in the front, 2 1/4” legs, and a side apron that doesn’t look like a chubby baby’s leg. I the...
Part 5: Breadboard Ends
While I’m ammonia fuming another project, I figured I’d make progress on this one. I pulled a WoodWhisperer and threw away the tape measure. I milled the ends to the proper thickness (which also gave me some nice mahogany veneer). I can’t tell you how lovely working mahogany is, compared to oak. Then while the stock was still one long piece, I used the table saw blade to make the dado that fits the tongue on the top (Darrell calls it the “core”). I achieved ...
Part 6: A Class Act
It looks like we’ll be running down to SoCal at the end of February to visit family & clients. We’ll take advantage of the opportunity to hit the Gamble House Joinery Tour, hit Disneyland while the kids are at school, and most importantly: Darrell Peart’s Greene & Greene Details I class at the William Ng School of Woodworking! I noticed that Marc Spagnoula (Woodwhisperer) is teaching classes there (i.e. Hall Brothers Frame, etc.). I’m really jazzed because...
Part 7: Truant
Well, it looks like I won’t have the money for Darrell’s class at William Ng’s school this weekend (or Disneyland either for that matter). I’m pretty bummed. I had to do the right thing and spend my tuition on sailing instructor seminars to further my “real” career. Luckily, the woodworking classes are offered often (I’ve got them all on the calendar), and Mickey will always be there. I may just have to bite the bullet and plunge back into the s...
