Dining Bench

Looks good to me. Not working for profit I have always made my own legs. It’s my time to spend.
I can see you point in buying them though.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Gary,

I certainly never fault anyone for making their own legs. But this was a simple piece and there was no way I could get away with charging enough to pay for my labor of making the legs.

It certainly lacks a bit on the fulfillment side when I can’t tackle all of the details myself, but the reality is I have to make money.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Nice looking bench, Todd. How did yo do the distressing?

-- Jack - Mission Viejo, Calif

Nice they look good, but I’m betting a Clippinger designed table leg would have been awesome.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

nice bench! i like the finish a lot. i don’t see any shame in buying the legs either, you don’t have to so the work and you know that all four legs will match. thanks for the post.

WoodJack,

I used a scratch awl for the worm holes. I used a wood file for stamping and roughing the edges. A couple of blocks of wood worked for “flogging” the wood. I also used a flat tip screw driver for some gouging.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Nice project. Thank you for sharing.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

Teenagewoodworker,

Your perception and understanding of how difficult it is to duplicate a design is a mature observation. It has been fun watching you grow in your knowledge and skill. You will go far with the craft.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Very nice looking bench. You did a beautiful job on this piece. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Nice work again. How did you go about matching the stain?

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

It sounds like a time consuming process just to do the distressing and get to look random not contrived. From what I can see in the pictures, you did a good job gettin gthe distressing just right.

-- Jack - Mission Viejo, Calif

Gizmo,

The client allowed me to take a leaf from the table. I went into Sherwin Williams with a scrap piece of cherry and we matched it in about 5 minutes.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

WoodJack,

Yes, I had to be careful to make the worm hole pattern natural looking. The wear marks are fairly easy because logically they occur in certain areas through daily use.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Todd your work is always first class.

-- Billp

Beautiful bench, Todd.

Like Gary, since I don’t woodwork for profit, I could make my own legs. Only trouble is, I’m just not there skill-wise to make these legs. <g>

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

very nice…still waiting for the Clippinger School of Woodworking to open (summer would be good!)...little Montana fishing in the early morning…followed by a first class woodworking the rest of the day? hah? ya? Of course with your wonderful work you must be very busy!

-- Matt, Napa, CA...177 days to sanity...

Napaman,

That sounds like a great curriculum. Fishing & woodworking.

I have thought about it.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Todd if you had some young kids instead of dogs, you could have turned them loose in the shop with some kids toys and tools and they could have distressed it for you.

But then again tying the dogs to the piece with a chain might have worked also.

Great transformation from a new piece into an antique.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Beautiful bench, really like the finish.

-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none

Excellent product as usual Todd. I can understand why you bought the legs, after all time is money.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Karson,

I could do that and call it my “Patented Distressing Technique.”

Thanks everyone for the great comments.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I’ll bet you would like to have more of these money makers come along more often. Very nice work as usual Todd. Thanks for sharing!

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with farming out parts. If you don’t sometimes, the job would end up priced too high and the customer won’t sign because they are feeling gouged even though you are truly being fair to yourself and them. Besides, they won’t ever know the difference anyway!

—“There is no shame in making a profit… Everyone needs to eat!”

-- Making Quality Homes Better!

Outsourcing is the thing to do in internet business—think of Michael Burak as your “Virtual Assistant…” In a piece like this, the economics wouldn’t give you a leg to stand on (somebody had to say that…)

You need to refill your Orange Crush, however.

Impressive as always, Todd.

-- There's no tool like an old tool...

Another beautiful result.

-- Terry Roswell, L.A. (Lower Alabama) "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans."

splendid table very beautiful work and L workshop is very well

-- jeanmarc manosque france

Newbie alert: What techniques do you use to flatten the tabletop ? Or do you have machinery that can handle those sizes ?

Sawdust Mill,

The secret in my shop is a 24” dual headed drum sander. I try to make money with my shop and so it forces me to buy the cool stuff.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

“forces me to buy the cool stuff” ..... niiiice :)

Great piece – happy customer. Score!
Looks to me like you spent a fair amount of time on the aprons and edges, not to mention the distressed finish and color matching.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Awesome Todd as usual. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Very nice Todd. Great job.

-- Davesfunwoodworking

Todd,

This is a beautiful piece, as usual.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Beautiful Todd. I think that would be a great option for anybody… buying legs like that. Especially for someone like me without a lathe or carving skills/tools. Its a cool way to expand your abilities to create a range of furniture. And why not… we buy the hardware! (well, not you, you make your own actually).

Nice job. It’s not easy trying to recreate and match something. It takes a lot more effort than creating an original because you can’t just go with the flow.

-- Dust collectors suck.

I took one look at the legs and said “holy cow . . . they took some time to make”. Makes perfect sence purchasing them, and like Blake said it opens a whole lot of other options for us.

Cheers

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

Don’t feel bad for buying the legs. Norm does it lol. I know I couldn’t make them I wouldn’t have a probblem with just buying them.

-- Tyler, Illinois