Modern Sofa Table

Todd,

Good work. Very classy. It will be interesting to know how well the low VOC lacquer will hold up over the years. I guess I’m not familiar with the terms: rapidly renewable and sustainably grown. I guess I should ask, how does bamboo and poplar differ from woods like oak and maple in that respect?

-- There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't!

Nicely done. I like the color contrast.

-- BarbS, Wenatchee WA

Bamboo grows at an incredibly fast rate, like a weed. Poplar grows to a usable harvesting size in a shorter period of time than it takes maple or oak. Poplar is grown in crop-like rows in some locations and is harvested.

I have had really good luck with poplar in my work. It works a lot like cherry, as far as the handling characteristics for milling and shaping. It takes paint, stain, and finish really well. It may contain purple, green, or black streaks that can show through the stain too much, look out for that. It is a very reasonably priced wood and you can get it in huge pieces. As with any wood, read the grain when picking it.

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

this is stunning, Todd.
I love it—and environmentally friendly. I REALLY like that.

re: the streaks in the poplar? Oh, I’d be watching out for it, alright—that would look BEAUTIFUL :)

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Todd,

Very nice… What did you use for the black on the poplar???

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I used transtint dye to “ebonize” the wood. I did have some problems with yellow coming through and I used an acrylic paint, still lower in VOC’s to paint one light coat, at this point it didn’t take much. Before I resorted to the paint I even dyed the lacquer and shot it on. Then I did 4 coats of the lacquer. For comparison, many of the solvent based lacquers I use from Sherwin Williams run in the 650-670 gr per liter range. The water based lacquer runs about 180 gr per liter VOC content. Most latex paint off the shelf runs about 250 gr per liter. Most water based polyurethanes were 250-275 gr per liter VOC content. These all are general numbers as I researched many brands. The dye as a concentrate is about 850 gr per liter VOC content but is considered a low VOC product when diluted as directed.

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

Nice job Todd. Funny, I was thinking of a similar design for the Thorsen Table Challenge. May have to rethink that now. Would not want to be considered a copy cat.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Knock yourself out Bill. You wouldn’t believe the level of outright copying that I have witnessed by professional furniture makers at the conferences and shows. Mark DeCou can vouch for that.

Even Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rennie MacIntosh, Voysey and others saw something and modified it and incorporated it into their architecture or furniture. My ideas are reinterpretations and modifications of something else. To be 100% original is very difficult.

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

Thanks, Todd, for the tips on finishing poplar. In So Cal poplar always seems to be stocked by the big box stores along with pine, oak and redwood and is readily available. I have found that poplar makes good face frames for cabinets if you are going to paint the cabinets because of the difficulties in staining poplar as you pointed out.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

the VOC content information is wonderful.

The stuff that we don’t know, but ignorance really isn’t an excuse these days.

Sounds like water-based polyurethanes are not a bad choice.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

that looks great Todd, I read an artical about how bamboo would be the biggest cash crop of teh new millenium a while back, and if you can make it look that good I’;m on board

-- Cheers

first off awsome thats the only word I can come up with after looking.Very nice job.
where do you get usable bamboo lumber,how wide dose it come in?I love the way the black and bamboo go together.I love simple designs like this.

-- Phil, Chattanooga,TN

Not only that the thing looks cool!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Nice table, great job on a classy “green” design. That is right up my alley.

Debbie, waterbased polys are great, It seems the biggest drawback is that they don’t yellow wood like oil based ones do, so some people find them “cold”. You also will need to apply more coats, as it contains less solids, but since it dries faster, you can do more coats in less time. Our front hall, and upstairs bedrooms were done in waterbased and are holding up very well. In fact the cats have done more damage to the oil based polys on the counter edgeing and the ledges behind the sofa than the floors, even at the base of the stairs when they race up and down, and take very sharp corners!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

sometimes going green means making some compromises. I write a weekly article for our local newspaper. The title of the article is: “Lifestyle Challenge” and it focuses on how we have to change how we live in order to protect Mother Nature as well as our own personal lives.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Todd: That is one great looking table.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

That’s great Debbie. Gotta leave the place nice for our grandchildren, it’s their planet afterall.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Simply great looking!

-- Paul, Texas

It’s hard to come up with an original comment too. Everybody has pretty much covered. Let’s try this. This thing really POPS. I really like it. How did you like working with the bamboo?

I was talking with a friend the other day about giving it a try sometime. He used to live in Japan and would take bike rides through ‘forests’ of it (it’s actually a grass). He may be exaggerating but he claims it can grow up to a foot a day in the right conditions.

There are lots of applications for it and I’m starting to see it pop up all over the Twin Cities.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

I don’t think your friend was exaggerating Jeff… kinda like the corn in Iowa, they say you can hear it growing at night, but more so with the bamboo. Bamboo has become quite hot. How great that we can make furniture, floors and even cutting boards – out of grass!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Bamboo is hard, but not the same as oak or ash. It has a flexibility and resistance to it that is different.

I didn’t mind working with it. I was using a plywood. It was a 3 ply, all bamboo. I use nice blades on my saws and it cut and handled just fine. The plywood piece that I was supplied by the architects was 2’ x 8’. I am told it comes in a 4’ x 8’. What I was supplied with, was donated by the distributor for the exhibit.

As I understand, in the right conditions, it can grow about a foot a day.

Jeff’s comment is accurate. It “Pops”.

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

very nice… newbie/novice question, what does VOC stand for?

-- MikeB, Aurora, Oregon

Great work!

-- Jesus is Lord!

That would look splendid alongside an ebony piano!

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

Really nice work. I like the slight curve in the legs. I’ve never worked with bamboo. It looks so much like ash in your pictures. How does bamboo machine, sand, & take finish?

That is a great looking table Todd! If those are the curved legs you mentioned to me a little while ago they turned out terrific.

I have heard that the bamboo composit wood tends to absorb moisture quickly and become “ripply” over time. Todd, has anyone mentioned this to you or has anyone else heard this?

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

I consulted with the distributor on the characteristics before making the table, but of course they will never tell you anything that could be percieved as negative. I had heard something to that effect myself. I was basically given an couple sheets of material to choose from and I chose the bamboo plywood. Being a plywood it should help stabillity, in theory.

It does have a very tuborous structure and sucks moisture by its nature so it may have swelling issues. I did not find any one that I know with first hand knowledge. Only hear-say like yourself.

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

and of course the hear-say could be coming from the wood producers….not that it is, but it could be

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

The hear-say was about it swelling and moving. I can assure you that did not come from the manufacture or distributor.

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

oh.. I meant the competition—tree wood…

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Another great piece Todd.

-- gbear, Carmichael, CA

MikeB -

VOC - volatile organic compounds – stuff you really shouldn’t be breathing in.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

....WOW…...........love it

That is a great looking table

-- jeanmarc manosque france

did you put the finish on the peice before you glued up all the components?

Corey,

I sprayed the table after it was all assembled.

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

very, very nice table. simple design, perfect balance. I used a water based laquer from Homestead and had disastrous results. After contacting them they told me to use a urathane product that they sell for anything that is utilitarian. what brand of urathane did you use?

-- I know all about hard work. It's that R & R I need to learn

I used Target Coating waterborne lacquer (as they advertise.)

I do not particularly like the product.

I prefer ML Campbells MagnaMax which is a pre-cat lacquer.

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