The "6/26" Serving Tray Giveaway!

Inspiration in wood design comes from a lot of places.  Sometimes it's nature, sometimes it's architecture and sometimes it's the wood itself.  On Friday, the Supreme Court affirmed marriage equality for our entire nation.  And we were inspired. 

I came home to the shop with an idea.  (Sometimes the best ideas come when you're on two wheels. This one did!)  I wanted to make something to celebrate the decision and I wanted someone to have it, a gift from Shy Dog to our little part of the world.  When I had a look at our lumber stock, the wood itself confirmed my idea.  Bloodwood, Yellow Heart, Cherry... All the stock we'd need was already sitting on the shelf, asking to be used.

Bloodwood, Cherry, Yellowheart, Poplar and Purpleheart

And so, we've created the "6/26" tray as our small homage to the good news.  The outer portions of the tray are from beautiful, figured hard maple and the center stripes are crafted to match the Rainbow Flag in red (Bloodwood), orange (Cherry), yellow (Yellowheart),  green (Poplar heartwood), and purple (Purpleheart.)  Yes, I know I skipped blue, but finding naturally occurring blue wood is not exactly the easiest thing in the world...so we'll just have to live with a tiny bit of artistic license. 

The whole serving tray sits on sculpted legs of Sapele and has been hand rubbed with multiple coats of beautiful blonde shellac.  I wish everyone could see the grain of this maple in person, it's practically three dimensional.

So, what do we do with this?  We're giving it away!  We want it to be a gift to everyone who supports Shy Dog and marriage equality.  As such, all you need to do is the share our giveaway post on your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed and make sure you "Like" our page  (Facebook.com/shydogdesigns)  Once you've done that, your name is in the hat and you could win the serving board!  Drawing planned for July 15.



Best of luck to all and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Doing a Jig

Sometimes, before you can make something, you have to make something else...

Despite what some visitors to the shop may think, I don't own every tool that one can own.  (Maybe in a dream.  A dream that also includes a 10,000 sq. ft. work space and nearly unlimited financial resources...)  However, the fact is, that even if I did own one (or two!) of everything,  I still wouldn't have everything needed to create every piece of furniture.  If necessity is the mother of invention, then jigs are definitely the kooky cousins next door.

So what is a "jig," exactly?  Put simply, a jig is usually a relatively specific creation, often shop built, that exists to either simplify or enable a specific woodworking task that isn't easily accomplished by tools in their "normal" state.  For example, a table saw excels at cutting a parallel edge in wood.  If you have one straight side, simply set the saw's fence to the desired width and you will soon have another straight side at the exact dimension required.

But how do you harness a table saw's fantastic ability to cut an exceptionally straight line and use that to make something like these tapered legs?

 

With a shop-made tapering jig!

This lets me hold a piece of wood at a set angle and push it through the saw cleanly, giving a nice, straight taper.  And I made mine adjustable as tapered legs are a very common attribute of fine furniture. 

But that's not the only jig I have made and use.  Not even close!

Above are some table saw dovetail jigs, a plane-blade mitering jig for decorative banding, and a spline cutting jig.

My shop-made dovetail marker, which is set to match - what else? - my shop-made dovetail jig!

Even a custom Moxon-style vise that I can use for up close joinery work and holding large pieces of wood that don't fit into a standard face vise.

The truth is, there are often more ways to build a piece of furniture than there are to skin a cat, but when something is being custom built for a specific location or purpose, there's not always an off-the-shelf solution.  Sometimes a jig is the only way to achieve and maximize the potential locked away inside a piece of wood.  Sure, they take extra time to make.  They're not very glamorous and - at times - they serve such a single and specific function that they actually become obsolete upon a project's completion. 

 (A good example of this would be the routing templates made to help form the details for these garage doors.  They've long since gone into the scrap bin, but they were invaluable for creating those repeatable lines.) 

Sure, a lot of times it would be faster to simply freehand a curved cut and avoid taking the time to make a template.  Or it might be far simpler to just run some screws into a biscuited joint and call it "good enough" as opposed to routing strong, permanent grooves into casework with dado jig like this one: 

But at Shy Dog, we strive to create custom furniture to last a lifetime.  "Good enough" is not the standard to which we adhere.  And if a project comes along that demands a new approach to construction, that's exactly what we create.  Jig and templates are worth the effort to create when they deliver a consistency and repeatability that could not otherwise be achieved.

Yes, at times it does feel like I'm just making stuff to make other stuff, but if - in the end - the "stuff" we make ends up being treasured furniture that lasts generations into the future, than those jigs were very worth effort indeed...

A Long Awaited Library

Gloria and Tom had always wanted a library added to the addition of their Interlaken home. Last year they finally got their wish!  Built-in book shelves sized large enough to handle their current collection...with room for more!

The scale of large built-ins can be challenging for a one man shop.  (It was this project that inspired me to finally replace my shop's overhead doors with swing-outs to reclaim some much needed overhead space!)  But to me, nothing looks better than floor to ceiling books.  I was excited to see these made reality.

After looking though several versions of designs mocked-up via 3D CAD, Gloria and Tom chose a receding and reducing form that draws the room and eye out towards their existing bay window.  At Shy Dog, things are very often designed from the floor up to suit the existing space.  The beauty of custom units is that they can be made to fit even the most challenging spaces.

The shelves, trim and crown moldings are all red oak, stained to match the couple's existing trim and finished with a satin water-based acrylic topcoat.  (One of my favorites.)  Every shelf is completely adjustable in two inch increments and still strong enough to support all of their books easily!  

Building anything into an existing spaces can be a challenge, but very often the rewards are worth the effort, especially when your favorite authors can live right next to your comfiest chair.

Hey, it looks like it's time for some new books!

When you can't find an 11 foot sofa table...

Going with a piece of custom furniture means you aren't limited to what a store can provide.  Stock sizes are no longer an obstacle.  When Amanda and Michael needed a sofa table of unusual proportions, Shy Dog had the solution.

While no catalog has an 11 foot long table, that's only 15 inches deep, that's exactly what they needed to sneak in behind their extra long couch.  Taking a fairly standard design and stretching it to nearly twice the normal length, we created a double-length sofa table built to match the exact height of the back of their couch. 

Because it was a custom build, Amanda and Michael got to choose their style wood species and finish.  After seeing a few different versions mocked up in a 3D CAD program, they picked a Shaker-like leg design with true thru-tenons, done in walnut with an ebony stain under garnet shellac to give them a deep, rich color that would pair nicely with their existing hardwood floors.  The table is constructed with classic joinery that will allow movement and prevent cracking as the seasons and humidity change.  It can even be partially disassembled should the need arise.  (Because who wants to move and 11 foot table?!)

We hope Amanda, Michael and their family enjoy it for years to come!

Here are some of the custom samples I created for them to choose from...

True Thru-Tenons

And here is the final table. Before it left the shop on the left, and after install on the right...

Just in time to hold the buffet at the annual Superbowl party!