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!

Farm Table and Storage Bench for a Beach House

It may seem obvious, but the real joy in having furniture custom made is getting exactly what you want, even if that thing has never existed in the world previously.  Actually...especially if that thing has never existed!

So when a customer came to us with an idea for a variation on the traditional "farmhouse table," we were excited to collaborate and bring her ideas into reality.   Even better was the opportunity to build the table as part of a set that would also include a long seating/storage bench.  And all made from ash, one of personal favorite species thanks to it's blonde color and the olive oil fragrance that fills the air when you mill it.  (Seriously.  That's how it smells when cut.  What a great wood for a table!)

Milling the rough ash.  Just made it on the bandsaw!  This might be the year for one with a slightly higher resaw height!

We started from a sketch and some online photo inspiration as we honed in on the basic structure of the table, then moved on to working out curvature and details of the legs.  It took quite a few drafts and 3D CAD renderings, but through our collaboration with the customer we got to something that worked structurally and aesthetically.  Plus, the design was in a vein we don't usually explore.  It's always exciting when the real seed of inspiration comes from the people who will ultimately enjoy our work.

Relative to the table, the bench was a little more straightforward design-wise.  It's an inch taller than standard chair height (19" vs 18") to accommodate younger members of the family and it features a ton of storage beneath a pair of hinged lids that are fitted with Sugatsune soft-close lid stays to keep fingers and heads safe.

So, here's how it all came together!

Like almost all of our projects, the wood was purchased rough, then milled and dimensioned in-house.  With a project like this, doing our own milling lets us do things like make a nearly 7/8" thick bench top instead of the standard 3/4" and make bench legs as heavy as the rough stock allows. We also opted to use ash veneered plywood from fantastic local supplier Boards and Beams for construction of the basic bench carcases.  This gives the core of the bench strength and stability, while still keeping everything perfectly matched species-wise. 

Solid ash legs and edges were fitted around the carcases, while panel trim was actually milled up from scratch to match some existing design ideas and enable us to use the same wood species for every single detail, even when ash molding isn't readily available from suppliers.

Fine tuning the fit of legs with a chisel, the bench carcase and in-house ash molding

Gluing up bench edges.  Remember: You can never have enough clamps!!

To keep everything flush and neat, the bench tops are left long and trimmed after being fit with hardware so that everything lines up nicely in the end.  Once everything was fit, the entire edge was routed in a single pass with a large roundover for seating comfort. 

Bench lid with Soft-Close lid stays and full-length piano hinge

In any home, the family table is going to form the center of a relaxed and comfortable gathering spot.  As such, we hope it sees many, many years of use.  In order to allow table and bench to age gracefully, the customer opted to have us "distress" the wood before delivery.  No easy task with a wood as strong and dense as ash!  But, we were happy to oblige and the pieces will now arrive looking "well-loved" upon installation.

A few of the distressing mark along the edge of the bench

With the table and bench destined to for a house on the shore, a whitewash look was the preferred finish choice.  Below are some variations on that theme that we prepared to aid in deciding the final color.  Finishes pictured below range from darker oil stains to white pigmented liming wax, with a few shades in between. We even offer a natural aging solution that gives open-pored wood like ash a "driftwood" look that results from a chemical reaction with an iron/vinegar solution we make ourselves.  (That one is second from the bottom right.  Isn't chemistry cool?!)

A variety of stains, vinegar solutions, waxes and topcoats 

After all distressing, the bench was finished with a white, oil-based stain and top coated with a several coats of rub-on satin varnish before receiving a final buffing with white-pigmented liming wax and standard furniture paste wax.  Here's to hoping it provides seating (and storage) for its family for years to come!

Check back soon for Part II: The Table!

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!