WadeMade! Furniture

Furniture

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Walnut End Table, 2005, Curly Walnut and Walnut lumber
In 2002, I think, some kind people that ran a Costa Rican tree farm made a presentation at the Orange County Woodworkers Association meeting. They donated a slab of Walnut to the Toy Committee. The committee chairman didn't want to make toys out of such a nice piece and he left it in the back of his station wagon, carrying it where ever he went. In 2004 he caught me in the parking lot and asked "What do you think I should do with it?" I said "Sell it to me." He felt it was worth $125. I rounded it up to what I had in my wallet at the time and made a $140 donation to the club's Toy Committee. Then it sat in my garage, er "shop", for about a year before I figured out what to do with it. It had a knot with an ugly crack in it and it was warped. Because of the warp, to salvage any real thickness I had to cut it in half. That gave me the opportunity to cut through the knot and hide it in some form of joinery. After a few weeks of fiddling with quarter-scale foam core models I came up with this design. About 50 hours of work with probably 30 or more of it being hand sanding and polishing.

Display Table, 2004, Cherry Burl and Cherry lumber
A cherry burl display table. Essentially it is a set of floor mounted shelves. The legs are cherry turnings colored with black leather dye. Not a great piece all by itself. It was meant to be covered with goodies and it looks better that way. The big hunk of burl came out of the back of a member's truck in the parking lot at a club meeting when he was selling off some surplus stock he had. I resawed it to get two matching shelves but had to cut up the bottom one because it warped too much to flatten out as a single piece.

Love Seat, 2003, Quilted Maple
It is not worth trying to explain the inspiration for this piece. If the romantic aspect does not appeal to you just think of it as a chair for someone who wants his ass kissed every time he comes into the room.

Piecrust Table, 2002, African Mahogany
This my second piecrust table. It was supposed to be easier what with the idea of a learning curve and all that other theory. However, learning curves go to pot when you start changing things.
This table has carvings on the knees and pedestal ball. I carved three test pieces before I made these.
The figured wood on the table top was a nice idea that was a nightmare to execute because the end-grain/side-grain/end-grain nature of the figure made for alternating hard and soft spots.
I changed the finish to shellac and learned the hard way that the alcohol used to dilute shellac extracts water from the air and will ruin the shellac you make with it. I scraped and sanded the finish off the table top three times before I sorted out the problem.

Rocking Chair, 2000, Maple and Mahogany.
This is the rocker I put in the 2000 Orange County Fair. It wone a blue ribbon in its class and took 'Best of Show' honors as well. It is the follow-up to the similar side chair from last year. On this version I resolved the back leg issue much more to my satisfaction.
Some people have expressed concern about the comfort of the narrow back. Before you dismiss it, think for a moment how much of your body touches a chair, and where. Twist and turn a little. Although everyone is different, I find the chair quite comfortable.

Chair, 1999, Mahogany and Maple
Here is an attempt to get a little adventurous on style and have something that might go along with the coffee table. Although it is a little heavy, I find it very comfortable. As I was pushing the envelope on my design and engineering skills here I ended up nearly making two chairs to get one. The seat and back are original pieces. Everything else is at least the second piece I cut and/or assembled. The big challenge was finding a way to attach the front legs. The accumulation of thick maple gussets, dowels, bolsters and structural pieces is where the extra weight comes from. I have an idea how to do this better and hope to get a chance to do so soon. (As a follow-up, the rocker is the improved version.)

Coffee Table, 1991, Mahogany and Maple.
Exhibited at the 1992 Design in Wood competition at the San Diego County Fair. Although this table is entirely original, it was inspired by a table Jon Seemans made (Jon is a Laguna Beach craftsman extraordinaire). I wish I could say mine looked anywhere near as good as his.
One thing that stumped me for a while was how to join the maple piece to the mahogany piece. The stress on that joint was going to be very high. There was not much contact area and all the stress would be highly leveraged. I showed a sketch to a friend in the woodworkers club I belong to and asked him if he had a suggestion. Without skipping a beat, he said "don't join them -- let them just sit there." And that is how they are. Two separate pieces that nestle at one point, but are not attached to each other.

Side Chair, 1986, Walnut
This was my attempt to make the obligatory ripoff of a Sam Maloof design. Since I worked from pictures in a book I really missed on the amount of curve in the back legs and put in way too much. However, I followed his construction method very closely and was very happy with the results. Although it is not as comfortable as it should be, it was the first piece where I was really happy with my craftsmanship skills. I may not sit in it much, but I still run my hands over it when I walk by.

	Walnut End Table, 2005, Curly Walnut and Walnut lumber In 2002, I think, some kind people that ran a Costa Rican tree farm made a presentation at the Orange County Woodworkers Association meeting. They donated a slab of Walnut to the Toy Committee. The committee chairman didn't want to make toys out of such a nice piece and he left it in the back of his station wagon, carrying it where ever he went. In 2004 he caught me in the parking lot and asked "What do you think I should do with it?" I said "Sell it to me." He felt it was worth $125. I rounded it up to what I had in my wallet at the time and made a $140 donation to the club's Toy Committee. Then it sat in my garage, er "shop", for about a year before I figured out what to do with it. It had a knot with an ugly crack in it and it was warped. Because of the warp, to salvage any real thickness I had to cut it in half. That gave me the opportunity to cut through the knot and hide it in some form of joinery. After a few weeks of fiddling with quarter-scale foam core models I came up with this design. About 50 hours of work with probably 30 or more of it being hand sanding and polishing.
	Display Table, 2004, Cherry Burl and Cherry lumber A cherry burl display table. Essentially it is a set of floor mounted shelves. The legs are cherry turnings colored with black leather dye. Not a great piece all by itself. It was meant to be covered with goodies and it looks better that way. The big hunk of burl came out of the back of a member's truck in the parking lot at a club meeting when he was selling off some surplus stock he had. I resawed it to get two matching shelves but had to cut up the bottom one because it warped too much to flatten out as a single piece.
	Love Seat, 2003, Quilted Maple It is not worth trying to explain the inspiration for this piece. If the romantic aspect does not appeal to you just think of it as a chair for someone who wants his ass kissed every time he comes into the room.
	Piecrust Table, 2002, African Mahogany This my second piecrust table. It was supposed to be easier what with the idea of a learning curve and all that other theory. However, learning curves go to pot when you start changing things. This table has carvings on the knees and pedestal ball. I carved three test pieces before I made these. The figured wood on the table top was a nice idea that was a nightmare to execute because the end-grain/side-grain/end-grain nature of the figure made for alternating hard and soft spots. I changed the finish to shellac and learned the hard way that the alcohol used to dilute shellac extracts water from the air and will ruin the shellac you make with it. I scraped and sanded the finish off the table top three times before I sorted out the problem.
	Rocking Chair, 2000, Maple and Mahogany. This is the rocker I put in the 2000 Orange County Fair. It wone a blue ribbon in its class and took 'Best of Show' honors as well. It is the follow-up to the similar side chair from last year. On this version I resolved the back leg issue much more to my satisfaction. Some people have expressed concern about the comfort of the narrow back. Before you dismiss it, think for a moment how much of your body touches a chair, and where. Twist and turn a little. Although everyone is different, I find the chair quite comfortable.
	Chair, 1999, Mahogany and Maple Here is an attempt to get a little adventurous on style and have something that might go along with the coffee table. Although it is a little heavy, I find it very comfortable. As I was pushing the envelope on my design and engineering skills here I ended up nearly making two chairs to get one. The seat and back are original pieces. Everything else is at least the second piece I cut and/or assembled. The big challenge was finding a way to attach the front legs. The accumulation of thick maple gussets, dowels, bolsters and structural pieces is where the extra weight comes from. I have an idea how to do this better and hope to get a chance to do so soon. (As a follow-up, the rocker is the improved version.)
	Coffee Table, 1991, Mahogany and Maple. Exhibited at the 1992 Design in Wood competition at the San Diego County Fair. Although this table is entirely original, it was inspired by a table Jon Seemans made (Jon is a Laguna Beach craftsman extraordinaire). I wish I could say mine looked anywhere near as good as his. One thing that stumped me for a while was how to join the maple piece to the mahogany piece. The stress on that joint was going to be very high. There was not much contact area and all the stress would be highly leveraged. I showed a sketch to a friend in the woodworkers club I belong to and asked him if he had a suggestion. Without skipping a beat, he said "don't join them -- let them just sit there." And that is how they are. Two separate pieces that nestle at one point, but are not attached to each other.
	Side Chair, 1986, Walnut This was my attempt to make the obligatory ripoff of a Sam Maloof design. Since I worked from pictures in a book I really missed on the amount of curve in the back legs and put in way too much. However, I followed his construction method very closely and was very happy with the results. Although it is not as comfortable as it should be, it was the first piece where I was really happy with my craftsmanship skills. I may not sit in it much, but I still run my hands over it when I walk by.