Teacher! I want a different desk!

Jeff Metke of Metke Remodeling called me to ask me if I could build a desk that wasn't just ordinary. He had a very rough pencil sketch of the end of this desk, for a design concept, and a coffee table of unknown origin that provided the inspiration for the texture and two tone color scheme.

There were several design challenges to address before building the desk.

First, There was an unusually long cantilever that had to be considered. The legs had to be able to sustain the weight of the desk itself and anybody that might happen to sit on it. This problem was solved by weighting the legs and using a very heavy grade of plywood in the privacy panel.

Second, the client wanted the handcarved texture. Since the endgrain of lumber doesn't carve well, all surfaces of the legs needed to be flat grain. This meant bending the lumber to fit the curves and mitering the joint between the curve and the flat portion. It took some headscratching, but the result was worth it. I'm pretty proud of the result.

Third, the office is up the stairs, first door on the right. The desk had to be designed to come apart and be reconstructed easily. No problem. The desk disassembles into 7 pieces in a matter of minutes.

This desk is a great example of the design, problem solving, and woodworking abilities we have at Saratoga Woodworks.

The Beginnings of a Catalog

I've been promising to put together a catalog of furniture made from reclaimed materials.It takes time to determine the right product mix, and to develop efficient ways to actually build the furniture. And to come up with pricing that sells products, and puts food on my family's table.

Most reclaimd furniture I've seen is obviously reclaimed. It has clear finish and the stains and nail holes are obvious. I'm trying to up the ante with traditional styles and stains that minimize rather than accent the inherent flaws. I also offer these products in a variety of lumber species that have not been reclaimed. My furniture is sturdy, and is appropriate for commercial and restaurant applications.

I'm pleased to announce that my first two products are now available at introductory prices:

The Tavern Bench is available in either alder or reclaimed fir. all joints are dadoed or rabbetted. The uprights and seat are a beefy 1-3/8" thick, and the back panel is tongue and groove paneling. approx 20" x 47" x 42" tall. Stain matching and custom widths are available $625.

The Victorian Occasional Table features a curvy hexagon shaped base and three legs with a metal claw accent. 22" diameter x 29" tall. Stain matching and custom sizing are available $425.

Dreaming in another's Dream

This blog isn't about my work. .

I love old houses. I love the craftsmanship employed in their construction. And I love to hear people tell the stories about the experiences and choices that made them who they are .

That's part of the reason I love to stay in Bed and Breakfasts. B&B's aren't for the crowd that sticks to chain restaurants or relishes the sight of a Starbucks in a foreign city. If you're a stickler for perfect cleanliness and the expected norms, you should tread carefully when booking a B&B.

But if you want an experience with your bed, search for a B&B in a town with no tourist traffic.

In the roaring 20's, a Long-Bell Lumber Company executive built his dream home on a hillside just outside Longview, Washington. At 13,000 square feet, its sheer size dwarfs the McMansions that are languishing on the real estate market today. And the craftsmanship...

Each bedroom had a different theme. The radiator covers had elaborate scenes cut into lumber panels, and the wrought iron fireplace screens matched.

Apparently the owner was enamored by the James Earle Fraser statue "The End of the Trail". There is a huge image of the statue sandblasted into tight grained fir over the mantle in the library and you can see an additional image in the tilework in the picture at the left.

The gumwood staircase, with its intricate twists and turns spans three floors eventually leading to the third floor ballroom.

While I thoroughly enjoyed staying there (we were they only guests the weekend we visited), my wife, carefully choosing her words, said, "it's wasn't very clean". It is true that there were some dust bunnies and some ceramic tiles were held in place with packaging tape. And I wish that the recent modifications (HVAC placement, restaurant kitchen, and the back porch) were more in keeping with the original character of this grand old dream.

Hey, in this economy, what you wouldn't do for a stable job...

We're in the business of building specialty cabinets. We especially love to work on cabinets for older homes, but our ability to adapt to the needs of clients sometimes leads us in different directions.

Case in point: We've added the niche market of tack lockers for well appointed horse stables. I'm not exactly a cowboy...I don't even own a pair of Wranglers, but I do know how to listen and put together a plan to meet a client's needs.

These lockers were built primarialy of CARB compliant birch with cherry exteriors. They are lockable, ventilated at top and bottom and feature a custom designed door rack.  There were a total of 112 of those little scoops.

This job was a referral (Thanks Teri!). The stable owners saw our lockers in another horse arena and knew immediately that they wanted Saratoga Woodworks to build their lockers.   

The last time I talked to the stable manager, he said thanks, and asked me to bid another cabinet for him.

The Melameaning of Life

I've had a distaste for melamine for a long time.  Long before evil people in a large country in Asia started using it in pet food and baby formula, cabinet makers in our country started putting it in our kitchen cabinets.  It's a shortcut product and it's great for the cabinetmaker's profit margins, but it isn't good for the homeowner.

My lumber delivery driver told me this week that I'm the only shop he knows of that doesn't always use melamine for their cabinet boxes.  And he asked me if people complain that I don't use melamine.  Wow.  I wasn't aware that people still think of melamine as a good thing...especially here in Portland where we pay special attention to environmental concerns.

I have three main gripes about melamine. 

First, it isn't a 100 year product.  It's particle board with a thin layer of plastic bonded to it.  Fasteners tend to pull out of particle board, and it swells horribly when and if it gets wet.  You can't repair it either.  It either looks ugly when you chip/crack/soak it, or you replace it.

Second, that thin layer of plastic disqualifies the waste from being recycled with other wood products.  Also, more waste is generated within the shop because the offall isn't as versatile for use in the cabinetmaking process.

Finally, there's the chemical thing.  There's the melamine and the formaldehyde.  I can source a no-added-formaldehyde melamine product, but it's about twice the cost of standard melamine.

Saratoga Woodworks' standard materials include formaldehyde free (NAUF/CARB compliant) plywood products with water based and low VOC finishes.

We have the capability to use many Green products you may beinterested in, from wheat board to reclaimed material to Paperstone countertops.

Ranch (re)Dressing

The current project in the shop is a kitchen for a 70's ranch home.

The kitchen hadn't been updated since the house was built and it was looking pretty tired so we designed replacement cabinets with the needs of the homeowner in mind. She wanted to have some big drawers, better access to the space in the corners of her U shaped kitchen, and she wanted to be able to pull up a couple of barstools to the far end of the peninsula.

The new kitchen features a full round lazy susan in one corner, and a pie-cut lazy susan in the other. the big drawers glide smoothly on their full extension guides and an unique notch in the peninsula allows for the required barstools.

The new kitchen also features our no-added-formaldehyde plywoods sliding dovetail drawer construction.

Oh, and yes, the bottom picture is upside down as was the cabinet when I took the picture.

Now That's Entertainment!

Okay, first of all, that TV is the 60" model. The entire unit is about 10.5 feet long and 8.5 feet tall.

The entertainment center is recessed into a little niche so the goal was to make it look like it was built in place. Even when you look closely, it is difficult to tell how the unit is assembled. We delivered it in nine pieces and it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

There were 5 different cabinet depths among the nine pieces which really gives it visual interest. As you may be able to see from the pictures, the cabinets above and below the TV have the bay window shape.

The subwoofer (at the bottom of the open cabinet in the center) is mounted on an isolated platform. This prevents the bass from rattling anything on the cabinet. There is also a hidden door to allow the homeowner to access the wire and plugs running between the amplifier and the television.