First Public View

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     I've mentioned that I was in the process of making a floor lamp and here's the first shot of what's going on with that project.  Talk about a radical departure from the last thing that left the shop -- the Heirloom Marble topped side table, this leans towards the contemporary style big time!  What you're seeing is the base and the top of the column that is now attached to it.  I like using Baltic Birch plywood and using the exposed edges with all of the plies as a design element.  This is 3/4" thick and has 13 plies.
The base is two layers plus the feet and will give me enough room to attach a 5 pound barbell weight if needed to keep things from tipping over.  The column itself is a little over 2" square and was made with tongue & groove construction.  the piece of pipe and the flange will go up through the bottom to add strength.  We found a really cool swag lamp at Lamps Plus and will use that rather than having Diane make one for us.  We were there looking for ideas and this just caught our eye.  When's the last time you saw a swag lamp?, didn't think they were even around anymore!  We're using copper pipe for the lamp support and I almost have that figured out.  The finish is blonde shellac and will really bring out the plywood design elements.  So far there are 3 coats on the project and yesterday I started dissolving more flakes to make a fresh batch.  It's so hot out in the shop that it shouldn't take too long for all of them to dissolve.
     The big AWFS woodworking show was in Las Vegas this week and for a hand tool guy like myself, quite an over whelming display of computerized madness!  Unbelievable to see a full sheet of plywood or MDF put on this conveyor and then feed into the CNC machine.  The result is all of these cabinet parts come out of the other end.  There were two that I saw that created a child size rocking chair that simply slotted together.  Pretty impressive but way to the other side of what I enjoy doing.  I took a couple of seminars that were more up my alley.  One was by Phillip Lowe of Massachusetts that dealt with advanced hand joinery.  He runs a school and is well known for his traditional furniture making.  The other was by Jeff Miller of Chicago on designing furniture and the process he uses.  It's always good to watch and listen to how other craftsman accomplish what they do, seems you always walk away with something new that you can use in your own work.