Recap: Long's Park Art & Craft Festival 2015

Long time, no see! Which is entirely my fault and I appreciate your willingness to read my sporadic updates.

The last time I took a seat in the blogging chair (which in reality is a wooden stool at a work bench in the middle of the shop) was a couple of months ago as we finished up "Buried Treasure" and before our big annual trip to Long's Park Art & Craft Festival in Lancaster, PA. Labor Day weekend the one time a year we break down and load up all of the immensely heavy speculation furniture pieces we have into a horse trailer and set it up under a tent in a beautiful park for the world to see/sit/touch/buy. Care to hear about it? Cool, because I'm going to tell you about it.

The week before the show was spent collecting all of our unsold speculation pieces into the shop for a mock-up of what we wanted to the booth to look like. When you have so many large pieces paired with the aim to make a tent that's cozy and inviting (instead of intimidating), it's good measure to do the rearranging and 'hmm, maybe try that over there' dance while we have the time and space in the shop. Amongst other things, we were taking along the big live edge walnut table sofa, our two live edge walnut desks, and the Morris chairs and so we wanted to create a living room environment you couldn't resist taking a seat in even if it was located in a tent in the middle of a public park. When the furniture placement was decided, everything was dusted and detailed, broken down into it's smaller parts, wrapped up, and packed into the trailer, truck, and cars. The biggest and heaviest pieces were stacked onto a big cart tetris-style and pulled into the trailer with a block and tackle pulley system. Then it was onto days of gathering all the last minute boring stuff- price tags, box of cleaning supplies, tool boxes, business cards, overhead lighting, signs and posters, a lot of zip ties, etc.

Upon a bright and early arrival to Long's Park on Thursday, we rolled the cart out of the trailer and begin the unloading process. Thanks to Tents For Rent, our necessarily enormous tent was set up and ready to go so we just had to unwrap and assemble everything we had brought. It's the finer details that tend to take the longest- hanging lights, unwrapping moving blankets, attaching the price tags, assembling the 'Apprentice's Corner', and doing the final polishing. All in all though, I'd say (with the gracious help of my dear friend Abby and one of our stellar alumni Jimmy) we did a good job setting up a rockin' tent. Before we pull down the sides of the tent and tuck the furniture in for the night before show day #1, we all crack a beer and cheers to the hope of good weather, big crowds, fun times, and lots of sales!

The weekend was not only fun, but also a success for the Lohr Woodworking Studio. "Buried Treasure", the live edge walnut coffee table with a twenty year old walnut captured in the crotch of the slab, was sold before we even wrapped it up to bring it to the park. One of our alumni called up and bought it as a wedding present for his son before the public got the chance. Thanks, Dan! Beyond that, we said goodbye while the Bowmans said hello to Jeff's brown oak burl cocktail table which was made from what small bits remain of the infamous all-burl oak log that came to us from the UK to make "Resurrection" and "Frontier". Rob's ghost/ambrosia maple coffee table found it's forever home with a favorite loyal Lohr School of Woodworking alumni, Rob & his wife Deb (although I think it's safe to say the decision to snag the table was all hers). I even managed to sell a few smaller pieces from my Apprentice's Corner!

When the weekend wrapped, we were most excited at the lack of rain that was coming down. Last year we found ourselves in the midst of a monsoon as we tried desperately to protect and pack all the wood furniture. An event like that will make you appreciate a sunny Sunday more than you can imagine. Anyway, it's amazing how much more quickly packing up must be than unpacking. The show closes it's doors at 5pm on Sunday and it's always a personal goal to hit the road before it's completely dark. We count ourselves damn lucky to have the kind of amazing and kindhearted students we do because Jimmy & John traveled more than a few miles with smiles to help us and Eoin pack everything up in record time. Thanks fellas, you are truly the best!

There are few things better than a weekend spent among fellow artists, craftsmen, admirers, and shoppers in an open air, late summer park setting. It's always such a treat to get to talk with so many new and different people from all over the country. I am especially grateful to have the chance to step into such a creative and motivated world at such a young age and being so new to the game. I am beyond lucky to have fallen into the arms of Lohr Woodworking and it's weekends like this I'm proudest to show the world what these gents have taught me and what wonderful things we do together.

A HUGE thank you to the organizers of the Long's Park Art & Craft Festival, the festival goers, the fellow artists, and especially the people who fell in love with our work enough to take it home with them. Cheers to the end of a beautiful summer and the start of a cool autumn. Keep your eyes open for upcoming posts on several projects we have starting up for this winter!

[Inside Scoop: There's a desk, a veneer cabinet, a Woodcraft Magazine article, and maybe even the start of a new show room in the works for winter- and that's just the beginning!]

"Griffin" the Live Edge Brown Oak Burl Table: Delivery Day!

"Griffin", the recently finished live edge English oak burl dining table, has been signed, sealed, and delivered to the Pirro family. We have photo-guru, Chris, to thank for the documentation of the day- including all the photos you see in this blog entry!

Because we make most things with a knock-down construction, it was quick and easy to break apart the base into it's five basic pieces, wrap 'em up in moving blankets and load them into our big red truck. The table top is, of course, one continuous slab, so it was wrapped up as one big piece. We loaded up the rest of the necessary toolage and several layers of extra clothing to keep frostbite at bay in the subzero temperatures that have been kind enough to grace our region with their presence. And, early Friday morning, Rob & I took to the road and spent some quality time with I-95 as we made our way from PA to CT.

Upon arrival, the first task was to get the base together. This walnut and white oak trestle base is a a quick assembly job; The trestle is pinned with two wedges at either end and the two stretchers drop into their (pre-fit and labeled) notches and are held in place with a single screw at each joint. As you can see, there is a dowel coming up from the top of either end of the base. The table top has holes drilled into the under side that fit the dowels to automatically center the top on the base.

After there was an assembled base to hold it, we unloaded the table top slab. Before we arrived, Mr. Pirro had been so kind as to shovel and salt us a clear path to make the big haul around the house much less precarious. For those of you that live in the north east, you'll know I'm not exaggerating when I say that this winter has been no joke. There was a good foot of snow on the ground to accompany the -12 degree windchill for this move-in so we were especially grateful for a slip-less path. With Rob, Mr. Pirro, and myself, we were able to tote the table top from the truck, around the house, up the stairs, and into the dining area with relative ease.

When the top was lowered and found it's place onto the dowels (therefore centered) on the base, I broke out the 3/8" bolts to pull the tabletop tightly to the base ends. Each end of the base has two elongated clearance slots drilled through it to allow the bolt to move back and forth with the tabletop and prevent any splitting of the slab as the temperature and humidity changes throughout the year. To keep the table top snug against the top of the stretches, we used six large hold downs. There were six slots cut into the inside face of the stretchers longer than the width of the hold downs themselves, again to allow movement. The hold downs were hooked into the slots and bolted into the table top with 5/16" bolts.

And, with that, the Pirro's are ready to wine and dine on the live edge English brown oak dining room table made just for them! Rob & I were honored to be invited to be the first to christen the table as we feasted on some delicious "grinders" (which in PA we know as "hoagies" and in FL we know as "subs").

A huge thank you to the Pirros again for giving us the opportunity to make "Griffin" and for making the delivery day warm, easy, and happy! An additional thank you to Chris for snapping so many great moments throughout the afternoon and letting me steal a few to include in this post.

Cheers to "Griffin", the Pirro family, and another successfully completed Lohr Woodworking Studio live edge piece!

A new Lohr Woodworking live edge table is in the works!

There's another all-new, all-original Lohr Woodworking live edge table in the works, kids, get excited! The Pirro family needs a dining room table and we're hard at work to make that "need" into a "have". This dining table will be the very last to be made from the famous 300 year old English brown oak burl log that resulted in the "Frontier" and "Resurrection" dining tables.

First things first, we used a router loaded with a bottoming bit and our massive router sled to level and smooth both faces of the slab. When the slab was milled, we brought it up to the shop where it was prepped for void repair. The log that this slab was cut from was covered in burl clusters from top to bottom. Because of this, the grain is highly figured, colorful, and beautiful to look at. The downfall? The slab is completely filled with natural voids, splits, and knots.

In many cases, we would opt to leave the natural flaws as they are (much like George Nakashima) however, in this case, as it will be used as a dining room table, the voids need to be filled for ease of cleaning and to provide a consistently smooth surface. To prevent the epoxy mixtures from draining through the voids, Jeff created a setup that seals the holes from the bottom- it's plastic, carpet padding, and melamine stacks that are screwed to the underside of the slab to create a damming system that conforms to the voids. We can then flip the slab over and fill the voids from the top side while the damming pieces allow the epoxy to pool and fill the spaces until it has time to dry.

This highly figured slab was not your average epoxy void repair job. The size of each void/split/knot and its location with respect to the edges of the slab, determined which kind of epoxy and filler we chose to use.

For the larger bark inclusions and knots, we used some serious chemistry skills (with massive aid from the ever-genius Linda Lohr) to mix up clear EpoxAcast 690 casting epoxy so that the natural bark can be seen through the filled void. The casting dries completely clear and maintains somewhat of a flexible property that allows it to move with the wood as it expands and contracts with changing humidity. Mixing the casting epoxy required some careful weighing, a desiccator vacuum chamber (to remove bubbles before pouring), and a blow torch to rupture any bubbles that collect on the top of the poured casting.

The clusters of smaller splits and voids were filled with a West System epoxy, sawdust, and crushed bark mixture. The sawdust and bark were taken from along the live edges of this slab so the color would remain a natural match. Each batch of epoxy mixture has about 7-12 minutes of open time so to ensure each individual void was filled, one batch was mixed to fill one cluster at a time. For larger voids, we would search for a piece of the natural bark from the same tree to fill the space as best as possible.

Needless to say, filling the voids that covered the entirety of the table top took about a week. When all the voids were filled, whether it was epoxy-and-sawdust or EpoxAcast, it was left to dry for 24 hours. After the damming materials were removed from the bottom of the slab, both faces were smoothed with a belt sander. As you can see from the photo to the left, the filled voids are brought to life and add an exciting element of contrast when they are filled with the natural bark pieces. The base will be made of walnut so the colors match perfectly throughout the entire table.

Now, how to keep such a long, continuous slab from warping and cupping as the humidity levels change throughout the year. The table will be attached to the base which will offer a certain degree of stability but, to ensure the table top stays flat for all time, we will add some breadboard ends.

We used a fence jig that clamps onto the end of the slab from both faces to ensure that the cut is exactly the same on both sides. Then, we used the router with a straight-cutting bit to carefully create a long 1/2" thick tenon across the ends of the slab by cutting down from both faces. The tenons were cut to be longer than the breadboards are wide so that we can make tongues that go all the way through the breadboard ends for strength and to accent the joinery.

The breadboard ends themselves are made of straight-grain, rift sawn white oak to ensure a strong, ever-flat hold on the ends of the slab. There was a 1/2" plow cut along the inside edge of each breadboard to fit perfectly onto the tenon we cut into the ends of the slab.

Meanwhile, brainstorming of the base was underway. As the table will accompany a built-in banquette style seating arrangement, we needed a base that was easy to slide in around and provided leg/foot room from at either end. While searching and sketching up ideas for a simple, curved, trestle-style base, we broke out our Sam Maloof book for inspiration. If you are unfamiliar with Sam Maloof, do yourself a favor and treat your eyes to some of his beautiful woodworking. Ultimately, plans and patterns were decided and drawn up for Jeff's sketch you see to the left.

 

Using the patterns to ensure they were identical, each piece of the base was cut to shape, then joinery for the top rails and the mortise for the trestle was cut into the base ends. From there, the individual pieces were glued together with floating tenons and plenty of epoxy.

The long rail supports that connect the ends, and soon attach the table top, were cut to rest perfectly into the top edge of the base ends. And, already, the base stands on its own. Today, work begins on the trestle itself that will run through the middle of the base ends.

With that, you are officially caught up on our progress on the Pirro Live Edge Brown Oak Burl Dining Table. Taking only a brief hiatus to welcome 2015, we will otherwise be hard at work on this project so look forward to another update soon on how it comes together! Until then, Happy New Year to all! Cheers to a new year, new adventures, and new woodworking projects!