Danlunderville's blog

Mantel...

Ok I know it has been forever since I posted.  Sorry about that, I'm sure everyone was wondering what happened to me?  Actually, for the three of you who read this blog, I'm sure you know since you're related to me.

Now without further delay, here are some pictures of the mantel that I built for a couple down in Oakland.  This was the first project that I built in my shop, and it provided the means for me to move from my previous shared space.  I manged to wrangle a few other jobs and that's what prompted me to start my own business.

The mantel is made from quarter-sawn White Oak.  All solid lumber.  I glued it up and then miter cut the pieces out of the single glue up so that the grain wrapped around the sides.  It doesn't look like a single chunk of lumber, but then the side of a big piece is mostly boring grain anyway.  What you see in these pictures is the first finish.  It's VanDyke and Good Stuff, but after delivery and having the mantel sit in the house for a few days the couple decided it was too dark and didn't blend with the tile around the fireplace.  So it came back to the shop and I sanded and refinished it with Amber Shellac and a lighter VanDyke.  After delivering the refinished mantel I agree with the clients, it was too dark the first time.  Note to self, things appear darker as they gain surface area.  The finish samples I made for them were 6" x 12", but by the time that expands into the entire mantel it's a lot darker.  I'll get the pictures of the second finish posted soon, they need a little color correction first as they were taken in dim light.  Luckily, my wonderful wife is a professional and can fix them.

Other news...I'm still working on bids for a few kitchens.  There's one here in El Cerrito that I think would be great to get.  It's interesting, and the clients seem like they'll be interesting to work with.  It's a small house, so coming up with efficient storage solutions will be a fun challenge.

Ok...more later...

I am lame...

Wow it's been awhile since I posted anything...  Lots has been happening though.
I'm trying to get a couple of jobs that would be quite lucrative.  One is a kitchen up in the Berkeley Hills, the other is a set of kitchens for an Interior Designer.  That would be the best set up, to connect with someone who does kitchens and remodels for a living.  Steve, the owner of Kirby Cabinets, is set up like that.  He has a couple of designers who call him EVERY time they need cabinets.
The other job I'm looking at is for my friends mother.  She's a great lady who apparently wants a house full of furniture and cabinets.  Her and her husband built a amazing house down in the South Bay and are looking to furnish it.  They've bought a few pieces and for the money I'm sure that they could have custom built pieces from Tony.  Tony being the person who I worked for, who makes antique reproductions.  He's an incredible craftsman and is building pieces that sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Other than that there's little jobs here and there.  Another sink stand and bathroom cabinet for my landlords.  The mantel that I'm still working on.  I built myself a router table, which I need to complete a couple of projects that I have laying around the shop.
I have finally gotten a digital camera, actually Amber bought herself a new point and shoot and I now have her old one.  So I keep it at the shop so I don't have to say "Damm I want a picture of that but I forgot the camera AGAIN!"  The poit being that more pictures will be forthcoming.

I'll try not to keep you waiting too long...

Dan

Sinking Feeling...

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Here's the sink stand that I just finished.  It's teak with copper towel bars and bronze boat nails as accent.  It doesn't actually support the sink, which is attached to the wall, but just provides a shelf and somewhere to hang towels.  It was rebuilt twice due to incorrect measuring.  Now before you before you put down the phone and call someone else to build your furniture, it wasn't my mistake.  I built the stand to the EXACT dimensions that were on the drawing.  However, the drawing was made for the sink the customer WAS going to order, not the sink they actually got.  The result was that the stand was an inch too wide, so I had to cut it apart and get rid of that inch and put it back together.  The only real rub was that this happened the morning it was supposed to be picked up, so it was a rush job to say the least.  I got it done and went on my merry way, thinking all was well.  Ummm.... NOT, the stand was also an inch too tall.  Well back to the shop to take an inch off of each leg.  I did this with my chop saw, see previous post with shop photos, it was a balancing act to get the stand up there and cut it the right size so that the legs were all still level.  I got it done, got it redelivered and got paid, so it all ended well.  I'm going to try to get up the house and take some pictures of it in place, it looks much better in the bathroom than on the floor of my shop.

I'm back...

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So I know it's been forever since I posted anything.  Life has been busy, starting you own business takes more than 24 hours a day.  I've been doing my best to get pictures of all my projects so I can get them posted here.  I'm trying to put them in some sort of order so it's not just random stuff.

So with that in mind here are some more pictures of my shop.  I'm all moved in and you can see various projects in different stages.

First Day...

Today is the first day of my new schedule.  I'm now only working Mondays and Saturdays at MacBeath and the rest of the time I'll be working on my own.  Lunderville Woodworking, that's me.  Starting my own business as it were.  The shop is up and running...I should get some pictures soon, maybe today?  So everyone wish me luck...

New Space...

So here it is...my new shop space.  Empty isn't it?  Well it's not that way anymore but that is how it looked when I moved in.  Other than the fact that it's a big financial commitment it's a great place.  It's right on the other side of the wall from Tony's shop.  I've already built shelf space, and I'm borrowing a bench.  I should get the camera down there and get some pictures of the total mess, cause I haven't had time to put anything away.  The greatest thing is that this space is only a 5 min. drive from my house.  So it's easy to just go work there for an hour or two.  See the picture of the stairs?  There are 20 of them, now I see why the stairmaster is such an effective exercise.  I must walk up and down these stairs 30 or 40 times every day I'm at the shop, buns of steel here I come.  I do think the only child in me is taking over, cause I love not having to share space.  At the end of the day, I set my tools down and go home, and if the shop is messy or I have half done projects sitting on the bench so be it.  I'm not in anyone's way and no one is in mine.  Very nice...

Update...

Yes I know it's been forever since I posted anything, and I regret to say I don't have any new cool photos at this time. 

Event wise some things have been happening.
1. I delivered the chessboard to Luther and he loved it, Hey Luther.
2. I'll be moving into a new shop space on the 1st so that will generate a bunch of new content for the blog.
3. I've been hired to build a Arts & Crafts style mantel for a couple in Oakland.
4. My wife and I are embarking on a quest to build an addition to our house.
5. I'm finally going to get my name changed to Lunderville, so in 10 weeks it will be official.

So there'll be more on all these subjects in the days to come.

Dan

Finish...

So here's the finished chessboard, complete with chess pieces.  I sanded it down to 400 grit and then gave it 20 or so goings over with the shellac pad, a.k.a. French Polish for the sophisticated of you out there.  I then cut the shellac down with 400 grit again to thin it out and gave it another 20 or so rounds of shellac.  One last thinning with 400 grit and a few more coats of shellac to get out the scratch marks, then I dulled the shine with #0000 steel wool and lastly 2 coats of Liberon Black Bison wax.  I also covered the bottom in felt, a subdued green.  I now have an Uncle named Bob.  The real question is, will the friend that I'm giving this too ever return my emails/calls so I can give it to him?  He doesn't have a link to the blog for obvious reasons so I guess we'll find out.

More Chess...

So here's the chessboard...all glued up and ready to be sanded and finished.  It has one bad miter joint, see the corner close up.  I'll fix it in finishing, it's amazing what a little fish glue and sanding dust can do.  You can see the pieces that I selected for it.  They're the same ones that were in the Harry Potter movies, which is NOT why I picked them.  They're copies of some pieces that were found on the Isle of Lewis.  I like them because they're stylish without being Star Trek or Civil War themed, or something else lame.  Actually, as I write this entry it is already sanded and finished.  All I have left to do is to glue the felt on the bottom and steel wool and wax it.  The shellac finish came out really clean, but it's a little too shinny, hence the steel wool and wax job.  I'm headed down to do the final bits today, now that the shellac has had a couple of days to harden up.  I'll get some pictures of the final product this afternoon.

I have also started on restoring the desk.  I'm going to give it the works, turn it back into what it was when it was first built.  This route is longer and more difficult, but in the end I will have a better piece and I will have learned much more than taking the easy way out.  I'll have to do, turning, veneer and leather repair, filling and coloring to match grain, and a few other things that I'm not even aware of right now.  So it'll be fun.

Brown and Shiny...

Today's Friday...so I'll have some photos of my progress on a few projects today.  In the mean time check out this bookcase.  I worked on restoring this with Tony.  See all that brass?  The grates on the doors, the columns, all the little ornaments?  I polished them all.  The grates in the doors had to be removed, carefully, then polished then reinstalled.  They're held in with little strips of wood nailed behind the grates.  It was a pain to remove them, as I didn't want to break the strips or the door or any part of the bookcase.  Tony was so nice about it, saying "Don't worry about it, it can be fixed."  Yea cause he'll really want someone in the shop who's creating more work for him to do for no money.  I'm glad that Chappell & McCullar got the after picture up on their web site.  Tony did a ton of work refinishing this case, it was really dark and the insides of the upper section had this hideous dirty pink paint on the insides.  I know he spent many hours stripping out that paint and then VanDyked the insides so it is shinny and brown.  He also worked on the doors which, before his magic touch, didn't open and close all that well.  So that's all for now...I'll have more later after I take some pictures today.