Pete's Pizza Ovens

There's a new pizza place in Manchester ... Uncle Pete (Peter Moore, Vermont Brick Ovens) built the oven, and Sam added some metal door details (digital thermometer covers), and a custom damper .... I stopped by a couple of times as he was working on it and it was way cool to watch it happen ... great process but I'm sorry I missed the actual dome building on Pete's round forms ... Click the photos to enlarge them .
Main Street, Route 7, in front of Shaw's
The trout door ... they just fired it up Saturday and I'm not sure what the rusty stuff is
The dome before it was grouted
from the outside
Sam's custom damper
Finishing up
The completed oven ... I heard the pizza is GREAT !

'State of Craft' Show ... The Bennington Museum

'State of Craft' ... Exploring the Studio Craft Movement in Vermont: 1960-2010. Runs from May 22nd to October 31st at The Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont . Curated by Jamie Franklin and Anne Majusiak, it displays the work of 85 craftspersons, (is that how we call us?) 125 objects, oral histories, studio interviews .... I don't generally look for shows to be in, but this one found me and I'm glad it did .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ....
"Bridges", our piece, is a collaboration between Dan (b. 1947) , Sam (b. 1982) and Will (b. 1984) Inspired partly by my grandfather, Irvin Seeders, a bridge riveter for Bethlehem Steel for 52 years (b. 1902), BS from 1916 to 1968. For the show, I thought it would be good if his generation, my generation and the next generation were represented. You know, a 100 years of craft or something .... just a thought ...Our piece started as a couple of different ideas, based on other designs we had created, but took on a life of its own. For a while it was going to be gold leaf and bubinga, then high finish walnut and blued steel, but in the end, it came to be made of recycled oak (heritage and tradition) and painted steel, with the rivet connection to my grandfather the coup de grace. Sam did the steel work and the green paint; Will did the burning and finishing, and I did a little roughing out of the wood and assembly and helped with the conceptual stuff. On the whole, a lot of fun. The show opens next Saturday and I am really looking forward to it ... Should be a good party ...
Early on .. after we decided on the recycled oak, but before the rivets ... The burnings seemed unrelated ...
The initial paint job, which was later toned down by sanding through to the red primer and glazing ...
The rivets ... I forget exactly whose brainstorm that was, but it was a good one ...
Will, burning the oak prior to staining and glazing ....
After the burning and stain, before the sanding and glazing ...
It's a bridge ...
A rusty one in Shelburne, MA
A soaring and inspirational one in New York, the GW, which I'm pretty sure my grandfather worked on ...
Some of the other pieces in the show .... this is the underside of the 'quarter bench' below
There was no label and I don't know the artist, but he's from Brattleboro.
Other objects ready to go ..

4/22 The Duck Bed Has Flown To Its New Home

Update 4/22 ... Usually, after a long and complex project like this one, I'm glad to see it go. You know, time for the next one. This one was different. It's been in the works for about six weeks, involved a lot of old and new skills, and everyone in the shop pitched in ... I give Will the credit for the turning, carving, fussy inlay fitting and finishing; Trevor gets the credit for the complex cnc work on the headboard and walnut overlay with the inlay pockets, and Sam, well, he did a great job with the metal shaping and patina work ... I'll take a little credit, for the CAD drawing of most of the ducks and for leading the parade, but it was overall a shop wide effort. Jim pitched in too but mainly his job was to keep our other projects truckin' along. The clients were happy today and I thank them for their trust in us to commission and support us on a challenging project like this. Whew ! I'll also miss the ongoing duck puns ... ducks in a row, all ducked up, just ducky, duckin'around, what a bunch of quacks ... and so it went ... The whole project was a great one .. Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The whole shebang ...
To the right
To the left
At home

Other posts
Waterjetting the inlays
A Bed Update
A New Bed Project

Update ... Tax Day ... 4/15 ... Glad I have an accountant ... Jim had to leave early to do his ...

Inlay update .... Almost finished ... Sam has done all the chemical patinas on the ducks and I think he has just one or two more wing parts to wrap up tomorrow ... Will will be applying the final coat of varnish to the wood parts and we'll epoxy the inlays into the finished headboard next week. Can't wait ... Gonna be cool ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
To see how we made the parts for these inlays, check this post on waterjetting
This is the headboard today, after the gel stain coat ... top coat tomorrow ... Out the door soon ....
4/13/2010
Previous blog posts on the bed here and here
Close up of the center inlay for the headboard below .... Sam's adding the color now ....
Inlays for the duck bed are underway ... click the photos to enlarge them, ... more later
Cad drawing of the headboard
Waterjet cut inlay parts ... see this post here
Trevor's sample mdf headboard overlay ... 'Always best to test.' You can quote me on that.
In the test pockets
Fitting, filing, and beveling where the pieces meet. Some of the individual pieces (beaks, wings and feet) were also made thinner to create an illusion of depth ...
The first sample center inlay ... cut in aluminum, just to see if it would work ... who knew?
The brass grass was rounded and the inlay pockets were pointed by Will with an Exacto knife.
Unpatinaed redhead
More on the inlays for this bed coming soon .....

First test assembly .. twist and pinecone carvings by Will see previous bed posts linked above

A New Railing Project

I'm cleaning up my back list of unfinished blog posts tonight. Here's another one I started back in March and never quite completed ... It's about a railing Sam made for a house in Peru. I never saw the house, but he said it was a very tasteful 'modern' house with nice architecture. The stair rise and runs were all a little different, and, because of the design, the execution required some extra care to be sure things were centered and spaced correctly before welding welding commenced. It was a big one and it came out well, but I know he was glad when it was over .... On to something a little looser like the doors below ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
Rough layout to check angles, rise and run
Assembly jig by Sam and Trevor on the CNC
Various modifications were required as each of the three flights of stairs were different ..
A welded and ground corner ... The railing was finished with a clear coat of penetrol.
The builder finished it off with a wood top cap .... Looks great !

More Metal Doors

Sam has another little door project for Peter Moore Masonry. Similar to the last one that covered a digital thermometer in a traditional brick oven, these incorporate parts of the logos of the owner's companies ... Love the pulls ....click the pictures to enlarge them ...
The first door ready for patina ...
In its frame yesterday
The second door ... might be a copper rivet/sun on this one later ...