Todd Fillingham

Posts Tagged ‘furniture building’

Guitar Stool/ Guitar Stand

In design, furniture, guitar stand, work on December 22, 2009 at 3:37 pm

I’ve just completed the first guitar stool/ guitar stand and will soon be putting it in my new Etsy store. I’ll link to that as soon as I have it up and running. I am also showing it on my web site. In the mean time I wanted to post some of the pictures I took of it here.

I whipped eyes in either end of 1/4″ yacht braid to create a restraint to hold the guitar into the stand. This is easily removed from either end and is not required to hold the guitar, just an extra sit of safety for your valuable instrument.

You can see the cork lined crotch that holds the guitar neck as well as one of the knobs that the retaining line is held by.

The seat is carved from walnut and the legs are ash.

Industrial felt is used to cushion all other contact areas. One note: this works best as a stand for hollow body guitars.

I created a short video (slide show) of this piece and may be seen here.

You may purchase this directly by contacting me thru my web site. Or by contacting me by email. Or by posting a comment here. Also, I will be glad to answer any questions you may have about this piece.

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Surf Board Table III-ix

In design, furniture, furniture making, the process, work on January 4, 2008 at 4:48 pm

The table has been delivered! Here are a few more shots I took before making the delivery. If you’re interested, check out my portfolio.

Surfboard Table by Todd Fillingham

Surfboard Table by Todd Fillingham

Surfboard Table by Todd Fillingham

Surfboard Table by Todd Fillingham

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Surf Board Table III-viii

In design, furniture, furniture making, the process, work on December 31, 2007 at 4:56 pm

The table is finished and I am in the process of shooting photos of it before I deliver it. Here’s a nice detail of the edge.

Edge detail

Surf Board Table III -vii

In design, furniture, furniture making, the process, work on December 21, 2007 at 4:51 pm

black-grain.jpg

I tried to get an image that shows how the black dye along with my oil finish brings out the grain in the ash wood used to make the base of the surfboard table. One of the reasons that I dye the wood is to accentuate the grain to create a fluid-like pattern under the top.

Surf Board Table III -vi

In furniture, furniture making, the process, work on December 18, 2007 at 12:21 pm

wipe2.jpg

I mix a custom blend for my wipe on, oil finish. After the oil mix is applied I allow it to soak into the wood then wipe it dry. I’ll apply at least three coats, buffing with very fine steel wool in between coats. Each coat takes a day to dry.

After the second coat of dye dries on the base I’ll apply the oil mix over the dye.

Surf Board Table III -v

In furniture, furniture making, shop, the process on December 17, 2007 at 5:10 pm

cross-pcs.jpg

I’ve attached the cross pieces onto the base structure and after a little final sanding it is ready to be dyed black.

dye-black.jpg

I use a water based aniline dye. It will take two applications with some light sanding in between to give a nice even color. The water based dye will not fade when exposed to uv light as will alcohol based dye. Water based dye does raise the grain a little, hence the extra sanding step.

While the base dries I work on sanding the edges of the top.

edge-sand.jpg

It’s important to not overlook any detail at this stage. Soon I’ll be applying the finish and any touch-ups or adjustments will be very hard to do after that.

glossy-edge.jpg

The edges are staring to look nice and wood grain is starting to show it’s beauty. The top needs a final sanding and I will be ready to apply the finish.

scraping.jpg

As I work through ever finer grades of sandpaper, to bring out the true beauty of the wood, various small scratches begin to appear. They were always there, but were so fine that they weren’t visible until the wood around them is sanded with a very fine grit. The scraper takes very fine shavings off these areas, which will then be further sanded so that the top has a uniform, very fine, surface.

smooth-top.jpg

Surf Board Table III -iv

In furniture, furniture making, shop, the process, tools, work on December 13, 2007 at 11:25 pm

glue-up.jpg

The table base is glued up. While the glue sets I’ll start sanding the boards I’ve glued up for the top. First I set up some cross pieces on a work bench.

set-up.jpg

By using shims I can get the three cross pieces aligned in a single plane. This helps as I need to now sand the top as flat as I can. Having the work piece rest on a flat plane helps a lot. And now I begin sanding the top. Table tops take a lot of sanding.

todd_sanding.jpg

I start with a belt sander.

To make sure that I am sanding the work piece flat I check it often with a pair of winding sticks.

p1010004.jpg

And then I go back to sanding. Eventually I get one face flat, then I turn it over and work on the other face. After an hour or so of using the belt sander I turn to a jig I developed some years ago to further flatten the work and to take out the machine marks left by the power belt sander.

p1010006.jpg

It’s good exercise!

When the top is flat and smoothed I lay the pattern back on it, trace the outline one more time and then cut it out with a jig saw.

p1010009.jpg

Sorry about the dust on the camera lens. Things are pretty dusty at this point.

The sawn edge is smoothed by using a sharp block plane.

block-plane.jpg

The edge is then rounded over with a router.

router.jpg

And the top is starting to look like a surfboard.

top1.jpg