Snapshots from the shop...

Late last week we got started on one of the two bookcase jobs that have been in the planning phase for months. This one, for a residence on Vallejo St., will create an office space on the 4th floor, plus a large wall of bookcases in the master bedroom. All built-in, with fixed shelves, and spare detailing to match the existing (Edwardian?) details of the home.

One of the first steps was to prime all the plywood. 30 sheets does not constitute a huge project, but in a small shop things can get out of hand quickly.

We made a bunch of these little spacers, and used them to lean the sheets in a fairly compact vertical configuration, one at a time, as we rolled on the primer.

While Jeff did the priming, Carl figured out a cut list based on his shop drawings.

The first thing to be cut out was the backs of the boxes, as they would serve as a pattern for the rest of the parts. Two of the banks of bookcases on the fourth floor fit within the pitched ceilings of two gable dormers.

Jeff put together a badly needed work table for the shop, with lockable casters. Except for the top and the casters, made from scraps.

After that, we teamed up on the ripping.

Shelves for a tiny bathroom.

This bathroom has 16 square feet of floor space. A compact shelf unit was needed. The face curves back toward the wall near the sink to provide elbow room.

Made out of 1/2" plywood salvaged from crates that had contained chandeliers.

Redwood headboard.

A simple little headboard for a queen-size platform bed.

Five pieces, mortised, grooved, and with floating tenons in place.

Glue-up and sanding complete, plus 3 coats of polyurethane.

Motorized Window Shade Covers, Rincon Hill.

The client requested shade covers (valences) to match the trim in the rest of the home.

Below is a photo of the bare shade.

We put a dado in 1 x 8 material, tapered the boards to width as necessary to match the irregular ceiling, and applied 2 coats of paint prior to install. We attached the valences with velcro (barely visible in the 1/8" gap in detail below) and one screw with a nylon spacer at each metal hanger bracket. The valences are intended to be easily removed for servicing the shades.

Final product in living room.

Inside corner.

View from the patio, 55 floors up.

Alternating Tread Staircase

We were approached by a couple living in Cole Valley that wanted to create a means of access from their first floor living area to their ground floor / garage space. They had very little room to devote to a standard sized staircase so a space saving alternative was needed. After a little online research we discovered that many European homes had similar space constraints and were using a stair design known as Alternating Tread, the basic idea being that each stair tread is "foot specific" (left, right, left, etc.) This allowed a considerable amount of elevation (or rise) to be accomplished in a very short amount of floor space (or run.) The clients had a 3 foot by 3 foot square closet they wanted to use for the access, so to the drawing board we went.

After working out the math and applying some aesthetic judgement we came up with a design that seemed well suited to the home. When it came time to choose a material for the project we could not have been more inline with the clients' desire to use an eco-friendly, rapid renewable resource: a product called PlyBoo was the way to go. PlyBoo is made from laminated strips of Bamboo. It is very strong (one inch thick) and comes in 4' X 8' sheets. Now it was just a matter of transferring what worked out on paper into a parts list that could be fabricated in the shop. In the photo below we have built a jig that is used to rout out the area where each tread will attach to the stringer.

Here is a close-up of the treads during a dry fit. The 9 treads were all identical. We started by making a pattern of the exact shape we needed. We then used this pattern to trace out the treads onto a sheet of PlyBoo. After rough-cutting the shapes on the table saw and band saw we used the pattern, a router, and flush-cutting bit to hone the treads to their final shape. From here we were ready for a dry fit (a test assembly before glueing and screwing the parts together).

A detail of each tread nesting in the slot (or dado) cut into the stringers.

Here is a photo of the staircase in its upright position after final assembly. We will soon post images of its final installation, complete with handrail.

Recycled Fir Bed Frame

A queen - size bed frame built for some newlyweds out of salvaged lumber.

This is douglas fir framing, probably joisting, that was stored for an unknown period of time in a Mission neighborhood warehouse, and became available for sale via Craigslist.

The work was done in Carl's 3rd floor Bryant St. studio, prior to us moving into our present location on Folsom St.

The joinery is simple mortise and tenon, glue only, and the design is chunky - more Arts and Crafts than anything, which the character and challenging workability of the fir pretty much dictated. Here are some mortises being routed:

There was no effort made to conceal nail holes, worm holes, or pitch pockets. It's no secret this wood has some history.

The side rails are 16" off the floor to allow large storage containers to be kept underneath, a priority in the small apartment the bed occupies.

Poplar slats are connected with upholstery webbing to create the platform.

Snowboard Coffee Table

This project came from one of the first inquiries I got when I started running ads on Craigslist back in the Spring of '09. The client had seen an outdoor bench with the backrest made out of skis. He had some old snowboards he didn't ride anymore, but didn't want to throw away because they had sentimental value. He dropped them off with me, and said "make something", or words to that effect.

For most of six months, it stayed on the back burner. I never got excited about a design solution, for one thing, and I didn't have a deadline. I finally settled on my second or third idea, to use them as the base of a glass-top coffee table. The "X" pattern seemed less awkward than having them parallel.

Made a 1/4 scale mock -up out of 1/2" plywood, which did little to give me peace of mind as far as the design was concerned, but a month or two of additional head scratching yielded nothing.

I cut the miters with the slide saw and an angle grinder. See foreground of the top photo for the parts being assembled. I tried to epoxy the miters for a clean look, but it wasn't strong enough. Ended up putting it together like framing a house; with construction adhesive and Simpson angle brackets.

Additional strength seemed like a good idea, so I added a cross brace out of rips from the ipe bench job.

It's definitely a unique piece. I can't tell if I like it or not, but it was good to move on...

IPE Bench, Sacramento St.

When we first visited this site to make our pattern, it was nearly dark. Morning of the install, we discovered how irregular the concrete was.

Carl had made plywood templates in the shop, based on our paper pattern.

The bench is 15 1/2" deep. We got 5/4 x 8 ipe from Golden State Lumber, were able to get about 4 7/8" wide curves in about a 4 foot run.

Here's the attachment... two pieces of nesting aluminum channel, linked with sex bolts, which also secure the end plugs. The smaller channel is screwed to the ipe. No visible fasteners on top.

Carl grinds concrete to level out our bearing surfaces.

We marked the anchor holes by putting the bench in place and depositing some black chalkline chalk with a little spatula.

Jeff drills for the anchor bolts.

Lower channels in place on the left side.

Channel/bolt detail.

Close up of underside with end plugs.

Final product...