Nice Legs!

Work table with re-purposed machine legs

Artefact; Schellville, CA

Conference table by Sit And Read Furniture for ACL

Cast iron table legs designed for Lee Valley Tools by Mike McGuire

Advertisement engraving via Antique Machinery Scans

Advertisement engraving via Antique Machinery Scans

Advertisement engraving via Antique Machinery Scans

Industrial kitchen worktable with cast iron legs

Modeled in Solidworks
Rendered in Photoview 360

Detail: Raised lettering on leg stretcher

Modeled in Solidworks
Rendered in Photoview 360

Worktable legs
Solidworks drawing

Several weeks ago, on a spin through Sonoma and the Napa Valley, I stopped at one of my favorite retail design establishments- Artefact in Schellville. Pick of the litter was the work table pictured above, made from a pair of antique lathe legs with a steel top and shelf, and skirts of wood salvaged from the factory that once was home to the cast iron legs.

A massive pair of cast iron legs salvaged from an industrial-sized Oliver lathe have served as the base for my woodworking bench since my days as a studio furniture maker, and they've been eyeing a massive chunk of end-grain butcher block sitting in my shop- threatening to hook up and become a work table in our kitchen.

My workbench legs are not nearly as elegant as the salvaged cast iron legs that Kyle Garner of Sit And Read Furniture used to make ACL's new conference table, and they are just a little too wide for the butcher block top. Usually the reverse is true- lathe legs are designed to support a bed that is long and narrow, and paired with a wide top, start to look out of proportion.

Some years ago, Lee Valley Tool started producing a set of cast iron legs for their workbench kits. They aren't all that attractive IMHO- especially compared to designer Mike McGuire's early concepts for the project- but the price is right, and they are a great idea.

So I set about designing a set of cast iron legs in the spirit of early industrial machinery, with size and proportion specific to supporting a work table top. Is the potential market large enough to justify the cost of making a pattern, and having these legs sand-cast?
Stay tuned...

Antique Navajo Blankets

Navajo Blanket

First phase
Ca. 1845

Navajo blanket
Second phase
Ca. 1850

Navajo blanket
Third phase
Ca. 1870

The history of Navajo textiles is complex- sovereignty, subjugation, and renaissance. The cross- pollination of design motifs with the Spanish settlers in Chimayo, New Mexico is a whole topic in itself. These images: Navajo blankets 101.1

Images from:
Woven by the Grandmothers
Ed. Eulalie H. Bonar
Smithsonian Institution Press
1996

Additional selected bibliography from my personal library:

Navajo Textiles
The William Randolph Hearst Collection
Nancy J. Blomberg
The University of Arizona Press
1988

The Song of the Loom
New Traditions in Navajo Weaving
Frederick J. Dockstader
Montclair Art Museum
1987

Scandinavian wood burning stoves

Jotul 606

Jotul 602

Jotul 601

It has been unusually cold this holiday season in Northern California, and my mind is occupied with fitting out a small Forest Service cabin that we are in the process of purchasing at Echo Lake. First order of business- after shoring up the ca.1921 foundation- is to fit a proper wood stove more in keeping with the vintage of the place.

Finely cast and enameled classic box stoves from Scandinavia were popular in the U.S. in the mid ‘70s from makers such as Jøtul, Morsø, and Lange. Lange has been absorbed by a company making sleek, minimalist stoves, and Jøtul and Morsø each have a single model available in the old style. Sadly, the rich enameled colors are a thing of the past…”any color you want, as long as its black.”

The Jøtul 606- one of the nicest stoves of its type to my eye- is no longer made, and rarer than hen’s teeth in the U.S. Built on a firebox similar to that of the 602, it features a heat exchanger that functions as a secondary combustion chamber, and radiates more of the heat generated into the room rather than up the stack.

The Jøtul 602, nicknamed “The Little Giant,” is capable of kicking out some serious heat despite its small size. Back in the day, I lived for several years in a little cabin in the mountains of Mendocino Co. with no electricity or telephone, and my Waterford- made copy of the 602 was the focus of my daily routine. I still have that stove as a reminder of the days of chopping wood and carrying water.

From Jøtul’s website:

The Classic Award for Design Excellence is awarded to products that have been in the market for at least ten years and are still commercially successful. The aim is to encourage companies to invest in design long-term. Experience shows that good design products are competitive, have longevity and give stable profit as well as offers the customer functional and aesthetically pleasing products.
Jøtul F 602 a best seller since 1936, received the Classic Award for Design Excellence in 1999.

The Jøtul 601, apparently available only in Eastern Europe and Russia, is even smaller than the 602. Sweet!

Jøtul

Morsø