As hobbyists, we do our best welding when we are comfortable: arms supported, hands resting steady, good visibility and sitting at just the right height.
The shop needed a flexible welding stool of varying height in a moderately inflammable material. We also needed an excuse to buy a tube notcher and practice our TIG welding.
Blackened Steel & Black Stained Ash
With a new member recently added to the Chop Shop, we needed a project that was playful, easy to pick up and put down, and would entertain said new member. We landed on a mobile. The bold, colorful, organic shapes are inspired by abstract artist Jean Arp.
We picked up a few analog tricks along the way for finding center-of-gravity (no math!) and balancing the different levels (start from the bottom and work your way up).
As furniture enthusiasts, the Chop Shop dabbles in small-scale wood and metal working but could our ‘handiness’ transfer from the furniture scale to the light-duty construction scale? Sure. Well, mostly.
The Chop Shop needed a gate, one that would close off our alley adjacent workspace yet still open widely for access. Emboldened by the crazy-high quotes from fence contractors, we set about building the project ourselves. A cool year later, our sliding gate stands.
Handle and latch design inspired by (or directly copied from) the Tom Kundig/12th Ave Iron collection. A highly sophisticated, custom tool was required to polish the round handles after welding the end caps (purchase of a metal lathe was deemed excessive by one half of the Chop Shop).
A sincere thanks to visiting family, who took breaks from Grandparenting to help build the gate.
A wedding gift for a very dear couple whose serious hobby is farming - chickens, goats and hogs! The pair of trays is for everyday use and clutter storage and is made from a reclaimed fir beam. The old beam was re-sawn and milled into planks, revealing a few hidden nails along the way (sorry tools).
One day, Ned will be tall enough to stand on his own. Until that day, he needs a boost. Reclaimed fir top, steel base.
A big, flat, sturdy table for our basement work space. While selecting casters, after building the top and frame, it occurred to us that the table weighs ~300 lbs. and is most likely overbuilt.
Built in 1939, our house is in the wonderfully titled 'minimal traditional' style, which is to say that it's small and basic. We love the clear layout and simple adornment but the cozy floor plan leaves little room for grand furniture statements. Any piece must be purpose-built and have a considerate (i.e. minimal) footprint. In that spirit, we have been working on a bar cabinet for our dining room to hold plants, lighting, and... the bar. Full scale mock-ups in poplar and birch plywood. Final piece to be walnut.
A mock-up for a pair of studio stools – testing overall height, seat size, leg angles, joinery and Danish cord weave. Made a few design tweaks, and just started milling the white oak for the real deal.
For all the good little nieces and nephews, the Chop Shop turned toy shop in the run up to the holiday season. The poplar and walnut instruments were a hit with the budding, young musicians (our apologies to their parents). Kazoo design from Offerman Wood Shop's Good Clean Fun.
The work of George and Mira Nakashima holds a special place in the hearts of the Chop Shop: the seeming simplicity, the devotion to and expression of wood as a material.
Their influence is in much of what we do. Less influence, all imitation, this piece is our remake of the Nakashima Tray. Visit the Knoll store to have one of your own.
A monitor stand needn't support the weight of a small car but over-engineering is a recurring theme in our metal work. The angled grouping of piers is a loving homage to OMA's Villa dall'Ava. Of course, now we have fancy monitor arms and no longer need a single purpose pedestal. Maybe we should have considered that...
Is champagne classy or is it the champagne flute or coupe that is classy? In any case, drinks need stylish places to rest and when there is no room for side tables, one makes single purpose stands to accommodate. Walnut and blackened steel.
Stockings need proper hangers. While decorating the Chop Shop for the winter holidays, we were reminded of the sad, misshapen paper clips previously used to hang our stockings. This would not do. And we needed a project for the day.
Magical though it was, our existing dining room light (chandelier?) needed to go. In the search for cheerful, elegant lighting we were inexorably led to Scandinavia (a cold, dark place and kindred spirit to our native Seattle) and Clara von Zweigbergk's Cirque pendants. To accommodate a trio of fixtures, we needed a mounting ‘plate’ to conceal wires and center the collection in the room: a simple walnut plank with slight bevel and reveal.
There is some debate within the Chop Shop over whether or not one fixture hangs lower than the rest. It remains unresolved.
Studies in CNC cut rabbets, laps, tenons, scarfs, and the tails of doves. The wildcard joint is attributed to Frankenstein/LMN's Octahedron.
This is the original Fred, an experiment in developable surfaces -or- flat sheets formed into 3D shapes. Fred is a 9-banded armadillo and represents more hours of work than one is generally comfortable admitting to (given that he is a paper animal). Laser cut from 2-ply bristol, Fred's integrity relies upon a locking tab and slot detail that has just enough lock and only the right amount of give.
Make your own Fred. Out of respect for the original, please name him/her something else.
