Morton

Michael Scott Morton has been designing and building furniture for over ten years. Located in Harvard, MA, he builds custom furniture one piece at a time.

Morton’s Shop: Orient the Top

Aug 302012
 

First I want to decide how to orient the top boards.  So I looked them over, turned them around, and flipped them until I was happy with the top side and match.  They ended up in a slip-match but one board is turned 180 degrees because they taper in width top to bottom by 4-6″ (just like a tree).  This way I get the maximum total width from just two boards.  Once decisions are made, I use chalk to mark the pieces.

English Walnut Two-Board Top

English Walnut Two-Board Top

Now it”s time to get to work: flattening the top.  My Lie-Nielsen #62 becomes the workhorse for these boards since they are too big for my jointer / planer.  A toothed blade does nice work, quickly.

Lie-Nielsen #62 Flattens the Boards

Lie-Nielsen #62 Flattens the Boards

Morton is a furniture designer builder working in Harvard, MA.  He reviews tools for Highland Woodworking on YouTube.  You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter @morton, and his own YouTube channel.

Morton’s Shop: Ripping off the Edge

Aug 282012
 

I use my Festool TS55, paired with a rail, to rip off the wavy live edges from boards: it”s a safe, fast, easy way to get a straight edge.

Festool TS55 Ready to Rip

Festool TS55 Ready to Rip

I wet the top to look at the sapwood of my air-dried walnut – trying to decide on using it or not.  Using the white sapwood would definitely look nice as a contrasting stripe down the middle, and echoed in the legs as well – but ultimately I decide to go more “elegant” and remove the white sap.

Sapwood is White on Air-Dried Walnut

Sapwood is White on Air-Dried Walnut

Again – I use the TS55 to rip the sapwood off.  The boards are so long, I have to use Festool rail connectors to gang up my 55″ and 106″ rails in order to make a single cut!

Two Festool Rails Connected to Rip

Two Festool Rails Connected to Rip

Morton is a furniture designer builder working in Harvard, MA.  He reviews tools for Highland Woodworking on YouTube.  You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter @morton, and his own YouTube channel.

Morton’s Shop: Getting Some Lumber

Aug 222012
 

Today I went to Artisan Lumber to look for some wood that would match my table design.  Obviously I was mainly looking for material for the top, legs and stretcher.  Brian (the owner) had three pieces of 20-24″ wide x 13′ long english walnut left from a flitch.  It has very wavy grain, lots of cracks and knots – apparently the tree was on a hill on Concord, MA and had been struck by lightning multiple times.  Very unique, making it perfect for this table – and I can get the whole top from just two boards!

English Walnut Roughsawn

English Walnut Roughsawn

Back in my shop, I poured on some alcohol and took a picture so I could see the grain and color.  Actually, we did this at the lumber yard too – make sure you know what you’re getting!

English Walnut with Finish

English Walnut with Finish

I also found some killer material for the curved legs: crotch walnut.  It’s the right size and shape for my design.  Even though I only needed two 8/4 sticks, I grabbed all 4 from the flitch set.

Crotch Walnut Roughsawn

Crotch Walnut Roughsawn

And again, I wanted to check out the right section for my legs – so I taped it off and put on a little alcohol.

Crotch Walnut with Finish

Crotch Walnut with Finish

The material is excellent – now it’s time to get to work!

Morton is a furniture designer + builder working in Harvard, MA.  He reviews tools for Highland Woodworking on YouTube.  You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter @morton, and his own YouTube channel.

Morton’s Shop: The Intro

Aug 172012
 

Welcome to the first post in a new series for Highland Woodworking: Morton”s Shop.  This series of blog posts will bring you photos and text of the daily work in a furniture-makers workshop.  I plan on keeping it short and sweet – just a taste of the latest.

Dining Trestle Table

Dining Trestle Table

The first project I”m working on is a very large dining table: 10.5″ x 3.5″.  It”s a trestle table with one large leaf at either end, making it collapsable to about 6″ in length.  I look forward to bringing you pictures of my progress!

Dining Trestle Table (Underside)

Dining Trestle Table (Underside)

Morton is a furniture designer builder working in Harvard, MA.  He reviews tools for Highland Woodworking on YouTube.  You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter @morton, and his own YouTube channel.