key&kite woodworking

The custom, barn wood gem desk bases I made for Apparatus Studio...

commentasia — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:08:29 -0700

The custom, barn wood gem desk bases I made for Apparatus Studio was in Lonny Mag today!

Just finished this prototype of the new dovetail designed...

commentasia — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:27:14 -0700

Just finished this prototype of the new dovetail designed magazine caddy. It’s made of the same 100s year old redwood that I make my picnic cutting boards out of. For sale soon!

Apparatus Studio commissioned me to make these gems to be used...

commentasia — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:03:00 -0800

Done and off to Apparatus Studio in NYC.

Red helping me with the final details.

My beautiful wife surprises me at the wood shop!

Final check before attaching the top.

Geometry CAN be fun.

I would be lost without my Japanese pull saws.

Planing for joining.

Some shaping with the Microplane.

First... lot's of math.

Found the perfect gray for the job.

Apparatus Studio commissioned me to make these gems to be used as desk bases in their new studio. They are made from reclaimed barn siding which I think is beech. Gabriel at Apparatus wanted them to be gray and I struck gold with these planks I got over at Black’s Farmwood. I left them raw and unfinished to preserve that beautiful gray. I cannot wait to see them all set up! Pictures coming soon.

The 2013 CH+D awards for their ceremony held on February 6, 2013...

commentasia — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:51:00 -0800

Photo taken by Aaron Harvey.

One of the twelve awards.

Another angle.

One of my favorites. First ever CH+D Design Icon Award.

The winners!

Hot off the press.

The 2013 CH+D awards for their ceremony held on February 6, 2013 at the SF Design Center. The awards are made of reclaimed douglas fir, some unidentified siding and acrylic. Laser etching by Priority Graphics.

A gem I made for California Home + Design’s State of the Art...

commentasia — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:53:00 -0800

All lit up.

Photo shoot.

Photo shoot 2.

Photo shoot 3.

One of three covers for the Spring edition.

A gem I made for California Home + Design’s State of the Art series. Featured in the newly redesigned Spring 2013 edition. It will be auctioned off by CH+D in the coming months.

My wife loves Xmas. I, much to Fox News’ chagrin,...

commentasia — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 10:41:00 -0800

Not the best picture but you get the idea.

With LED on.

Finished with Danish Wood oil.

Just sanded.

My wife loves Xmas. I, much to Fox News’ chagrin, don’t. Here is our compromise. An 18 piece, collapsible 15” wood tree. It has a redwood “trunk” and 1/8” lauan plywood scraps as leaves. I used an old off-cut from a gem for the tippy-top.

We like the tree as-is but I thought it needed a little something else. So a few days later I routed out the center of the redwood and wired an LED to light up the top. I made a simple LED driver using a single LED, a 330 ohm resistor, a 7805 regulator, a 9v battery and a micro switch.

The war on Xmas!

New reclaimed wood and acrylic gem necklace up on Etsy. Made...

commentasia — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:08:01 -0800

New reclaimed wood and acrylic gem necklace up on Etsy. Made from an off-cut of a larger gem.

New wood gems up on Etsy! I already pre-sold 15 of them and...

commentasia — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:03:00 -0800

New wood gems up on Etsy! I already pre-sold 15 of them and these are the last from this batch. Made from reclaimed siding and orange and blue acrylic. Finished with Danish wood oil.

Update: The Salon ended up purchasing some different coffee...

commentasia — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:14:00 -0800

Finished with Danish Wood Oil and ready for the salon.

Another angle after six coats of poly on the top.

Ready for gluing and clamping.

Ready to split.

Split in half and ready for planing.

Micah giving me the lay of the land.

Hand hewn, beech barn beam.

Cutting a large piece of wood with a very small chainsaw.

Update: The Salon ended up purchasing some different coffee tables and left me in the lurch! These two end/coffee tables are for sale directly through me. If interested, please email me at danny@keyandkite.com.

I was commissioned by Aaron Harvey and Rachael Yu of Myriad Harbor to make a couple of small coffee tables for Showroom 383 Salon in Mill Valley. I wanted to try a new source for reclaimed wood that is closer to San Francisco than Petaluma or Novato. I had found a place online called Black’s Farmwood and, being located in San Rafael, it is way closer than my other sources. So Aaron and I got a Zip-truck and went on a field trip. Needless to say, Black’s Farmwood is awesome. It is family run and they were extremely friendly and helpful. I will be back there soon.

The coffee tables are made of hand-hewn, beech barn beams and old redwood stairs. Thank you Micah Black for all your help.

I made this stool/magazine holder for our living room. It is...

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:23:00 -0800

Douglas fir butterfly joint and pink acrylic inlay.

Loaded up at Building REsources

I made this stool/magazine holder for our living room. It is made of reclaimed douglas fir and redwood with an acrylic inlay. I got all of this wood for free from Building REsources when I bought two small scraps for $10! I love this thing and will be making more for sale.

I made these candle holders for my wife. Not sure what the wood...

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:17:00 -0800

I made these candle holders for my wife. Not sure what the wood is but it is light and two-toned which gives a great contrast with the acrylic stripes.

My wife got a bunch of flameless candles from her work about a...

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:16:16 -0800

My wife got a bunch of flameless candles from her work about a year ago (I can’t believe she actually used them). She finally came to her senses and threw them out. But then I took them and experimented with flameless gems!

I took the scraps from the Hi Tops Bar serving boards and made...

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:13:00 -0800

Redwood butterfly joint on poplar serving board.

For Dana and Jamie.

I took the scraps from the Hi Tops Bar serving boards and made these little gifts for Dana Gleim and Chef Jaime Lauren of Hi Tops and good ol’ Mary Jo Bowling of California Home + Design Magazine.

I made these poplar serving boards for the upcoming Hi Tops bar....

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:03:00 -0800

I made these poplar serving boards for the upcoming Hi Tops bar. The logo was laser etched by Ken Lo and his wonderful staff over at Priority Graphics.

This light fixture was designed by Aaron Harvey and Rachael Yu...

commentasia — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:47:00 -0800

Just finished and oiled.

Final install.

This light fixture was designed by Aaron Harvey and Rachael Yu of Myriad Harbor for a salon in Mill Valley. It is made entirely of poplar and finished with linseed oil and polyurethane.

My gems are finally at West Elm, Palo Alto!

commentasia — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:13:00 -0700

My gems are finally at West Elm, Palo Alto!

Super excited to have my gems in West Elm’s new Palo Alto...

commentasia — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:47:00 -0700

Super excited to have my gems in West Elm’s new Palo Alto store. They ordered eight but I have a feeling I will have to make them more. These came out beautifully and the pictures don’t even do them justice. They are made from reclaimed wood I got from The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano when I made the giant garden gems for them. Four are mahogany, and the others are unidentified but have gorgeous grain.

My friend commissioned me to make these custom cutting boards...

commentasia — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:39:00 -0700

My friend commissioned me to make these custom cutting boards for her husband’s birthday. Made from scrap birch plywood and redwood for the trim and finished with beeswax and mineral oil.

Made this cake stand or, as I like to call it, cake lathe for my...

commentasia — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:21:00 -0700

Made this cake stand or, as I like to call it, cake lathe for my friend Rachael’s birthday. It’s made of bamboo scraps leftover from a job site she and her partner were working on.

Traveling Woodbury

commentasia — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:18:00 -0700

I was commissioned by Evan Marks of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano to make some giant gems for their garden area. Although I only needed two days to build the gems, I decided to make my trip last a week to coincide with my wife’s amazing event, California Home + Design’s Small Space Big Style Showhouse in Hollywood. Since I grew up in the area, I got to see a lot of my old friends… and build them stuff along the way. Here’s what was built while on the road:

The day I drove into Santa Clarita Valley, where my mom lives, my friend Todd told me his son’s birthday was the following day. Todd had just bought a table saw and wanted some lessons so I decided to make something for his son. What did his son want? A chair. So we used some scrap plywood he had lying around and I showed him some tricks.

All clamped up. It was almost 100 degrees that day so the glue set exponentially quicker than I’m used to in San Francisco.

The throne is done. Happy 6th to Jackson.

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I mentioned to my friend Brian that I brought down all my woodworking tools and asked if he needed anything built. He and his girlfriend, Zen, had just moved into a new studio space and had off-cuts of really nice finished maple plywood that he wanted to use to make some coffee tables. So he took the day off and we made three pieces in a day. It was awesome.

First we made a simple box coffee table to replace the hideous white one.

Brian loves the design of Gerrit Rietveld so we cobbled up two end tables he showed me from one of his books.

Almost ready for clients.

Then made a simple, dovetailed stand with my Japanese pull saws for Zen’s monitor out of the scraps.

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Woke up early the next day and it was off to San Juan Capistrano to make the giant gems.

The work area.

Started with the 100 year old cedar beam and a plank of redwood.

Planed and ready to laminate (glue).

Time to shape.

Time to place them in the garden.

Douglas fir with two redwood stripes and redwood butterfly joint.

Cedar with redwood stripe.

Gem stool made of cedar with redwood stripe and redwood butterfly joint.

‘Til next time! (Which is actually first week of October)