Bench Update

Monday, February 07, 2011

Wow, it has been way too long since our last blog post!

First and foremost, an update on the bench project we worked on for Morgan at Bikram Yoga Calgary South is long overdue. This project was actually installed back in November, and after some searching I found a few pictures that were taken at different points in the fabrication process.



 Messing around with the router and the sweet wood name plates we had made. Thanks to Bob at Vivid Expressions!



Eventually we sorted out the inset depth and made a quick jig that we would later use to make sure each name plate was in the same spot on every bench.



Staining the benches before the trim was applied. Each bench was made of laminated strips of Douglas Fir which gave a really cool effect when the stain was applied. Some strips soaked up a lot more stain which gave the benches a lot of visual depth. You can also see where the name plate will eventually go on the bottom left.



This is almost a final 4' bench top. The darker Poplar trim has been applied and Current name plate installed. A few coats of sealer and she'll be done!



This picture shows one of the concrete bases just after it came out of the mould. The walls are only about 3/4" thick and the stepped down corners made for a really interesting fabrication procedure. We'll keep that hush hush though at the request of Justin and Carly of 2Stone Designer Concrete who helped tremendously with the mould design and fabrication. We can't say enough about 2Stone; they really taught us a lot about the fabrication process and their expertise came in very handy with the mould design.



Getting the consistency of the liquid concrete took a few test iterations. The balance between porosity, setting time, and ease of material flow through the mould was pretty tight. We really love the raw, porous texture. On this pour, the concrete hadn't quite set up completely. The edge quality suffered a bit because the wet material stuck to the inside of the mould. You can see the white fibres poking out which were added to the mixture to strengthen the final material.

Check back to see the final pictures of the benches installed at Bikram Yoga Calgary South!

Great Online Material Resource

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Materia.nl is an online database of a wide range of materials. From traditional to incredibly innovative, these materials are a great source of inspiration for new projects. The materials are categorized into several groups, so searching for something you already have in mind is easy. One could spend hours browsing through what they have! Singing up for an account is free. Finally, if you want to purchase a particular material, you can do it right away as the contact information of the producer is posted.

Below are some examples of the kinds of things one can find on Materia. Left: Aluminum foam, middle: Horse hair weaving, right: Extrema - a coated fabric with a velvet surface.



Via www.materia.nl

Cool Handles by Fendley Knives

Monday, April 12, 2010

We came across this pretty interesting use of denim fabric and epoxy, used to make a great looking knife handle. The guys at Fendley Knives have been experimenting with a process originally developed in the 1950's. They go through their whole process, explaining everything along the way, including many pictures. Finally the laminated material is put through its paces through a rigorous testing phase. It's pretty tough.



If you're interested to learn more about this material, follow the link.

Via Fendley