No. 60 Bench - Cherry with Carbon Fiber

[NICK BARBOZA]

Here's a bench that I completed last week. It's of my own design and combines a few ideas i have been tossing around in my head for some time.

My design was selected to be in a gallery exhibition put on by The Farnsworth Art Museum and The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship both located in coastal Maine. Once I received notification that the design was selected - next I had to build it. Over the past 2 months this has consumed my nights, weekends and any other spare time that was available. The show will run from January 18th until mid-April.

The wood is cherry and should darken significantly once it sees some more sunshine due to the oil based finish. The carbon fiber was great fun to work with as it was my first experience working in composites and I can see I'll definitely be doing more with it.

Please offer you critiques as I'd like to hear your thoughts about my design.

Thanks!
NWB

[Jeff Monson]

Totally awesome Nick!! The design is just too unique. I'd love to hear more about the carbon fiber, how its shaped and how difficult it is to work with??

Very nice bench though, it definately deserves to be in an exhibit.

[Nelson Howe]

Very cool looking bench. I like the coopering of the bench, and the contrast of the high-tech material with the cherry. It looks comfy, too.


Nelson

[Gordon Eyre]

Definitely high tech and your craftsmanship is superb. Nice blending of materials.

[Matt Meiser]

That is definitely cool!

[Todd Burch]

Looks great! Never seen anything like it!

I know it will look good in an exhibit... but... how does it sit?? Front edge looks kinda steep for a shorter person. I'm guessing it's fairly solid sitting too - probably zero flex.

Todd

[jim sauterer]

absolutely beautiful.great talent.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Thanks guys!
It was a really fun one to build, it challenged me and allowed me to grow in many ways.

The coopering was my idea to explore the versatility of the material. it turned out pretty well. They are glued with spline keys in each joint (16 joints with 10 keys in each joint).

The carbon fiber has always captivated me as it has an industrial look and the shapes it can create seem to be limitless. Prior to this I had no experience working with composites so there was a definite learning curve for me with the process and the general 'rules' of the medium. I used a vacuum bagging technique for the carbon which allowed me to produce 3 exact copies. These supports actually have a nearly triangular cross section before it hits the seat the core of this was created with two layers of 3/8" "wacky-wood" or bending plywood.

The shape of the legs and uprights was a derivation from numerous hand sketches inspired while on a plane this past spring. Somehow, when I glanced down, across the aisle at the aircraft aluminum seat leg I saw a leg made of cherry that I NEEDED to include in an upcoming piece.

Thanks again!
keep the questions coming,
NWB

[NICK BARBOZA]

Todd,
It sits pretty well. It's comfortable for me, pretty average build 5' 10" 180lbs. but then again it was pretty much built to my butt....

Picture of me should help give a better idea of proportion too.

There is a little flex in it but i believe much of that comes from the bent laminated legs/feet.

[Paul Murphy]

Very original and attractive design! I love the cherry/carbon mix, they compliment each other quite well. Thanks for sharing :).

[Todd Burch]

Todd,
It sits pretty well. It's comfortable for me, pretty average build 5' 10" 180lbs. but then again it was pretty much built to my butt....

Picture of me should help give a better idea of proportion too.

There is a little flex in it but i believe much of that comes from the bent laminated legs/feet.

OK, thanks for posting that picture - it's larger than I has visualized.

I hope you get first place!

Todd

[Jim Tobias]

Beautiful design and execution! It appears to not only be a visual winner, but a comfortable piece also.
Will be interested to hear any additional info about the carbon fiber.

Jim

[Harold Burrell]

WOW!...That's all I can say...:eek:

[Mark Valsi]

Wow, is all I can say too !

[Brian Kent]

A+++++++++

[Prashun Patel]

Nice bench. Sketchy human model, though ;)

Nick, can you share how you clamped up the cooper?

This is really inspiring work. Thanks.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Nice bench. Sketchy human model, though ;)

Nick, can you share how you clamped up the cooper?

This is really inspiring work. Thanks.

That's an understatement about the model....

The clamping process basically consisted of 6 pieces of cable with crosby clamps on one end and a fixture on the other end that used eye hooks as turnbuckles to pull the slack out of the cables. the glue up of the seat was done in 4 phases(3 separate glueups of 4-5 staves each; then one final assembling the first three sections plus the last few staves.... if that makes sense...). Installing all of the spline keys certainly slowed down the glue up but I feel they were crucial to the strength of the bench.

Next time I'd change up the order in which I glued up the staves as it was quite stressful alone. I would likely do more glue ups and start on one end and head straight through to the other consecutively. I would also attach the first stave to the fixture to assist in support as this seat is quite heavy.

Thanks again!
NWB
247657

[Craig Behnke]

when you are going to show the bench to someone, you should say "Hi, I'm Nick. I'm from the future..." guaranteed you'll sell a ton of them. You can thank me later.

On a serious note. I'm astonished. Amazing and beautiful work. have to admit, it's the first time i've been wowed by a bench.

[NICK BARBOZA]

when you are going to show the bench to someone, you should say "Hi, I'm Nick. I'm from the future..." guaranteed you'll sell a ton of them. You can thank me later.

On a serious note. I'm astonished. Amazing and beautiful work. have to admit, it's the first time i've been wowed by a bench.


Craig,
I like that logic. I'll give it a whirl and put your commission check in the mail!
Thanks for the kind words.
N

[Ed Gibbons]

Beautiful...excellent craftsmanship!

[Dave Verstraete]

Wow! Really inspiring Nick. Thanks for sharing

[Carl Babel]

WOW!!! I love the combination of cherry and carbon fiber. The design is elegant and beautiful. The carbon fiber braces flaring into triangles on the back make me think of organic branches supporting the bench from the back.

Since you asked for critiques, I will say that in my opinion black screw heads would look better than the silver ones do.

Awesome work, thank you for sharing it with us.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Everybody,
Thanks for all of your kind words. It's a design that had been milling around in my head for some time. It was very exciting to see it come into reality!

We dropped it off at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship this weekend, and with any luck it won't come home - meaning that The Farnsworth Museum purchased it!

Here she is delivered:
251486

Thanks again!
Nick

[Todd Burch]

Congrats!

Farnsworth? As in "Heaven can Wait" Farnsworth? ;)

[Jim Becker]

Simply...outstanding!

[Jay Jolliffe]

Nice job Nick. I saw it at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship gallery.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Thanks Jay!
It's in good company at the Messler Gallery at CFC. Honored to be there.

It's still for sale ;)...
Thanks,
NWB

[George Gyulatyan]

That's totally cool! Nice design. Especially like the legs. I love mixed media projects.

[Bill Wyko]

Superb job and excellent design. I too do a lot of Carbon fiber work. Just finished a truck with 2 consoles, 4 doors & a bed kit, all in CF. Sure itches if you get the dust o n you.

[Brian Chandley]

Good lord - I can't see any way to improve on the design or execution. I don't like bold but this is bold without crossing that line to contemporary. Congrats. My only question would be "Is it comfortable?".

[Michelle Rich]

WOW, I don't get to the forum very often, and see what I might have missed? Glad I popped in. Super bench. great & inspiring work

[Allen Jordan]

That is quite the bench design, excellent work. The wedged through mortise and tenons in the seat look great.

[brian noel]

Nice work.

[Dewayne Baker]

That is some serious woodworking right there! I am struggling to wrap my mind around some of the techniques used here.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Thanks Dewayne! It is probably my most 'out there' project. I had to think waaaaay outside the box when I came up with the design. But once I broke the project down into small, individual tasks, it wasn't as overwhelming as thinking about all the work as a whole.
Its been showing in the Harbor Square Gallery in Rockland, Maine for a couple years now. Hopefully someday it will find a new home.
Cheers,
NWB