A commission for a radiator cover/table, designed and built to suit an early-1900's Arts & Crafts lodge. Lots of measuring, and measuring again - the radiator the piece was meant to cover was roughly 11' long, and the table needed to fit into a space with only an inch or so of wiggle room on either side. Bonus - the table was destined for a house roughly 1,500 miles north of the shop, meaning it needed to be built (and shipped!) without any sort of test-fitting.
The reason for the slate-tile top was two-fold: I was worried about seasonal wood movement affecting (or even possibly destroying) the top - the table was going to be situated on top of a radiator, in a house in the north, with no AC, meaning humidity levels would swing wildly from summer to winter and back again. Second, the hope was that the slate would serve as a heat sink, absorbing and then slowly releasing heat even after the furnace had been turned off. It worked ok! I
love being able to incorporate different materials into a project. And while I don't think I would ever put "sawing giant slate slabs into tiles" at the top of my list of fun things to do on a Friday night, I think the end result was worth it.
