The design language from the Perimeter coffee table prototype has found its way into a new product: the Brink end table. TIG-welded, hand-blackened steel sits flush with rift-sawn white oak for a table that is aggressively angular and strikingly minimal. I worked hard to make something straightforward to produce and simple to assemble (the wood is attached to the frame with only three bolts). The simplicity requires a lot of [...]

A few weeks ago, I posted some CAD drawings of an end-table prototype, based on the Perimeter coffee table. But I hesitated to start constructing the first physical copy. The design felt a little too… basic. Too symmetrical. Too TIDY. So I grabbed my sketchbook and brainstormed some more imaginative iterations. After a few pages of designs ranging from the wild to the wildly impractical, I settled on a two-legged, [...]

The Megaton Lamp is the piece that started Stockpile Designs, and the one that gets the most attention in my home and in my workshop. I start with a 100-lb MK-15 practice bomb from the Korean War, and remove its tail fins on my metal shop’s horizontal bandsaw. Though these bombs are completely empty and inert, I’ve noticed that my shop-mates tend to work a bit further away for this [...]

When I posted the “Perimeter” coffee table prototype, I hinted at future projects incorporating some of the same design elements. In particular, I wanted to develop more products with the same style of leg: steel frames flush with the tabletop, attached with hidden hardware to create a minimalistic, floating appearance. I used Rhino (a CAD program) to render the first, and I’m planning on having this prototype ready within the [...]

The prototype of my new coffee table, the Perimeter, is finally complete! About a month ago I posted some details of the design process, but afterwards I got sidetracked by a very big, very exciting, and (for now) completely top-secret project. As thrilling as it’s been to work on that project, I was itching to get this new design out the door. The table’s name comes from its unique, reverse-fastened [...]

In a post titled “If You See Something…”, I wrote about the hilarious security ordeal I went through to deliver a table via Amtrak. Now my friend and former instructor Yoav Liberman (who’s been overdue for a shout-out here) blogged about it for American Woodworker! Yoav is not only a master woodworker, but an inventor with several patents for his innovative tools. See his work (which draws inspiration from, among [...]

In the process of expanding the Stockpile product line, I make a lot of prototypes. Some are rickety failures initially unsuccessful, partially due to the difficulty of designing around pre-existing components. (And, perhaps, some overly-ambitious design elements on my part.) But every now and then, one comes together so well it feels like I’ve made it before. Every bolt falls in the right place, every angle comes out at 90°. Maybe [...]

A few months ago, I tried to board a train with a bomb. Or that’s what some people at Penn Station thought. I was heading to Baltimore via Amtrak to deliver the last Silo table. After careful packing and a miserable, rush-hour car trip to Manhattan, the baggage counter informed me Amtrak would not check furniture. No matter how safely it was packed. I was ready to panic. My customer [...]

Even if you’ve never bought one, you’ve probably heard some talk about energy-efficient bulbs. Fans point out that they use way less electricity than traditional (incandescent) bulbs, last longer, and can save money and help the environment. But a lot of people don’t like them – they say the bulbs are expensive to buy, look weird, and give off an ugly “cold” light. That can be true, but if you [...]

The gold-plated bomblets are finally here! My plater, Epner Technology, did a beautiful job – a thick layer of 24k gold, punctuated by a hand-applied black nickel stripe. Originally we’d planned to do a matte black stripe, using a technique derived for optical components. This turned out to be too difficult to accomplish on this scale, but in my opinion the black nickel looks even better. I might even use [...]