Michael Moore in the metal shop

Metal work has always been a keen interest of mine. I greatly admire the precision of the machines and have spent many hours refurbishing old machines to bring them up to their best performance level. Metal is a very different material than wood with much smaller tolerances so working with different materials really hones my skills. I have worked with steel, aluminium, brass, copper in sheet and solid stock and also done some hand forging. Learning metal working skills has been a great hobby and I like the idea of incorporating it into my furniture pieces whenever it is suitable.

EK Dining Table with 'blued' steel bracket

Steel makes an excellent partner with wood because it allows design flexibility. The design can be very airy and graceful as the steel will provide the necessary structural integrity. We designed the boardroom table base to be made with steel for those reasons. It expands from the middle so here are two steel bases that roll on ball bearings in the bottom frames to allow the 10’0 top to extend by another 4′-0. Either one or both leaves can be added. Because I didn’t have my metal shop set up yet, I had an expert do the welding of the two base frames, which were then finished with nickel plating. Cast glass diamonds add an attractive detail.

Now that my metal working shop is well furnished with equipment and I have improved my skills, I have started adding metal elements to our furniture portfolio. The EK Dining Suite was the perfect commission because I had the idea of wrapping the tapered oak table legs with steel attached like a ’vest’. Heat treating the metal achieves a wonderful ‘blue’ colour and it is very complementary to the dining room setting . A steel under frame supports the 8′-0 long top and creates the illusion of it floating. Exposed bolts add a visual detail to the skirt while the steel on oak legs have a hidden connection to keep a clean line to the design. Another project where I used steel in a decorative way was this Arbutus kitchen table.

Michael 'bluing' steel

Arbutus table with Steel accents

Table base with cast glass inlays

Steel with cast glass inlays