Bench Dog Collective

Bench Dog Collective is a group of makers in Hamilton, Ontario. We make wood goods of all kinds: furniture, jewelry, custom builds, and more. We have a small wood-working studio near Gage Park, where most of the action takes place.

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A few of Amber Aasman’s latest jewelry designs! Spring 2015 collection! 

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Dan has been working with us for a few months, interviewing & filming the Bench dogs in our natural habitat. Really happy to share the final product with you today. My favourite parts are the Supercrawl action shots - a monumental weekend for us over the past year! Can't thanks Dan and Trevor enough for their work on this

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Custom bed frame made by Nate DeJong! This project was as huge undertaking, mostly because of the density of the amazing Lyptus wood that we choose for the bed. The customer wanted a warm tone like teak, so we decided to save her a few bucks with this Lyptus. It was the first time we used it, and though it's a bit unforgiving, it definitely won't be the last time. For a finish we used 7 coats of Danish oil (Tried & True from Lee Valley) and one coat of Clapham's beeswax finish. The texture and warmth that the oil showcases in the wood is stunning! 

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BenchDogHamilton

Our Etsy shop is live & loaded! Check it out! 

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We have had a very busy fall/winter/pre-Christmas season! Last weekend was our last event of the year, and we are still sleeping it off. But what a year it's been for us - we have been met with so much incredible enthusiasm from our community, great support from friends and family, and a healthy & steady amount of sales and commissioned work! So to all who have shown us some love in this crazy venture - a hearty, happy thank you!  

PS - Yes we're done our sale events for the year, but we still have stock left - let us know if you need some last minute gifts in the form of breadboard, wine racks, lamps, mirrors, kids building blocks, tablet stands, or jewelry! 

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Nathan made an absolutely stunning lamp out of sustainable sourced Lyptus wood (off-cuts) and it sold the day he finished it! After a bit of trouble-shooting with the top piece of glass (it got scratched during sanding) we poured a layer of translucent white epoxy, which softened the light and made all the scratches go far away. Our new friend & happy owner of said lamp carried it back to P.E.I. as a gift to his wife - thanks so much for your support Stephan! 

New lamp projects are just around the corner for Nate, our electrical engineering wood enthusiast! 

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What to do with this amazing leftover of #lyptus #hardwood... Bread board? End table? Any ideas, #HamOnt? #woodshopproblems #benchdogcollective #yearofthebenchdog

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Just another Monday night working at the shop! 

What we are working on this week: 

Zac is building a custom oak picture frame, Nate is working on a bed frame project and occasionally posing for pictures, and Amber is making frames for paintings (art show coming up!) and some more cottonwood/resin jewelry - day in the life of a bench dog! 

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Some of the jewelry made by Amber Aasman - made of cottonwood bark and poured resin, and all metal findings are nickel-free. Available at James North Studio in Hamilton, Ontario and soon to be online!

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Nate is working on a project, taking the hardware and tin from an old steamer trunk for a brand new cedar box. He's even keeping the old nails to use in the finished product. We'll post a photo of the finished product soon!!

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Custom men's valet: under construction

Zac is currently working on this custom piece for a friend. The base is made out of solid curly maple - excited to showcase the finished project soon! 

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#birthofthebenchdog

Benchdog Collective began in July 2013, when a few friends who wanted to make things from wood, lacked access to much-needed space. Not too much later, we stumbled upon an available, affordable (and small) space near Gage Park, in a large artists' building. The space itself impressed us with its post-industrial appeal, foot-thick flooring, and an elevator that we could joyride at will. We decided to settle in a basement unit, not because we like dark, damp corners, but so that our noisy work wouldn't interfere with the music studios on the main floor of the building. 

And so, Benchdog Collective became more than just a conversation: it became attached to a physical creative space, which truly propelled our ideas for collaborative building. Over the months, our shop has shaped up nicely. Outfitted with most of our basic tools, we are all actively working on projects of varying nature - we will post these projects here often.

We're also excited to showcase our brand-new logo, thanks to the design of Michelle Aasman! Michelle, you are a logo-designing wizard!

Looking forward to keeping the Tumblrverse updated with our projects and news, as well as the things and makers we find inspiring!