another oval walnut pedestal table

while we're on the subject and we only have a couple more outs to go in the world series, here are some photos of the other walnut pedestal table that trevor's working on.  final sanding and staining start tomorrow ...
update 11/10

good to go .. it's headed to the islands via miami .. wouldn't mind delivering it myself ...

loyal readers might recognize the larger version below from a blog post back in 2010.

that one was quite a bit larger at 60 x 86, but the concept and the execution is pretty much the same.

make the base and top and top of the base ..

determine the height of the pedestal parts and make the patterns.  use the scale model to determine if the patterns are correct.  note that to make the miters meet, we had to add a small straight section to the curve as the top is a different proportionat 40 x 60 .. 2/3, rather than 3/4

trevor made the scale model base parts from 13/16ths poplar and painted them and once they were fitted up, enlarged the design on the cnc and made the full size patterns ...

we're going with the dark finish ..

 TWO OUTS IN THE 9TH!  looking good for the sox ... table's looking good too, ready for final sanding and the first coats of stain tomorrow.

seats six good friends .. paper is 11 x 17 .. saw blades are 10"

2 and 2 with two outs.  i think the red sox are gonna win it ... and they just did ... i think i'll go jump up and down a  bit ..

The Trestle Table

We delivered the trestle table the weekend before Christmas ... It fit right in and replaced a table we had built in 2001 or so .. Their previous table was narrower and shorter and has been moved to their new guest house ...
The chairs are by Nakashima Studios and lower than my typical chairs .... The new table is 28" high instead of our typical 29.5" ...

Original post below ...
11/18/2010 ......... We're working on a new trestle table design ,,,, The trestle is one of my favorite forms .. it can be light and airy or substantial and weighty ... In the end, the base of this one has a kind of 'bridgy' feeling ... it seems to be on eof my influences lately ... I like the tapered verticals and it was fun figuring out how to make them efficiently and accurately. If it looks a little low, it is. The clients Nakashima dining chairs are only 16.5" to the top of the seat .. We dropped the table about 1.25".... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
We glued up the top from three beautiful 16-18" wide 8/4 planks from Irion Lumber ... Spectacular grain below ... Can't wait to see them finished...
They'll have one of our 'aged cherry' finishes when we're through ...
After lucking into an 18 " wide 16/4 plank, (again from Irion's) we next had to figure out how to make the tapered solid verticals. The jig above consists of a carrier with half the total taper for the first shim and them twice the total taper for the multiple passes. We had to add the sacrificial ply rails to allow the planer to 'pull' the wood through and engage the tapered cuts smoothly ... We tapered the ends after we tapered the 18" wide thickness.
One in, one out of the jig right before the last pass.
We made a full size drawing below and added the plinths and 'skids' above ... In the photo above there is also a mini stretcher that we made to check the final angle cuts on that ... We hit it pretty much right on using the angle from the cad drawing ,,,
The finished verticals and the full size layout ...
Will got it all together Friday and we put the top on to check it out ... We have literally no room in the shop to set it down on the floor right now with the 16' 'big island' in the works .... Maybe later this week ... We can't deliver it until Christmas so there's no real rush ... More later as we progress ...
We have done extensive work for these clients including the small room library featured in my 'Libraries We Have Built' post (5th and 6th photos down). Here Jim is checking out a ship model case we built about 8 or 9 years ago ... It's a fantastic model with extraordinary detail ... the story is my client's father was a specialist in arthritis and 'cured' the model maker enough that he made this model in appreciation ... It is spectacular ...

Update on the Recycled Chestnut Table

11/30/09 ... We recently went back to visit this table and do some remedial work on a new light fixture that hangs over it now ... Lookin good if I do say so myself ....

home stretch ... delivery Friday ....

hand applying the varnish finish

Update on the new custom dining table coming up here. This post is getting to be a long one, but tomorrow we're ready to start the finishing ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

Will glued up the base yesterday. First, he put the first coat of water stain on so he could sand the legs on the lathe before gluing them up. The runners went on today and it was kind of interesting. Because of the 30" inside dimension of the aprons we couldn't use our normal 2.5" high extension runners so we ordered some extra section, short, 2" high ones from Moin Hardware. These folks are very knowedgeable and when I described my problem, she suggested I use a set with extra length which is kind of counterintuitive I admit, but she explained that the sections would not then be fully extended and thus more rigid, and, with the extra sections, we could add a center leg if we needed it to one of the non moving sections.

There are no aprons becuase we wanted to be able to push the arm chairs under so we have added thin stiffeners to prevent warping.

Jeremy is putting all the screws in the runners before....

Trevor does the 'dancing (or meditating) on the table' test...impressively, negligible, very slight sag .... it should hold the turkey OK ...

As is usual with recycled wood, we had a crack or two to stablize with butterfly keys

glued up the panels yesterday ... 1/23

Scraped and cut them to shape today (funky late afternoon color above)

Pins and leaf cuts Monday

The legs and the lumber .... 1/22 ... The two on the left are hand turned and sanded and the two on the right are as they come off the Vega duplicator if both the cutter and the operator are nice and sharp.

Will, cleaning up the turnings by hand

1/15 New custom dining table coming up here. We finalized the designs early last week and the wood arrived today from my friends at Appalachian Woods "a premier provider of reclaimed antique lumber" in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, and, I might add, especially speedy on this order ... I have been getting recycled chestnut from them off and on for several years now and this latest load did not disappoint ... We just got it today and haven't milled any of it yet, but it appears bright and clean with just the 'right' amount of worminess. It's stacked in the finish room to acclimate for a while until we finish the projects were working on ... won't be long though before we get started on it ...

The table is a 64" diameter expanding round with leaves and it's loosely based on a rectangular expanding farm style table we made for another client a few years ago ....

Plan view closed

Plan view with leaves

The chestnut including turning stock for the legs ... The inspection dog is checking the lumber for edibles...

Inspiration table ... Half of a 23'6" table we made for another client ... This table 36" wide, hooks onto this table, also " 36 " wide

A Round Expanding Table

4/7/08 ... We finished this one up a few weeks ago but it's not leaving for a minute and I just got around to taking the pictures and adjusting the photo images. Great project. As usual, more complicated and more pieces than I thought, but a still a great project, nonetheless ..... Click to view ... Story below ...



The finished table in the closed position


With the four 18" leaves

Underview showing the concealed leg and the runners ...

2/22/08 We started the design work for this project back around Thanksgiving and we're now well on the way to wrappng it up. It will sit in the formal parlor of a fine, vintage 1840's, Philadelphia townhouse. The photos are posted from conceptual work through the present in reverse order with the most recent at the top. Double click the photos for better viewing. The table is built using figured mahogany and will have black painted details and ebony and burl inlays. It will be a 39" round in the closed position and will open to 112" to seat 10-12 comfortably.

3/15/08
We were about to apply the final coats of finish to the table top when I realized I HAD FORGOTTEN THE ABALONE TRIANGLE INLAYS !! It was kind of nerve wracking inlaying them into the nearly finished top, but they came out fine and are definitely a nice, eye catching addition to the overall design ...

INlaying the triangles process....

Outline

Rough rout with 1/16th" bit

photos above show the marking, routing and hand fitting inlay process

3/9/08 ... Close up of the top with the completed edge inlay, ready for final stain on the mahogany.

In this picture, the pieces have been firstcoated with stain and the inlays have been masked off in preparation for the final color on the mahogany. You can see the finish sample of the final color in the foreground and the black apron details nested within the leaves. the other black column details and moldings are in thefar background. All of a sudden it dawns on me that there are A LOT of pieces in this table.

Inlaying the edge detail.

Showing the length of each piece of edge inlay.

2/27/08 We're now working on the burl center inlay for the main table and for the leaves. The small half circles we can glue to the table with clamps , but the leaves will go in a vacuum bag press so the the larger area (11 x 18) can be clamped with more consistent pressure.

Fitting up the pie shaped pieces of the center inlay.

Clamping the fitted inlay to the table.

Fitting up the inlay for the leaves 2/27

The table as it is today 2/22 with a photoshopped on apron and painted molding detail

My son Will, rough bending the inlay pieces for the circlular ebony inlays with a shop made 'hot pipe'. He could, with just the hot pipe and careful control of the heat, bend the kiln dried ebony, or most any other thin wood, into a radius slightly larger than the pipe itself. We learned this technique from the guitar makers catalog, how to books, and a little experimenting. The .35" burl line is cut, not bent.

A close up of the inlay process. This is actually the third step, as each layer is glued in, one piece at a time, using the nails to temporarily force the pieces into place until the glue dries. The blocks for the edge inlay are in the backgroound.

End view of the whole table with the triple outer inlay border (ebony/burl/ebony) set.

The table in the open position, without its center leg

The split pedestal with its center leg and shop fabricated column locking mechanism

Gluing up the tapered column

Checking the column piece cutting jig with an mdf mockup

Sketches of possible inlay designs...First table, top left is the one we're building.

The parlor with the proposed table photoshopped in

The parlor patiently awaiting its table