Shaker style table - Yellow?

I’m sure the Shakers would approve of the design, maybe not the color.

Nice Table!

Nice looking table.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Great work!

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Al you are something else. Cherry/canary. You said you were going to try Dye, but I didn’t know you had a hearing problem.

Looks great. I’ll have to see it in person. will it around for the banquet.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I like Poplar for a few reasons 1) the price is always right. 2) not too hard on tools and 3) it takes stains well. Having said that it also is prone to blotching and the sap wood react to dyes very differently. Whenever I build out of Poplar now I use “textile” dyes it is water base so prepare for grain raising big time, but it seems to blend better. Yeah you look out of place in the fabric section with a tape measure full of saw dust and pencil over your ear but I got over that. They have a wide variety of colours and it is relatively inexpensive.

Nice table well built colour is interesting.

-- All bleeding will eventually stop.

Al Stop over by and we’ll come up with some wood for a cherry version for your wife.

My treat. No tricks.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Dusty a great table ,I think shakers started there base coats with a yellow very close to the color that you have made this table.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

It is a nice looking table. As far as the color goes, the Shakers did use yellow chrome pigment to color some of their pieces. There are several cabinets in the Hancock Village in Pittsfield Mass that have yellow panels in the doors. If you add some brown overglaze ( to mute the color a bit) you would be pretty close to the coloration found in authentic Shaker pieces.

The dye idea was all Trifern’s fault from his beautiful vessel turnings and dye finishes. I wanted to do something with black base, blue, then yellow layers, but in practice it turned out muddy and green. So, I stuck with the basic yellow. The table just wasn’t the right project to practice on. But, it hit a homer with my daughter since it is a good table and color for her decor.

My shaker books talk and show designs and furniture detail but they don’t talk about finishes used. I wasn’t into making something too authentic but I think I would like to play around with this concept on smaller projects perhaps. It was just a change from convention…

Karson, I’d like to stop by sometime and see your shop and INVENTORY. I can never organize it. My wife has also placed an order for a Cherry dining room table. She will accept poplar for the shaker table that I may do in orange aide….

-- Al H. - small shop, small projects...

The grace of simplicity and economy. I like it.

-- jack -- measure once, curse twice!

Al, I like your poplar table too – nice straightforward lines and a pleasing ratio of leg to top. I used Articidol #1843 (Light Pear) from Highland Woodworking for my poplar washstand. If memory serves, I washed it at least three times and found that succeeding washes were having little-to-no effect.

-- David