berthold schwaiger side table: finished

Macpiper,

This turned out beautifully. The different woods add a lot of visual interest to the table.

With a wiping varnish letting it sit about 10 minutes and adding more to areas that appear drying before wiping it off all the surfaces is fine. On rare occasions you may have some beading that occurs later but this is simply wiped off.

I am not sure that you can salvage the rags if the varnish hardens. But I guess if you keep them in a closed container and dampened with mineral spirits they would make suitable dust rags. But a few of these will go a long way.

A book you might want to look at that I have found to be helpful is Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner. It is available at Amazon.com for about $20.00 or you might want to see if it is available through your local library or through inter-library loan.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

Looks very nice… different woods contrast perfectly… are those mitered tenons? I’ve never seen that before… very creative!

-- Learn something everyday!

that turned out beautifully. I really like the the way the woods accent each other. Since you said that this was the first thing that you had ever finished before i would suggest you check out The Wood Whisperer's new DVD. I got it and it changed the way i look at finishing (being an inexperienced finisher also). After that i don’t have to rely on store bought finishes and the majority of my finishes are store bought but mixed with other things such as boiled linseed oil, naptha, etc. and i can make the finishes do almost exactly what i want them to do. again great job on the table and i look forward to seeing some more work.

I love this piece. It has simple lines that allow the wood and joinery to take center stage. I especially like the corner joinery that you used.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

Great looking table. I really like those corners.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX

Excellent work!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I love the exposed mitered mortise tenon joinery.

Great piece!!...thanks for posting!

-- Martin, Kansas

I love this table. The joinery is brilliant! I second the coment about Bob Flexner’s understanding wood finishing. It explains many techniques and exposes many finishing myths.

-- What do you learn from being right?

Great design and execution!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://americancraftsmanworkshop.com

Love the leg joinery – how did you do that?

-- "No Board Left Behind"

lakey – the joinery is a simple mortise and tenon that is mitered.

Looks great! The finish is really nice! The legs do look like walnut.

I third the Flexner reference and would add, Jeff Jewitt and Michael Dresdner books and videos to the reference list…

Also – is that really you in the photo?

And, it’s great to have some Bauhaus influence on the site…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Lovely work! Nice combination of wood for this great table. Your joinery adds greatly to its charm, and the finish really takes it over the top. Thanks for sharing.

dorje-yes, it is really me. that picture was taken while working on a new business pitch ready at like 3-4am…there are only so many storyboards, key frame boards and ad ideas you can throw on foam core before you get a little loopy. :)

too funny -

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA