| Project by Don | posted 80 days ago | 398 views | 2 times favorited | 23 comments | ![]() |
I started this table some five years ago when I took a furniture design class. The purpose of the class was to teach furniture making from start to finish. We had to research the design idea by viewing classic designs and adapt our design to incorporate some of the things we liked in these designs. Then we had to draw the plans, and construct and finish the table.
One of my unfortunate characteristics is that I tend towards the impatient. I want to see progress. So, between the snail pace the course forced me to progress, and the high hourly cost of instruction and shop time, I quite.
I had milled all the components of the table and took them home. That was before I had my own shop, so the box of table parts got shuffled to the back of a storage area. I knew that they were there, but the completion of the table was something I simply put off. 
Last week I came across the box and decided to finish the table. It’s my version of an Arts & Crafts inspired table with a Greene & Green influence.
The joiner is traditional Mortise and Tenon and features squared pegs on the breadboard end, and split wedged through tenons at the leg stringers. The finish has a few more coats of Wipe-On Poly before it’s finished, but being the impatient type, thought you might like to see it now.
The black accent wood is African Ebony.
So much for impatience – this table took me just over five years to complete. LOL!
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/
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23 comments so far
Bradford
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536 posts in 223 days
posted 80 days ago
Very nice. It’s never too late to finish a job pending. I’ve got several myself. A file cabinet, 3 boxes, and just about every project I’ve seen so far today. It looks good.
-- so much wood, so little time. Bradford.
Lip
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126 posts in 450 days
posted 80 days ago
Looks beautiful … is that a drawer on the front?
-- Lip's Dysfuncational Firewood Farm, South Bend, IN
Don
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2585 posts in 578 days
posted 80 days ago
I failed to mention the drawer. It’s my favorite way to make drawers; have them fit flush with the front of the apron thus continuing the grain pattern.
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/
furnitologist
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166 posts in 414 days
posted 79 days ago
Hey Don…............looks good…......pretty wood…....after 5 years did you remeber for whom the piece was for???? :) I bet if you open the drawer, there’s a little box in there.
Neil
grumpycarp
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134 posts in 146 days
posted 79 days ago
Beautiful wood and nice design. But at the risk of being ostracized yet again I would like to gently and politely point out that the wedged tenons appear to be wrong. They should be rotated 90 degrees. As they are now they will only serve to act as a wedge to split the leg apart. I would have used two in each and oriented them so that the wedging force was tangential to the leg grain or vertical in the table. This is not a knock on your work but if people keep seeing this sort of thing then people will keep doing this sort of thing and I had to say it.
Wedged tenons should have a mortise that flares slightly to the outside and tangential to the grain direction. Otherwise as the piece racks the wedge just serves as a splitting wedge and levers the member apart.
I have nothing further to offer other than my thanks to you for sharing this beautiful piece. I hope all will accept my comments in the spirit that they are offered and feel free to tell me that I’m all wet.
Don
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2585 posts in 578 days
posted 79 days ago
Yes Neil, I failed to mention the drawer. It’s my favorite way to make drawers; have them fit flush with the front of the apron thus continuing the grain pattern.
Grumpy, no offense taken, Mate, thanks for the lesson – makes sense to me.
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/
Scott Bryan
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7957 posts in 223 days
posted 79 days ago
Don,
This is a beautiful table. If there is one tenet to woodworking it is that you cannot rush good craftmanship. five years may be a little long but, in this case, the end product is definately worth the wait. I like the ebony accents. They add nice details to the table.
Thanks for the post and the story behind it as well.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
CharlieM1958
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3635 posts in 619 days
posted 79 days ago
Don, beautiful work as always. The attention to small details really sets it apart.
Of course, if it takes you five years to build a small table, I can understand why you haven’t been posting many project. <g>
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
mjlauro
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190 posts in 162 days
posted 79 days ago
This is an incredible piece. I’m sure it was well worth the wait.
odie
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492 posts in 241 days
posted 79 days ago
You didn’t need that class Don. You had it in you the whole time on your own. Beautiful work !!!
-- Odie, Confucius say, "He who laughs at one's self is BUTT of joke".
Diane
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431 posts in 524 days
posted 79 days ago
Very beautiful, I love the black accent wood, the African Ebony.
Diane
-- http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/DMarcella/
Douglas Bordner
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2286 posts in 464 days
posted 79 days ago
Beautiful work as always, Don. This table is a detail-fest. Pleased to see your posting.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
GaryK
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8243 posts in 389 days
posted 79 days ago
That’s half the time it took me to finish my harpsichord! Pretty good in my book.
Looks like you did a great job. (Finally :-) )
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
jockmike2
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3833 posts in 647 days
posted 79 days ago
Sure does’nt look like a small wooden box to me, but it is a nice piece of furniture. Good to see you Don. mike
-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com
MsDebbieP
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11011 posts in 561 days
posted 79 days ago
and you said that you don’t have patience…
Everything happens at the right moment. This was the time for the table
A beautiful piece!!
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Dorje
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1704 posts in 398 days
posted 79 days ago
Looks great Don!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
dirtclod
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92 posts in 261 days
posted 79 days ago
I’m currently selling walnut. Maybe you can buy some for your next table, which you can finish in, say, 25 years. lol Just kidding. It’s good to get something like this behind you. The grains are beautiful.
-- Wonderful new things are coming! - God
Grumpy
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4025 posts in 252 days
posted 79 days ago
Beaut job Don. Don’t worry about the 5 years, I have been building a bar for longer than that.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Greg3G
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616 posts in 486 days
posted 78 days ago
Beautiful table Don. I love the grain in your wood selection. Your choice of finish was right on the mark for this one, as always. Excellent work. (I have a project like this…there are part of a blanket chest in a couple of area in my shop…just can’t seem to find the time or engery to complete if for some reason.)
-- Greg - Charles Town, WV
DAN
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2627 posts in 384 days
posted 78 days ago
Good to see this posting.
How expensive is the walnut and is it easy to get where you live ?
-- I made a cool back scratcher !!
Dick Cain
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4387 posts in 700 days
posted 69 days ago
A beautiful piece of craftsmanship Don.
The walnut is spectacular looking.
You shouldn’t have any shrinkage problems with wood thats been waiting to be
put together for five years.
It looks to me like you have plenty of patience.
-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1
ChicoWoodnut
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416 posts in 216 days
posted 69 days ago
That’s a sweet little table. Now that I know what Greenish furniture looks like in walnut I’ll be using some of for a future project of my own.
-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net
TomK
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337 posts in 275 days
posted 68 days ago
Beautiful piece, and worth the wait.
-- North Texas