18th Century Campaign Table

Hi. I was asked to make a campaign table for an 18th century re-enactor and I will be finishing it soon. I made this project out of cherry and used birch plywood for the top. The plywood top was edged with cherry and I attached it with hide glue and cut nails. I turned the legs from 2 1/2 ” square stock and after much searching found this leg profile to be appropriate for a campaign style table. The legs and short aprons are attached with mortise and tenon joints. I added long aprons and attached them to the top using slotted screws with hand cut screwing pockets. To strengthen the long aprons I used a combination of glue blocks at one end and wooden corner braces at the other. To allow folding of the leg assemblies, I offset the legs and placed glue blocks at the gap between the leg and the long apron.

I found that this was a challenging project when it came to folding the legs up and yet preserving sufficient strength. I ended up using 2” long bolt latches at two points and 9/16” wooden pins at the opposite ones.
The table was a hit at the Herkimer Home Historical Site when my wife and I did demonstrations on October 4th.

I would appreciate any comments from those who have made British Campaign style tables.

God bless,
Jim

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