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Thread: Belated promised project post for Alan Turner

  1. #1

    Belated promised project post for Alan Turner

    Back a few months ago I promised Alan turner I'd post some pix of a Queen Anne breakfast table I made for Sue almost 2 years ago as a Christmas present. She had been trying to describe a table she wanted for in front of one of the large windows in the living room and was having trouble getting through to me. Finally I went and got Albert Sack's book, The New Fine Points of Furniture- Early American, and let her peruse the pictures. She leafed through it looking at all the table pictures and finally stopped on page 271 and said, "that one". I asked her about styles and variations and assorted possible changes and she just responded, "No, that one". I gulped and thought to myself- hmmm, an angled picture, only 3 dimensions for the picture, and no joinery guidance-this should be fun.

    The series of photos in this post and the next one show the table under construction and then finished. It's a New England style table made from mahogany with white pine as the secondary wood. After I had drawn and made my templates for the cabriole legs I took the drawings and templates to a period furniture group meeting for critique. It was pointed out to me that as drawn and at the dimensions from the book we wouldn't be able to get our knees under the aprons- folks were shorter then. I ended up having to redrawn and retemplate everything to scale up the proportions slightly for modern sized folks.

    When I started construction I decided to do things the Neanderthal way and except for bandsawing out the cabriole legs, most of the work was done with hand tools. I decided to use the traditional coloring method for the mahogany- dyeing with lye and neutralizing with white vinegar in water. The topcoat finish is about a dozen coats of garnet shellac padded on and rubbed out with steel wool and paste wax.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    That's a very kewel reconfigurable design, Dave. And consider that Sue did you a favor on insisting on "that one"...projects that challenge us make us learn and become more skilled. Every project should ideally have something that makes us "stretch"...

    Beautiful table.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Conway, Arkansas
    Posts
    13,181
    Outstanding Dave!!!!! Very good attention to detail, great hand work and the LOYL should be real proud of her new table. I really like it overall.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
    Dennis -
    Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
    ....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.

  4. #4
    Dave
    Wow!
    Beautiful !
    Daniel
    "Howdy" from Southwestern PA

  5. #5
    Dave, outstanding job on this one. Your attention to detail and your desire to do this in the "Neanderthal way" is to be commended and admired. Thanks for showing it off for all of us to see.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    1,429

    It's even better in person

    Having just visited with Dave a week ago, I can only say that pictures do not do this table justice. This is just an exquisite piece, and knowing it was made " Neander style" is even more impressive. Dave, please consider doing a pictorial lesson the next time you do such a project, as Neander lessons are hard to come by.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Philadelphia, Pa
    Posts
    2,266
    Dave,
    Great table. Thanks for the pix, etc. I assume it has a rule joint top? Getting that just right with a molding plane would be difficult.
    What is the height of the aprons? 4"? Overall height 29"? Just curious.
    In terms of neander, did you use a manual lathe on the feet?
    Alan

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