Maple hall table

[Jeff Monson]

Just finished this hall table for my wife. I chose the floating top design and also a few elements from a table I saw in the design forum. The primary wood is figured maple, the arches are mahogany and the arch inserts and inlay are ebony. The finish was very simple, blo and precat laquer. I had chosen em6000 for this project (1st time with water borne laquer) but, ups delivered it frozen, thus the product was ruined. So I opted for some precat I had leftover in the shop.

There are a couple things I would have done different, I wish I had used maple on the top supports instead of mohogany. I also wish I could have bookmatched the top as I wanted a solid top, but my local supplier only had 4/4 in figured maple, so I did the best I could with the grain matching.

As usual my photography leaves alot to be desired, so critique away, my projects can only improve with input from fellow woodworkers.

[Jeff Monson]

2 more pics.

[Joe Leigh]

Just a beautiful job Jeff...I don't think you need to worry about book matching when it comes to curly maple, especially pieces as beautiful as those.

[Jeff Considine]

Nice design, very well executed. I especially like the mahogany arch under the apron, and the detail that connects the mahogany to apron in the center. From the pics it looks like the mahogany has a different sweep (radius?) than the apron?

Wood grain is terrific too.

I have a floating top bench design on the drawing boards and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to steal your design for the little detail in the center of the aprons.

Thanks for posting the pics.

[alex grams]

Very nice work. I like the double arches with the accent.

How did you cut the inlay on the top? That is a design feature I have been tempted to try.

[Victor Robinson]

This is lovely. I hope to start on a similar design in walnut soon.

[Marshall Border]

Jeff it sure is pretty , I don't think you could have picked a prettier wood ...................................Marshall

[Andy Pedler]

Just a beautiful job Jeff...I don't think you need to worry about book matching when it comes to curly maple, especially pieces as beautiful as those.

I agree. Sometimes bookmatching looks great, but a lot of times I find it distracting. There's just something artificial about it. I like the natural look of multiple different boards.

Beautiful table!

Andy - Newark, CA

[John Thompson]

Jeff.. extremely well done from top to bottom. I also love the accent between the stretcher and arch along with that nifty design on the top. I agree with others about a book-matched top. Book-match is great in many circumstances and especially with cathederal grain.. but I totally agree with Joe that book-matching on maple is over-kill as maple due to the natural grain of maple.

My first thought on using maple for the under supports was I would too.. but the mahogany is starting to grow on me. I still think the maple would have been good but.. at this point I have shifted from definite to maybe not each time I look. How's that for in-decisive?

Again... just and excellent job stem to stern.. top to bottom.

[David Gendron]

Realy beautiful table and great details but still not flashy! Great work, realy like it!

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful table Jeff!

BTW, you can put up to 5 pictures in a single post.

[gary Zimmel]

Beautiful job on the table Jeff.
I like what you did with the top of the legs.
The top the way it is is first class to me.
Great job again. And thanks for the look see...

[John Keeton]

High fashion!! Great job on the table, and beautiful wood. Bookmatching curly maple is near impossible as the chatoyance will reverse on you, causing some glaring problems. You did fine with what you have done.

Very nice work!!

[Jeff Monson]

Very nice work. I like the double arches with the accent.

How did you cut the inlay on the top? That is a design feature I have been tempted to try.

Alex, I cut the inlay grooves with an inlay cutter that I bought from Lie Nielsen, this cutter works very well on cross grain. Its a really simple process that yields a nice touch on projects. I would highly recemmond the straight cutter and the radius cutter for any curves.

[Chris Tsutsui]

That looks like a contemporary work of art. What works for me is the curly maple top and the chamfered table top edge that reveals the grain. What you've made is a sculpture that functions as a table.