A Simple Shaker Table - with a twist

[joseph j shields]

This a little different take on a Shaker table.... (not the design but the wood selection)

Here are the details:

• Legs are maple... ebonized with India ink (boy was that messy!)
• Aprons are maple ambrosia
• Top is a mystery... I bought the wood from Woodcraft ($4.50bf) & it was labeled "Pecan", but I doubt it. It has large open pores like mahogany but it is very heavy. Maybe someone has an idea???

I built this for a lady who wanted a donation for her charity auction. She called me before Christmas & I told her to call me after the holidays to pick it up. She never did call & I don't have her phone number. Oh well :-)

I guess I will donate it to my church auction....

Comment welcome....

Enjoy!!!

-jj shields

[Joe Shinall]

Love the table. Love the side skirts around. Only thing I would do or have done is to make a trim piece for the bottom of the sides that tie into the legs. Would have done it the same color as the legs. Hard to explain. Looks kinda empty there. Just my opinion, you definitely did better than I would have. Still would love to have that in my foyer.

[John Keeton]

JJ, that is an interesting piece!! I like the ebonized legs and the ambrosia maple aprons together - not so sure on the "pecan" top, but it all does seem to work. You did a nice job on it, and it is a shame no one followed up with you on the auction.

[Lee Schierer]

Nice job. She sure missed out for her charity....

I think the top might be hickory. I have a piece I'm finishing right now that has the identical grain pattern.

[Harry Hagan]

Lumber dealers frequently lump Pecan and Hickory together. Go figure.

[John Thompson]

Nice job Joe... the top very well could be pecan or hickory. As mentioned dealers will sometimes claim pecan which might be hickory. Pecan is a very close relative to hickory and as also mentioned the characteristics are basically the same. Trust me on that as I have a cousin who took down a 90 acre pecan grove and had around 10,000 linear feet taken to the saw-mill. He rented a building to air dry it.. then brought it to me in 2000 linear feet batches to joint and plane from there before final use. As you stated.. it's hard.. it's heavy and you need a keep cutting blades sharp to work it.

[joseph j shields]

JJ, that is an interesting piece!! I like the ebonized legs and the ambrosia maple aprons together - not so sure on the "pecan" top, but it all does seem to work. You did a nice job on it, and it is a shame no one followed up with you on the auction.

Thanks John....

The "pecan" top colors actually match pretty closely to some of the stripes in the ambrosia maple. (The photos really don't show that :-()

-jj

[Martin Shupe]

Excellent work, JJ!

Nice use of different woods and colors.

[Brad Westcott]

A very elegant style.

Nice work and use of woods.

Thanks for sharing.

[Roger Bullock]

Aprons are maple ambrosia. Is that different than soft maple. kind of looks the same to me. As for the top, same as others, I think pecan/hickory.
BTW nice job, I like the look. As for the call back, lesson well learned. May have opened a new door for you though.

[john davey]

Nice job. I like the wood combination...John

[joseph j shields]

Aprons are maple ambrosia. Is that different than soft maple. kind of looks the same to me. As for the top, same as others, I think pecan/hickory.
BTW nice job, I like the look. As for the call back, lesson well learned. May have opened a new door for you though.

I'm no expert, but I THINK ambrosia is soft maple that has the brown streaks which are caused by a beetle infestation.

I may be wrong... What do the experts say???

-jj shields

[John Thompson]

Spalting is caused by fungus and that holds true for any wood.. not just maple. The ligther species is just more prone. In the 10,000 linear feet of pecan I mentioned that I prepped... about 600 linear feet of that was spalted and had worm holes.

[joseph j shields]

Spalting is caused by fungus and that holds true for any wood.. not just maple. The ligther species is just more prone. In the 10,000 linear feet of pecan I mentioned that I prepped... about 600 linear feet of that was spalted and had worm holes.

Thanks John... I stand corrected :-)


-jj

[Van Huskey]

I like it a lot. The top is probably pecan, hickory is a possibility too, they are both in the same genus and often tough to distinguish the wood.