Tavern Table Project

[Sean Hughto]

I angled the mortises. It worked, but it's hardly an exact science when working by hand. One of those things where in theory, there should be no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is! Minor deviations in the mortise or the tenon fitting make tiny differences in angles when all is dry fit, but enough to play some havoc with your shoulders.

[Sean Hughto]

Part of the problem is that at a 7-8 degree splay, the twist introduced is very small - like a degree or two - enough to matter greatly in fit and assembly especially when the degrees accumulate, but very hard to work to a one degree spec.

[Mel Fulks]

I've never seen an old one that had tight joints, they seem to depend on the pegs to keep them together, and hold the top on.

[glenn bradley]

Here, here. This has been great. Thanks for taking the time to take us all along.

[Sean Hughto]

Geeez, Mel, and you're just telling me this now? If I'd known from the beginning that the originals weren't airtight at the seams I coulda relaxed and made an "accurate" reproduction - true to the pilgrims! ;-)

[Mel Fulks]

I'm pretty sure you knew ,Sean. I was just being diplomatic. You are too good a craftsman to build an authentic table!

[Sean Hughto]

Some progress - I've assembled the legs and stretchers - glued, pinned, and leveled. Next will be refining the stretchers a bit and making the bits to attach the top - then on to finishing.

[Tony Shea]

Very nice Sean, the double splay is certainly impressive. I went over to that Carpenter's website and skimmed through the posting about this double splay and was surprised by the effect of the splay. I'm glad I did realize this effect before I started on a project I had in mind of a splayed leg side table. For you to combat this issue in the middle of a build and get your shoulders as tight as they look is impressive Sean. I've always been a fan of your work on here and this project is proving to be another great build of yours. I would have to agree with the others in that the most noticeable characteristic of your build is how crisp everything is, especially the turnings.

Quick question though, what is the dark shadow line on top of your aprons and legs? Maybe you posted this already and I missed it but I didn't see it.

[Sean Hughto]

Quick question though, what is the dark shadow line on top of your aprons and legs? Maybe you posted this already and I missed it but I didn't see it.

Thank you, Tony. You are very kind. Pictures are funny. Sometimes they exaggerate minor problems and other times they obscure problems. I'm satisfied so far as far as avoiding big gaps, but these are not m&ts where there is nowhere you could get a needle in - I know why they painted these! As far as the line underneath, that's a pencil line. With chair legs and such, you can level and cut to length from the bottom, but with these turned feet, I needed take any adjustments from the top. So after making sure all four feet touch on a level surface, I turned the table over and after using shims to get a board level on the feet marked al the way around for planing the leg and apron tops.

[Sean Hughto]

As I get ready to refine the lip of the top and apply my finishes, I took advantage of a sunny day yesterday to try to shoot a picture at the same angle as the shot of the antique that inspired this project for me. Helps me to assess whether I got close. I like taking in-progress shots of things as photos often help me see things in a different way than in life - photos emphasize different things and sometimes reveal things or give me ideas.

[David Nelson1]

I think ya did fine job!

[Chris Fournier]

I am similar to you Sean in that almost exclusively I pursue my own designs in my shop (noting of course that there is nothing new under the sun and I am influenced by all that came before me) but twice I have made copies because the originals inspired me so much and I thought that copying them would reveal some lessons. In both cases it did. I made a series of Shaker oval boxes and a series ofShaker candlestick stand. Those projects were remarkably different from usual pursuits and I found them really refreshing, I knew that the outcome would be beautiful if I only got the work right.

Pommels are indeed a bit tricky as you point out! Especially your detail at the bottom pommel, excellent work. I've been through a few "sticks" myself. My favourite turning tool is the skew, I think it represents the highest level of attained skill when used to effect. When it bites back it bites hard.

Nice work and thanks for the thread.

[jamie shard]

Looks great!

[Daniel Rode]

Looks great, Sean. The stretchers look a bit taller on yours and have the groove detail otherwise it looks to be a pretty faithful recreation.

[Sean Hughto]

Yeah, I have been looking at lots of other antique examples, and decided to adopt the stretchers from another that were a bit beefier and had the groove. I also made mtable about an inch and half taller, and the top is a somewhat larger oval with slightly different l&w - making it a bit rounder. So much for absolutely fidelity. Even with reproductions, I guess I can't help tweaking stuff to suit myself.