Small table commission for Canada House, London, England..

[Don Kondra]

Greetings,

This small table has begun it's journey across the ocean

Top is figured Canadian Birch and the base is Walnut from Ontario.

Colors as specified by the Interior Designers.

Top is oiled and sprayed with lightly tinted lacquer, base is sprayed with a non grain raising alcohol stain and clear lacquer.





This is the table before finishing, the top has been oiled and the base is natural...



A short video of oiling the bottom of the top..




Cheers, Don

[Don Kondra]

A box makers trick for matching the grain of the rails all around the base.



Cheers, Don

[Andrew Hughes]

Cool table Don,Taking on a commission with a black finish makes you braver than me!
Not a easy thing to get right.
How does the top grab light did you get a even chatoyance.I hardly ever get lucky and one side is dark and one light.
Thanks for sharing.Andrew

[Don Kondra]

Thanks Andrew !

The black finish is actually very easy to do IF you have a spray booth

NGR is nasty stinky stuff that is pretty much the consistency of water. I used a touch up gun to apply it and doubt if I used more than 3/4's of a fill to do the whole base.

As to the chatoyance, the rough board of 4/4 figured birch I secured yielded three blanks 24" long by 11" wide.

I machined all three pieces and did a slip match with the two best pieces.

It is with a resawn bookmatch that you run into issues with the light reflecting differently on each side.

Here's a pic of the rough board and if I've done this correctly clicking on it will take you to a PB album of progress pics..



Cheers, Don

[Patrick McCarthy]

Don, an excellent tutorial! Very informative. Thank you kindly. Patrick

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful design and execution!

[Don Kondra]

Thanks for your comments Patrick and Jim !

Cheers, Don

[Dennis Hawkins]

Don
Beautiful table indeed.

Your images of the project are very professional. Are they your own photography ?
Dennis

[Don Kondra]

Thanks Dennis !

Yes, I do my own photography..

The pro I was using, whose work I was never quite satisfied with, moved away in 2007 so I decided to gear up

And discovered with the advent of digital I enjoyed that work almost as much as furniture making.

The technical aspects are a challenge and lighting can be as creative as you want them to be.

Cheers, Don

[Todd Willhoit]

Really nice work Don! And, thank you for the video tutorials. Very helpful.

[Don Kondra]

Thanks Todd !

The videos do make it a lot easier to show a process compared to writing about it...

Cheers, Don

[Phil Thien]

That is a beautiful table, I love the contrast between the base and the top, love the grain in the top, the leg flares, all of it.

What is NGR, some sort of black stain?

[Don Kondra]

Thanks Phil...

NGR = Non Grain Raising stain. When sprayed it dries really fast so overlapping or running isn't a problem..

Cheers, Don

[Bryan Wiesendahl]

Beauty!

I loved bumming around the Canada House/Trafalgar square area. Got a great picture with a red phone booth and the Canada flags. Maple leafs, sculptures, Lord Nelson...what's not to love?