Federal table build pics

[Mike Allen1010]

These are some pictures of a federal style end table I’ve built recently. Nothing special – just thought my Neander friends might enjoy some build pics.

Here’s a picture showing the slight taper of the legs narrowing towards the end and re-sawing.
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Mortises cut for the aprons. Now cutting the corresponding Tennons.
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[Mike Allen1010]

A solid fit on the show faces.
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I have always liked sliding dovetails for horizontal dividers, however as you can see, I suck at execution. This is a picture of the first attempt which looks pretty horrible. I bought an ECE dovetail plane because I thought it would help me make these joints. My experience is that given you’re removing so little stock, saw/chisel are actually better.
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Final dimensioning of the tabletop. I crosscut with a Disston # 16 – as you can see the tip is extremely narrow. Many saw buyers avoid these kind of saws – in my experience the reason the plate is so narrow is that several generations likely made a living with the saws. Personally one of my favorites – very light and maneuverable.

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Here is the collection of parts – tabletop, legs, aprons etc. prior to assembly.
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[Mike Allen1010]

The next step was to create the “cuffss” on the table legs. The table is made of cherry. The cuffs are Bocote – I thought the contrast between the lighter and darker colors might be helpful. I used a guide block with a chisel to trim the margins where the cuffs joint legs. I’m sure you could create the guide block with a miter/chop saw – for me much easier just to draw the lines and saw accordingly.
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Here is sawing the cuffs to the appropriate angle. For cuts like this I’ve really like a Japanese saw. I tried to build these based on an article in Popular Woodworking. The article indicates there is some kind of sequence that is most appropriate to glue on the cuffs – I confess I couldn’t really follow the sequence. Something about leaving a portion of the adjacent end grain, so that the miters complete – frankly too much for me.
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After the cuffs are glued up, the overlap is trimmed. Here’s a picture of the final results – frankly better than I expected.
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To get the legs to a final consisent length I used a shop built “cut off” jig that worked well.

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[Mike Allen1010]

The next step is building the drawer which is a focal point of the piece. I am a big fan of using these sliding dimension sticks from Lee Valley to get true measurements of the width of the drawer both front and back.
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If you look closely, you’ll see here that I screwed up the orientation of the triangle cabinet maker’s Mark to correctly orient the drawer fonts/slides/back. As a consequence I inadvertently marked the length of dovetails for the drawer front that should have been (half blind), at eight through dovetail length. Something I had to fix.
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I am a tails first guy – I like the bench mark on the vertical and horizontal face of the bench to square everything up.
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Next step was to tune up my cheesy bandsaw to re-see some pine for the appropriate thickness of the drawer bottoms. I struggle with this. A little tune-up of geometry provided satisfactory results.
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[Nicholas Lawrence]

Every hand made antique I have actually been able to put my hands on to try to figure out how it was made has had gaps in the dovetails. Either the gaps were there when they were made, or they have developed due to movement over the years. Somehow it hasn't prevented them from standing up to heavy use for a century or more. If it were mine I wouldn't let it bother me. Looks like it will be a great table.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Mike! This coming along very well. I find the same thing in shorter sliding dovetails, they're much easier off the saw than with the plane.

[Mike Allen1010]

Next I divided the length of the legs into thirds for the horizontal shelves. I suck at math – the sectors make this lot easier for me. Final dimensions are marked off the actual fit to the legs – here’s a couple pictures of the quarter-inch deep, square mortises in the legs that house the shelves.

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Next step is in laying the banding for the tabletop and adding veneer for the drawer front.
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I used store-bought walnut burrell veneer, which is really a lot thinner and I like. Because I was too cheap to lot by the larger pieces, I had to book match the veneers – here is a pic of jig for playing the veneer and square.
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Laying out the banding on the tabletop was a design question I really don’t enjoy.
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[Mike Allen1010]

I used a Lee Valley router plane to cut the recesses for the banding. This probably would’ve been a lot easier with the router – maybe next time.

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As you can see in this picture, when I was finished planing the tabletop – I planed right through the banding As you can see in this picture, when I was finished playing the tabletop – I played right through the banding – I hate when that happens! I had to add a repair. Turned out okay.

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Next step was cutting the recesses in the drawer front for the Holly string inlay against the walnut Burrill. The hardest part was slicing the Holly banding to be appropriate with. I think there is a dedicated tool for this available from Lee Valley or Lee Nielsen – something have to consider.
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[Mike Allen1010]

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Next up was creating the rabbits around the drawer front for a Bocote beading. Here’s a picture of the final results. Somehow this always takes way longer than I thought it would.
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[Mike Allen1010]

Finally, I need to turn a knob for the drawer front. I am a novice Turner. This turned out to be a real fiasco. Initially I tried to create a tenon on the stock that would fit in the chuck on my lathe. I really don’t know much about this – advice I got was to buy a four jawed chuck which is around $200 – I opted for a Jacobs Chuck comparable to a drill press which was much less expensive.

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As you can see, all of my turning blanks disintegrated in the Lathe – pretty scary for me. My next step was to drill holes in the turning blanks for 3/8” diameter dowels – I had Poplar dowels on hand. All of these failed. Finally, I got some 3/8” diameter Oak dowels which turned out okay. In the long run, I need to get a tenon cutter that will make this a lot easier.
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These are some replacement rosewood knobs I turned for a foot locker I built for our oldest son, with original hand shaped knobs that didn’t survive.
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[Mike Allen1010]

Here are some final pictures of the project completed. I opted for a maple pull.
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Thanks for looking.

All the best, Mike

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful table, Mike. I'm fairly new to this and appreciate the step by step pics and explanation...and even the stuff that doesn't go so well. That I can relate to! Gives me inspiration to try a few new things on my next project.
Thank you for sharing.
Phil

[Brian Holcombe]

Gorgeous! It has a wonderful fineness and quality to it.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Very nice table, Mike. I really enjoyed the step by step description, thank you.

[Joe Bailey]

Thanks for this Mike -- much appreciated.