Walnut Bench - Yet another

[Prashun Patel]

This bench was deceptively tricky for me. I planed tapers on the top and side before I cut any of the joinery and notches for the legs. Sometimes it's just easier to use hand tools than machinery.

Smoothing quartersawn walnut has turned out to be challenging for me. Some of the tearout is sinister and doesn't make itself known until the finish starts to build. I find it beneficial to sand up to 600 grit, which creates fine dust that lodges in offending nooks and crannies. Its like dusting for fingerprints.

The off kilter design here reflects my current state of mind; I'm drawn to simpler, modern forms lately, but can't help myself with exposed joinery and reveals...

C&C welcome.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Prashun!

I like the tapers, very slick detailing.

If you would like some input on plane setting for this I think I can help.

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful work Prashun. The QS walnut and the delicate tapers are very attractive.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Bench top reveal @ legs is very appealing.

May I assume that the table is joined only on the center rail that extends out the end? Floats over the long rails?

Just glue at the 45* waterfall leg, or....??? spline? M+T? Other?


Kent

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks. Dominos on the miters. Top is only connected to the center stretcher. Stretcher is mortised into solid leg and half lapped onto the side rail. Glue up on such a miter is not so fun.

i also like doing edge shaping by hand. Its just easier and more flexible than using an aggresive router bit. It also feels so darn good; planing edges is so much easier to master than planing flat surfaces. its surprisingly fast, and you get such wonderful feedback as the facet grows. Treating end grain is also so much easier with a block plane than a router.

[John TenEyck]

I really, really like that design Prashun, very Tage Frid like, both the design and the choice of wood. But what's with that knob on the end? Sorry, but it looks like a clunky after thought to me.

John

[Prashun Patel]

Haha. My son said the same thing. It is the end of the stretcher. perhaps the fact that it looks like a knob is because ii got the halflap nice and tight this time ?

I see though why you both think it does not fit in. Its maybe too big. But it sure does feel nice.

To be truthful, i have been following the work of hank gilpin recently, and i just think he is the master at knuckles and knobs and trills. His stuff is so organic and flowing without being so obviously and derivatively asian.

The knob is inspired from his work, even if i missed the mark, cant blame a guy for exploring and trying. Right? Anyone? Crickets...

[Bruce Page]

I thought the 'knob' looked a little odd but you did such a nice job shaping it. It has some nice high-end tote features.

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful bench Prashun. Very nice work.

[Tom Sontag]

I think your design works really well. Gilpin is an admirable source of inspiration and having details emerge from the structure is completely logical. I'll bet a more distant photo taken from standing height would have kept the "knob' comments from showing up. Well done!

[Yonak Hawkins]

The knob is inspired from his work, even if i missed the mark, cant blame a guy for exploring and trying. Right? Anyone? Crickets...

*chirp* *chirp* .. I like the floating top and the well rounded corners. There's some beautiful walnut in that bench.

Please tell me I'm not seeing things when I see a taper on the "folded" end. I wouldn't be surprised, though, as the perspective in some of the shots makes me think of those optical illusion houses where everything is the wrong size.

Regarding the knob. I rather like the idea of extending the underpinnings to the outside. ..Kind of like its slip is showing. Hey, you could hang your hat there when you sit ! At least it's not something that may poke you in the rear end when you sit down like in some of Hank Gilpin's benches.

[glenn bradley]

Another beauty Prashun. I'm a sucker for accented joinery points and those top to leg transitions are a real eye catcher. The solid leg versus tapered pair of legs lends an interesting visual balance to the piece.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Guys.

Yonak, you're not seeing things. The solid leg is indeed tapered. That made cutting the shoulder on the stretcher a little awkward. I had to do that by hand, which is surprisingly straight forward. The more I use hand tools, I find that they are not only 'not' hard to use, they actually simplify the way you work sometimes. In the time it takes to jig up a tenoning guide to hold a router at the right angle or the piece at the right angle on a table saw, you can just scribe and cut close and tweak with a saw and shoulder plane. I find I'm much more suited to 'cut quick and tweak' than 'tune, measure twice, cut once'.

On another note, if the QS walnut for the top was hard to work, the walnut from the legs was the best wood I have EVER worked by hand. It was like butter and so richly burnt umber colored. I believe it's bkz that wood came from an air dried slab. The top pieces were KD (I believe). Even the vertical grain sections of the legs planed like butter - and I mean in either direction.

Also, I found that getting the miters tight on the 'waterfall' is a pain off the table saw. I used a shooting board for that.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Prashun, very nice. . . . . and I like the knob. Uncommon but visually interesting detail. Patrick

[Al Launier]

Prashun, that is beautiful work! I wish I had your WW talents. As for the "knob" I think it looks good. However, with my limited experience I think I would have preferred all 4 legs to be tapered (they are beautiful) instead of a solid panel, and that is solely a reflection of my poor taste in furniture.