Specialty table

[Jim Tobias]

Below are a few pictures of a table that I delivered today to a teacher at our school. She saw something that I made for our school auction a few months back and commissioned me to make this table for her. It was made to the exact dimensions (height, width, length) that she needed to go on a specific spot in her house. She gave me freedom in proportions and wood types. I was sort of excited because other than a few frames, etc. and boxes, I had not sold other things that I have made. And as I told her today, I still do this for the woodworkiing and creative pleasure and would never take on any order that had a "time schedule".
Anyway, as I left, she now wants me to make her a mirror and frame and possibly as small table to go wiith a chair that she has.
Please (and I really mean it) give all thoughts, design critiques that you will. I always appreciate all feedback from the SMC family.

Jim

[Don Baer]

I like it a lot. The form, and finish are perfect IMHO.

[Jim Tobias]

Follow up with a couple more pictures

[Don Baer]

Jim,
What are the materials, what is the finish. Is the lack material Ebony ?

[Marty Walsh]

Very nice piece Jim.

I'm with Don. Share some details...materials...techniques...finish...etc.

How'd you do those tips on the legs, and are they purely aesthetic?

- Marty -

[Jake Helmboldt]

Jim, I'd be curious to know what you did, if anything, to handle the knots/"defects" (and I use that term loosely because I actually think they add character and texture). Did you fill them in any way or simply finish like the rest of the piece. Very nice, simple, clean. It looks a lot like the top of a jewelry box I'm finishing up for my wife. I'm guessing cherry and maple?

Jake

[John Timberlake]

Terrific. Can't complain about anything. Love to know materials, dimensions, finish. Love the way the added the little extra piece on the inside of the legs. Great to have the customer thrilled as well.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice piece! Like John, I love that little detail on the inside of the legs, too. Wonderful!

[Hans Braul]

Don, here are my 2 cents:

I LOVE the overall look. The grain is beautifully done without being over the top. There is sometimes a tendency with us amateurs to figure that if a little of something is good, then 20x something is 20x better. I think it's tasteful and refined. If I were to make any suggestions it would be that to my eye the table seems ready to fall over because of its height in proportion to its width. I realize that the dimensions were dictated by the client, but I think it needs to be 2" wider.

Fantastic job. Like the others, I'm curious about how you finished it.

Great work

Hans Braul

[Jay Knepper]

Superb job, Jim. I'm a big fan of keeping wood "defects" in a piece, so I particularly like the maple? in the top.

More information on the construction details, materials, and finish would be most welcome.

[Corey Hallagan]

Well Jim, all I can say is I can see why she asked for more of you! Excellent jog Jim!

Corey

[Mike Null]

Well, you ain't gonna win the Kodak award but the table is not only beautiful, it's well designed with great use of materials. I would think you'll be getting a lot of work.

[glenn bradley]

I'm going with a big Ooooo, Ahhhh, Ohhhh on that one. Very very nice indeed. The grain on the top really jumps out.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks for all the comments. I really enjoyed making this table. The center panel on the top is a mappa burl veneer. It was a beautiful flitch of veneer. It required a little filling of a few voids , but not so much as to detract from the wavy figure. Finsih was Watco natural oil, and a thinned mix of satin and semi gloss wipe on poly. She wanted it to be a little wear resistant.
The remainder of the table top frame , legs, aprons are african mahogany with ebony inlay on top and ebony feet (with heels). As usual, some of my best design aspects are by accident (not sure what that says about my original design). The ebony feet on the bottom of the legs were part of the onginal design. The ebony heels (inside strips of ebony on feet) were a fix for a mistake. When I originally attached the ebony feet with dowels, I offset the dowels enough to satisfy the taper that I intended to to cut on the legs (without exposing the dowels). A couple of weeks later (yes, I am often very slow on a project), I was looking at the project and decided to cut more of a taper than originally intended. Yep, you guessed it, I cut into the doweled area and exposed the dowel to the surface. So, after looking it over for a day or so and trying to come up with a "fix". I came up with the idea that resulted in what you see. I routed out a rectangle recess into the leg where the dowel was exposed, then cleaned it up wiht a chisel. Then came the slow task of cutting little pieces of ebony until I could sneak up on a really tight fit. After that, I used a hand tools to shape the inside corner of the legs so as to taper the new ebony piece into the ebony foot and african mahogany leg. I finally got it to look as though it was meant to be and finished the table.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. As I said earlier, I usually get "out of the box" a little more when I have to fix/repair something that I have messed up. Fortunately, this one turned out OK.

Mike Null - You are absolutely correct. I haven't spent enough time learning
how to use the camera. I can't find enough time to get in the shop , maybe one day (when I retire) I'll spend a little more time on the camera.

Hans Braul - Hans, I agree with you that if I was making it for my taste, I would want it wider, but it absolutely fit the space that she wanted it in perfectly. It was along an entry way into her house and any wider would have been too wide.


Jim

[John Schreiber]

Isn't that funny about how some of the best ideas come out of mistakes. I think the "heels" really give it something special. They make it look like the legs want to run.