a double pedestal oval table

 this table is heading to california tomorrow.  it's been in the works for a while and we had a small glitch when it came to the final finish color .  it's a totally new color and today, will said ' we've got to get more of this stain'  ... it was hard to photograph, and how it reads is sensitive to how your monitor is set.  it's a really warm orange brown color .. click the photos to enlarge them.

close up

'earthquake handles'  .. i did mention california, didn;t i?

the client's original photoshopped image

this project started with an inquiry from a prospective client who had taken a image from my blog or website and photoshopped it himself to make it into something that better fitted the dimensions of his dining room.  basically, he stretched out the table below and added another pedestal.  brilliant, imho.

even though it was early in the corresponding stage and no money or commitments had changed hands, i was intrigued by the concept.  since we still had the drawings for the original table, and its model, it was a simple matter to create the new model. 

bird's eye view

 

there was some talk about earthquakes, (the client lives north of san francisco), and 'earthquake handles', which turn out to be something to hold onto if you have to get under the table in the event of the earthquake, the design work proceeded and eventually we struck a deal.

 

above is the cad drawing showing the origin of the curves for the base elements and the seating and plate layout.  room for 12 good friends at least.

handle and base layout

even though the table is over 50" wide and about 10.5' long, trevor managed to create a clever pair of interlocking 1/4 oval templates that allowed him to lay out the wood for the glue up below.

one of the boards was just about, but not quite, long enough and we lost about an inch in width and length creating the 'revised' oval.  not bad.  11' walnut matched sets are hard to come by, even from irion lumber.

after a rough cut with the jigsaw, trevor used the template and a top bearing flush cut bit to rout the table to final shape and add the aprons and stiffeners                                  

then, using the cnc, he cut the patterns for the base pieces.  on the original table, the pieces that ran the length of the table were longer than the ones that ran across the table.  after some study though, we decided that with two pedestals, the bases should be all the same.

bandsaw, sand, bandsaw, sand ... repeat as necessary.

then the pieces have to be mitered and dowels inserted to give the end grain of the curves some cross grain material for the lag bolts that attach the horizontals at the floor.  i missed it this table, but you can see photos of how that works in the post about the previous table, back in august 2010.  there is also a discussion there about strengthening the short grain where the top is attached also ...

fit it up ...

interesting shapes upside down too ..

sam's sample 'earthquake handle'  approved and good to go ... 9 more in the works ...

 

 reinforcing the short grain with long grain inserts to accept screws

 base only

with chairs

early on, we tried oval vs. racetrack ... oval won ...

a claro walnut slab dining table

ok ... i've lost count ... this would be claro walnut slab table number ... hmmm ... 11? 12? more? i've lost count. anyway, they are all really fun and i will have another one coming out of the finish room this week for my upcoming svac show. this one is going to be crated and shipped to england, via boston or new york. it's an easy breakdown and the base bolts together so everything can be shipped flat ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
as usual, we started with a slab from our friends at goodhope hardwoods in southeastern pennsylvania .. this one had a small issue, but we were able to work around it with a little judicious epoxy filling which you'll see a close up of later in this post.
the client is an interior designer in london, and her client wanted a different shape, low to the ground for the table base. after a little model making (we sent one to england via fed ex) we got our deposit check and ordered the slab.
the slab arrived almost immediately and it was then that we learned that the house was under construction and won't be finished until may. so, we had a nice slab around for a few months and we'll keep it around maybe one more week to show it off and then into the crate it will go and off for a cruise.
we had our new base pieces cut at a.l. melanson in rutland, and jim drilled and tapped them, polished them up and made em black and then finished them with a little clear coat.
underview of the bases bolted onto the table ... RIGID ...
we stuck a few of our ladderbacks into the picture to make it look like guests were arriving ...
that's the hole in the front left corner ... we mixed small chunks of claro walnut in with the epoxy so it almost looks like a little burl rather than a solid color fill ... we used a knife grade epoxy from eastern marble and granite supply for the main fill and a little touch up and leveling with other epoxies and sawdust mixes ...
there were 5 butterflies total .... pretty good for a big slab like this ...
in this picture, you can also kind of see the filling of the ant spot you can see in the raw slab photo. all in, all done ... we'll be adding the base to the next one this week after we make a couple of deliveries to empty things out a little ...

the three photos below are from previous blog posts that you can find by clicking the category 'claro walnut slab tables' off to the right there.

two cherry dining tables

ok, here are a couple of cherry dining tables we made last week. 42" x 120" with a 1.75" thick top and 2.25" vertical uprights. click the photos to enlarge them ... we debated between the arced stretcher above and just below ...
and the 'cloud lift' stretcher below, a greene and greene inspired detail.
our first version was a little 'heavy', so we took a little off and slimmed it down.
better, but not as good as the arcs ...this is the first version, upside down, with the heavier stretcher ... scotch taped on ...
couldn't get my 11 x 17 printer to work so we taped two 1/8th" = 1" drawings together to have a full size paper patten for the model to work from
ok, cat's out of the bag .. these are 1/8 scale models. we made them for a meeting with our clients on friday and the models were extremely helpful in arriving at the final design concept below ..
which is currently a combination (as so many designs are) of the two models above. the top one is a previous table we first made in about 1992 ... sam actually had the idea of 'suspending' the stretcher on pins between the open verticals of the trestles. his idea would require that the whole trestle be glued up as a unit which might be fussy but it can be easily done. in that case, the pins become part of the structure and the design ... there's still a little final design work to do, but the client is on board and enthusiastic, and i'm sure we'll work it all out.

more posts on models and mockups here ...