a round cherry table with a leaf

all finished now ... above, without the leaf

 with the 12" leaf .. the whole story below ...

ok, this is starting to be one of our more popular round or oval table designs.  i think we have done four or five versions of it now.  below is the most recent, back in june, in curly maple.  trevor is making one in cherry now and you can see it step by step below.  

click the pictures to enlarge them ...

curly maple, no leaves, june 2014

laying out the parts with patterns made from the cad drawing above.

the parts and pieces.  trevor glues the aprons up in two halves and bevels them before attaching them to halves of the table top with screws and table clips ..

cutting the 12/4 cherry on the bandsaw .. he then miters the four pieces with a jig on the table saw and assembles them with clamps and dominoes.  i need to photograph that tomorrow if he still has it ..

here are parts from one of the previous tables.  there are cross grain dowels involved to give the lags that come up through the propeller base some purchase when the lags are tightened.  in the end, there are two dominoes on each flat face of the mitered parts.

there are also 3/4" splines added to the short grain in the top of the curved pieces to reinforce them.
we also screw the sub top of the base into those splines to reduce the risk of splitting the short grain.

here's the jig trevor uses to miter the four base pieces ...

'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' .. shop art ..

the equalized runners, (from moin hardware), for the leaf are attached to a subtop and the table halves

the parts are in the finish room now and i will post more pictures when the table is finished.

another round dining table

trevors on the home stretch on this expanding wlanut dining table.  

it's another 60" round pedestal style table with leaves for expansion.

the clients placed the order while we were working on the mid century style table below, 

and the modifications to the design of the base we came up with together.

the model was helpful too ..

low down view, with the runners hidden by the apron

we used some fine walnut from our friends at irion lumber

cad drawing

blog post here

and this one

and one like this one in april

a couple of cherry dining tables

 

we wrapped up a couple of cherry tables this week, and they couldn't be more different, probably, if they tried.  the table above, a slab of 8/4 cherry with small bevels and rounded corners, has a welded metal 'x' shaped base, no ornament, straightforward and uncomplicated.  forthright, i guess you could say.

it goes with this painted, built in banquette that we recently installed for our clients.

 

  we had originally discussed having one of our 'shaker' style metal bases, and i went so far as to paint some mdf mockups that we put with an mdf top and tried in the space.  we decided in the end that the mockup was too long, but the right width.  the shaker bases are expensive though, and the table was only 32 x 60,  so we discussed other metal base possibilities.  click the photos to enlarge them.

i had a mockup i had made for another potential client a few years back and when i sent her the picture of it, she said her friend had a table with an 'x' base, and she really liked it.  it turned out it was one sam had made for her friend last summer.  so, we were home free.  the other table was 8' long and so had a 3" square tubing base, but since this table was shorter and narrower, we went with 1.5 x 3" rectangular tubing and no center stretcher. 

to replace the rigidity function of the center stretcher, sam added 'wings' to the tops, which, when screwed to the table took away even the slightest shake.

  

  end view in the shop, before the finish ...

no legs on the corners to facilitate sliding in to the banquette.

and at the same time, will was whipping up another version of our round, 'tapered octagonal' pedestal tables.  this client , who is also local, was visiting the shop and saw this one back in january, which was slightly smaller, (42" in diameter vs 48" above) but the same in every respect.

both tables are simplified versions of the original design we made back in 2003.  that table was larger to start and had three leaves, as well as some painted details, and a more elaborate edge and center inlays, but certainly related.  'take an object; do something to it'.

 

i had hit the highlights in the previous post in january, but here are a few more in process photos anyway.  above, veneering the edges of the 'propeller' base.

the center burl inlay border installation.

another cherry table coming up soon ...as soon as we finish a curly maple trestle table that goes to the same client as this one ... more on that later ...

the next cherry table will be a 42" x 11'6" version of the one below, from 2005.