an oval mahogany table

ok .. we finished this one a couple weeks ago, 

and it is leaving for chicago next week ....

the clients have been motorcycling in the southwest for the last month or so

it's one of our 'standard' (if theres i such a thing in custom woodworking)

center pedestal ovals ... they are fun and challenging and infinitely variable

this is probably the 7th or 8th version we have done

ribbon stripe mahogany ...
i cut the two glued up panels on the cnc and used the
negative shapes to glue up the two halves ...

there was no 12/4 ribbon stripe so i had to glue up some 8/4 for the base pieces,

and some 5/4 for the veritcal elements

the process is to miter them and glue up two halves as shown below

 looks a little dangerous maybe, but it actually doesn't seem too bad

add some dominos and pocket screws ...

 clamping the halves together can be a bit tricky and there

is some fussy final fitting involved to get a good joint in there

 add some low curves to the half lapped base pieces

 oh yeah, the oval aprons add a challenge

 headed out ot its new home soon ....

a brushed oak oval table

ok, we dropped this one off in manchester, vt today .. first local one in a while. the base was on a much smaller table that the client bought at the brimfield antique show a few years back .. we had to massage it a bit and put some oil on it, but it was a very clever, 'adjustable height' concept, and

very rigid once we made some adjustments.  great concept !!!

the finish color was somewhere between the top photo, which was whiter than it actually was, and the one above, which is darker than it actually is .. i've taken so many photos that if i get close, i just call it a wrap .. you'll have to use your imagination, but we thought i looked good.

we started with some beautiful 8/4 quartered white oak from adirondack hardwoods in saranac lake, n.y.
trevor cut the 102" long oval halves on our 100" cnc by cleverly running two half oval files and moving the blank about 8 " between files.  pretty clever of him ...

then we got to use this pretty cool makita wire brushing tool that we borrowed from a friend.

then we glued up the two halves using 'the paper bag trick' where you glue short matching

blocks to the halves with a piece of brown paper bag, add a few short clamps to give a little extra holding power and the n use your bar clamps to close the joint .. once the glue sets, whack the blocks with a hammer and the bag splits and they pop right off with no damage to the table .. 

here's a close up

here trevor is doing the final sanding before the final dull rubbed poly top coat ..

he is getting really good at finishing ..

  i hope to get an onsite, decorated photo with chairs from my client soon .. 

all for now ..