An Icon of Beautiful Design with Lots of Challenges
This little table is an exercise is restrained design and how less is truly more when it comes to creating a beautiful and timeless piece of furniture. In six video parts (over 3 hours of content) we cover several challenges to test your hand tool skills.
- Creating a plan from a photograph
- Turning the graceful column
- Sliding Dovetails on a column
- Shaping the legs
The Videos
Part 1: The Design
Creating our templates and deriving dimensions from a photograph, an essential skill for building furniture.
Part 2: Turning the Column
I turn the graceful column from a solid block of Walnut using the treadle, flywheel lathe I built in Semester 5
Part 3: Sliding Dovetails
Sliding dovetails can be tough to fit just right, but adding them to a column ups the ante. I walk you through 2 methods.
Part 4: Shaping the Legs
It's more than just sawing out the pretty curve, but shaping a delicate round over which we accomplish with a custom made scratch stock.
Part 5: The Round Top
I resaw and create a bookmatched top which is then cut round and sculpted with a gentle thumbnail profile.
Part 6: Finishing
I apply a 3 part oil and wax finish to highlight the beautiful Walnut and give it that close to the wood look so common in the Shaker style of furniture.
As usual, we do it all by hand
No electrons were harmed during the building of this table
All my projects include a parts list to help you plan your lumber purchase. Because a large part of this project is designing from a photo, no SketchUp model or templates are included. But as usual I'm always here to help you if that step is holding you back.
This is more than just buying a set of plans to build a project. You get to watch me build the table practically in real time and pick up lots of techniques and best practices that apply to hand tool usage in general. But you will find all the information you need to build this exact table plus access to our active member community where you can talk to others who are building or have built this table. Finally you will have access to the tool library on the site where you can learn about the tools we use to build beautiful stuff by hand.
