Tiger Maple Trestle Table for My House, Finally

When we first moved into our house, we used a small - four person- kitchen table that I made.  About 8 years ago we had Thanksgiving at our house so I put together a larger table made out of saw horses and three rough pine planks that were left over siding for the house.  We are still using that table. Not for long though as I am finally making us a table.  The top is made up of three (I had to keep something from the old table) wide tiger maple planks.  It will have breadboard ends and a milk painted trestle base.  Since time is always an issue, the base will be a simplified version of my usual Trestle Table base.  It will look the same except the cross beam will be joined like a bolted bed rail instead of using a keyed through tenon.  Also, the joints in the trestles themselves will be bolted mortice and tenon joints instead of 3" long through wedged tenons.  This simplified design may be something that I will offer to those who are trying to keep price down where possible.   There are not many times where there is an opportunity to save $ when making quality furniture.  I will let you all know how this base works out.

Below, the three tiger maple planks sit together, surface planed but not edge jointed.

 The glue-up below.

The table had a few very pretty sap pockets that I filled with clear epoxy so that they will be smooth.  I like these character marks.  They give the table some landscape.  

 This table is for me, so I do not have to worry about little things that I would otherwise worry about.  There were two damaged spots on one board so I inlayed shapes of cherry to add a bit more landscape to the surface.   When you sit at the same table for three meals a day you really get to know it.  A tiger maple table with these character elements will be nice to sit at I think.  I know our kids will enjoy finding them.

The video below shows the breadboard end being test fitted to the table.

More on this table at a later date as it progresses.
Have a good one,
Tim

Furniture Show in Woodstock, Vermont

By the time Hurricane Irene hit Vermont, it was considered to be a tropical storm but it dropped so much rain that it had a huge impact on parts of our state.  On my way to Woodstock by way of Route 4, I passed these signs of the destruction.  These pics were taken today. 9/25/11

upended building near Bridgewater Corners

smashed house a further down the road

a wooden deck steel bridge that was torn right off of the banks

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Just down the road,  this last shot is my booth the the two day Woodstock Fine Furnishings Show.  I sold a couple of chairs which makes for a successful show and may have chair set orders coming from this.  It was a smaller crowd than last year but they were people who were very interested.  Time to get back to work now.

We were very lucky to have not had any damage from the storm.  I am glad that I was finally able to see what the storm actually did.  You can hear it and see it on the news but until you see it , it is hard to really understand the impact of it all.  I am amazed that more people were not killed.  The water carved such huge swaths through the valleys.  A lot of road crews etc are still hard at work trying to repair the damage.  I think the impacts will be seen for quite a while.

Have a good one,

Tim

Tiger Maple Trestle Table

      Maple wood, while usually thought of as the vanilla of furniture woods can also have variations in the grain that turn it from milk toast to down right exotic.   Here in the north east, we find hard and soft figured maple. Soft maple seems to be the most consistent when looking for great figure.  Usage varies, but in my experience, curly maple refers to figured maple and the terms tiger, birds-eye or quilted, refer to specific patterns of figure.  The wood for this table is soft tiger maple.  The top is the white color that we usually think of being  "maple" color.  The base is also soft tiger maple but it has some spalting and brown color going though it.

Wood of this character and even figure is not easy to find.  It is generally hit or miss.  You pick through piles and you may get lucky.  The yard where I get this wood from is a small yard. The owner separates the special woods such as curly maple, cherry and others so that we don't have to pick through the piles to find them.  And he gets to charge a hefty premium for them.  The wood for this table cost me 3 times what I had expected.  The board foot price was $15./bf.    Cherry is usually around $5.- $5.50/bf.  Plain old maple is usually around $2. something/bf.

     Luckily, I do not often make this mistake when pricing a piece.   When I put this table on my website, it will list a price that is about $1000. more than what I sold this one for.   Part of that is the actual price of the wood and part of it is that it is due to the difficulty in finding enough of this type of wood that will work together for a specific project.   For this table, I pretty much cleaned out my supplier of his stash of great soft curly tiger maple.   That means that I would need to do some searching to find enough for another table such as this one.

This table has a few "scars" from its days as a tree.
Often, these are quite beautiful and can be worked with.
The two or three on this table are filled with epoxy to make them smooth.
This adds a great amount of character without sacrificing on functionality.

The preliminary design for this table came about very quickly but after living with it for a bit, I made some small changes that really made it work.  For instance, I moved the posts in toward the center a bit to create a bit of a flat on the trestle base just inboard of the beginning of the tapered foot.  Also, at the cut-out bottom, the foot begins with an angled cut from the foot to the horizontal cut-out.  This little angle created an arrow like quality to the tapered feet.  The base of the table is a double posted trestle because of its great width.  With two posts and two cross beams, this table is rock solid.

This table measures 76" by 50".  It is 10" wider than any other table that I have made in the past.  It was very challenging in a few different ways.  Glueing up a flat surface made up of several boards is not a simple task so adding to the width adds to the hair pulling.  Wood expands and contracts across the grain, so the breadboard end needs to accommodate this seasonal movement.  This is more difficult, the wider the table. last of all, the top is so large that turning it over again and again, in order to work on it, is a challenge at best. The saw horses that the table top laid on, had to be screwed to the floor so that they would not tip over when flipping the top.  As I do not have any helpers these days, this had to be done by myself.  During the finishing process, the top must be finished equally on each side or it will warp. This means that it gets flipped at least daily.   

The price of the exact table would be $4600.   It could also be made in other woods and at a narrower width for $3600.  I think it is a good design that can be adapted to different sizes.  Feel free to suggest a size that works for you. All of my tables are custom.

Have a good one,

Tim

If you have been following my blogs, you may notice that this post is more wordy than others.  This is part of my Notes series that will flesh out some of the process and thoughts that goes into a design.

Getting Caught Up

I am finally getting some of my work done that was delayed by my illness with Lyme Disease.  That set me back a few weeks.  Below are some shots of low pencil posts that I am working on and one shot of the trestle table that I am finishing.  I will post more shots of that table when I am all done next week. Enjoy the rest of the summer,

Tim

Here I am planing the facets on the eight sided tapering posts for my Low Post beds.  I am working on two right now.  I am always a bit sad when this part is done.  It is a lot of fun. 

Here, are some posts before and after planing the last four facets out of eight.  Before, planing the last facets, the lamb's tongue must be chiseled. That can be seen on the posts to the right.  

This shows a finished facet and lamb's tongue.  The roughed out lamb's tongue is  carefully shaved to shape with a very sharp chisel and then the rest of the facet is planed to blend into it.

This is a detail shot of a curly maple trestle table that I am finishing up.  The wood has fantastic figure.

Cherry Trestle Table with Leaves

I just finished this table yesterday and am now sitting and waiting for the shippers to get here to take it to California. Ok, I am working on the computer. You caught me.

Below is a shot of the table with the end leaves attached. It is 6' long without leaves and 8' long with the leaves. The challenge of this project was to make the method of attaching the slides work well, be strong, and look great.  I think I succeeded on this one.  My feeling is that, I hate to cut a table in two in order to have it extend. I like the main table to be rock solid on its own. That is why I like the idea of end leaves.

The darker strip of wood is the breadboard end that is part of the table itself.  The leaf is shaped to mate to the convex surface of the breadboard end.

The hollowed edge of the leaf is designed to mate to the convex edge of the end of the main table. 

Here, you can see the keyed saddle joint that holds the leaf firmly in place.

This shows the leaf support slides in their resting position, with the leaves off.

Here is the table without the leaves with one of my New Waltham side chairs.

You can see more about this table at my website.

Have a good one,

Tim

New Waltham Side Chairs in a New Home

Here is a set of my New Waltham side chairs around a clients modern dining table.  I think the light has washed out the red of the cherry a bit in this photo.  I do like seeing these chairs with very minimal tables. They seem to work well like this.  The warm wood is a nice contract to the glass and stone.

Below is one of these chairs as photographed in my shop. You can see that they actually have a bit more color even when new.  With time, the cherry will darken quite a bit more.

You can find more on this chair here on my website.

Have a good one.

Tim

Finishing the 5' Waltham Bench

This windsor bench is one of my favorites.  In my mind, it embodies the best characteristics of the first American windsor chairs.   Compared to other furniture of the day (mid to late 1700's) American windsors were very lean and streamlined.  My version takes it another step in the lean direction due to the Shaker influence that much of my work has.

Getting the shape right before final sanding of the seat.

Doing some of the detail painting work on the second coat of milk paint.

This shot shows the long lean lines of this bench. Also, you can see the chalkiness of the milk paint before it is oiled and varnished.

I designed my Waltham line of chairs and benches to be something that could have been made by a farmer.  All of the spindles and legs are shaved on the shaving horse rather than turned on a lathe. Fancy furniture would have intricate turnings for legs, stretchers and some spindles. Any farmer would have had the tools to make this bench.

Enjoy the dry weather,

Tim