Corner tables
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30 October 2014 at 11:19 pm #120369
I picked up a lump of Sapele/Mahogany for cheeps at a favourite local haunt, Southampton Wood Recycling Project. It’s 1 1/4in thick, with a couple of housings on two edges leaving a usable area of 12×27. Spent the day wondering how best to use it (among other things), and this evening sketched out a design for a matched pair of corner tables.
I would be grateful for any constructive criticism, I hope to sell or gift the end result so it’s got to be as good as I can make it.
What would you do with the same lump of wood?
Thanks,
Matt
30 October 2014 at 11:46 pm #120370That’s the wrong question to ask what you should ask is yourself what appeals to you to make and what level of skill do you have. Make something according to your own skill level but ofcourse if your looking for a challenge then go for something higher.
Is this the only piece you have if so it’s not much to go on.
You have many choices sift through books, magazines or just follow the occasional table video. If you sell your piece you can buy another tool for that money try to do that rather than gifting it away. Let what you make help accumulate the tools you need to move on to bigger and better things. Believe me gifting stuff as noble as it is after a while tends to wear off, at the very last to a bit of both.
All the best.
31 October 2014 at 12:15 am #120371Thanks Salko. To your question is it all I have, no it’s not exactly but I don’t have much of anything in quantity or decent sizes. I was really trying to think of what would make the most of this thick, wide board, rather than how I could use what I already have.
I should have said that my intention was to use a contrasting wood for the legs and stretchers, beech or something else not too pricey, which I would buy for the purpose once I’d settled on a design. I think contrasts can look good when they’re done well, and as Mr Sellers said, “nobody likes brown furniture”.
Matthew, what Salko said is spot on. Now to the design, given the tapered legs, I think a rounded edge of the table would look better. If you want to go angular redraft the design using straight legs or tapered the last 6 inches with a shelf at 7 inches. Just try a bunch of different drawings and see which looks best to your eye.
I like brown furniture 🙂
31 October 2014 at 12:56 am #120374I didn’t know h said that but it’s true it’s out of fashion but I do like period furniture one day when I do start making them I really don’t know what colour other than what it’s always been would suit. Just maybe I’m really into it for the challenge hmm it’s something I may need to think about before diving into it.
Just how thick is it, you could make a bird clock out of it. That’s one of my products I make and looks really good. Or how about a small box and practice your dovetails. If you want to go cheaper on timber and still get quality always ask for rough sawn. You’ll have a lot of planing to do but it’s well worth it in the end.
Generally you will not see custom furniture makers buy pre planed lumber, planed lumber costs more and it’s for those machinists who don’t plane anything other than sand. But they make money we don’t. Ironic isn’t it. I think it’s mainly due because there are more of them than there is of us so they’re generally accepted by the public because they know no better because they have nothing else to compare it to I suppose. I don’t know and I really don’t care anymore it’s just get’s me too depressed when I start talking about this subject.
31 October 2014 at 1:24 pm #120378Thanks for the suggestions. I don’t think Mr Sellers said it was his personal view on brown furniture, just that that’s what “people” say. It’s in one of the new videos I think.
Dave, thanks, I’ll take your suggestions on board and have a play.
Salko, good advice as always. I also normally buy rough sawn, which is partly why this piece was such a good deal. It’s 1.25″ thick. I’ve seen some of the beautiful clocks you make but I’m not sure what you mean by a “bird clock”? The only things that come to mind are a cuckoo clock, which isn’t really the direction I want to go, or one of those naff plastic things that squawks out a different bird noise every hour.
Having just finished a few beehives (disassembled in the photo), I’m pretty fed up with dovetail practice for the moment. What I need to practice is everything else, but particularly designing things that people like. I’m also reluctant to cut the thing down too much; as I said before, thick wide boards are a rare opportunity for me.
All in all, it’s 228 tails engaging 288 pins, including a few bits not in the photo 🙂
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