Pierced Side Table

Not very common in my career is a request for a reproduction of a previous piece, though such is the case with this pierced side table, a different version previously appearing in this blog/portfolio:  Craftsman Style Side Table. Though Craftsman inspired it includes the uncommon design element of pierced legs as well as one of my “trademarks,” namely utilizing different woods in one piece, in this case quartersawn white oak, African mahogany and black walnut. What is not obvious in the picture is the fact that the legs are not perpendicular to the top but rather splay out in both the x and y axes exactly 1°. More than one woodworker examining the piece thought that the legs were ever so slightly tapered. They are not. Nonetheless the eye immediately understands this departure from the norm, and even if the brain can't place it, the disturbance of protocol is distinct and pleasing. Another departure is the asymmetry, such as three different thicknesses in the component pieces of the legs, the two widths of shelf boards, the very pattern of the tabletop. It's unlikely you would find anything like this in the Stickley catalog as symmetry is de rigueur in commercial furniture. I find a little asymmetry rather refreshing, the piece holding the eye a blink longer.

Cheese Paddles

In Flagstaff our woodstove had an endless appetite for table saw cutoffs, but in Tucson these are reduced to 28" lengths, becoming cheese paddles.  They have not, however, been tested for actual paddle ball.

Floating Headboard

Hungarian Shelves Slot Height Revisited

Two recent sets of Hungarian Shelves ran thick and thin, i.e. in one case I made the slot height taller than my recommendation Slot Height for Hungarian Shelves and in the second case (the set above) shorter.  At first I thought the tighter the fit of the shelf in its slot, the better, but I have changed that thinking for several reasons.  First, wedges that taper to a knife edge are more likely to break upon insertion or removal.  Second, they offer too little wood for compression when driven into the slot.  Third, the thinner wedges lack rigidity and tend to fall away from the bottom of the shelf.  My revision is to make the slot height always a little more than 1/16" rather than less.  I found that even a 1/8" space works but that tends to be a little too much.

The uprights are African mahogany stained to match the accelerated darkened cherry, accomplished by some careful time in the sun.  As always the natural face of cherry is so lovely.  She requires no makeup.

Commercial furniture makers still think that cherry should look black.

Yet More Hungarian Shelves

Finally realized upon installing this set of shelves that knocking in the wedges with an oversized block that extends beyond the front edge of the shelf not only allows placement of the wedge perfectly square to the shelf but also prevents marring of the bottom of the shelf with the hammer.

Side Table -- Through-Leg Detail

Craftsman Style Side Table

 

 See companion piece: Craftsman Style Coffee Table

See replica piece: Pierced Side Table 

The Table (Seats Eight)

See the underside too.  Note:  superthin light box is removed.  Lighting under the stained glass powered either by a small battery box or auxiliary transformer.

Small Shelf Unit

Mahogany Vanity with Talavera Sink

Craftsman Style Coffee Table

Coffee Table -- Drawer Detail

Coffee Table -- End Detail