Shaker Table Completed!

Well, the Shaker table is now complete and ready for sale! As I mentioned in my previous post, I used 3 coats of a Tung Oil finish followed by thinned coats, about 1-2 lb cuts of shellac; I used about 3 coats on the main part of the table and 5 coats on the top. The shellac was rubbed out with 0000 steel wool and paste wax. I think the oil does a nice job of revealing the stripes in the tiger maple. I know a lot of people like to use a dye to do that, but I think oil works great, it's simple and more natural. As this is cherry, the piece will get darker over time and with exposure to sun. So, here it is!

From Shaker Table

From Shaker Table

From Shaker Table

Let me know what you think!

Be Safe!

Shaker Table - Home Stretch!

Well, I am in the home stretch of this project. The last thing I needed to do was build the drawer and put the drawer runners in. The drawer is made of maple with a Tiger Maple front. I really like the way the tiger maple compliments the cherry, especially as it darkens. So, here are a couple shots of the drawer, through dovetails in the back, and half blind dovetails in the front.

From Shaker Table

From Shaker Table

Here is a shot of the tiger maple drawer front. You can see the figure in the grain and this will be drawn out with the oil and shellac finish I am putting on it.

From Shaker Table

Well, that is all for now; next time I have pictures it should be all complete. The finish for this is really simple; I am using three coats of tung oil finish and then 3-5 coats of shellac and polished out.

Be Safe!

Shaker Table - Part 2

Wow! It has been a LONG time since my last update. I guess Christmas and New Years got in the way there somewhere. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year break as I did.

Ok, so back to this table. Last time I left off I had milled the four leg blanks to size and was getting ready to mill the leg rails. Once I milled up the leg rails, I needed to lay out for the mortise and tenon joins. I probably do things a little different, but that's just the way I am; I cut my mortises before I do my tenons. I guess the reason I do it this way is because I have a mortising machine and the chisels are a defined dimension and I can cut the tenons to match this. Also, because the side and back rails are 5" wide, I will be using a haunched tenon in order to add strength to the joint. If I used just one big mortise and tenon, the legs would be very weak because of all the material that would be removed. So, after I laid out how I wanted the mortises to be, I drilled them out with the mortiser and cut the tenons to match.

From Shaker Table

After that, I was able to do a dry fit on the table.

From Shaker Table

If you notice, I have not cut the tapers on the legs yet; this is done after the mortises are cut so the legs are always flat will doing the mortises. It also serves as a bit of a reference when you do go to cut the tapers because you know to always taper the mortised side. Here, the legs were tapered on the bandsaw and cleaned up with hand planes.

From Shaker Table

Now the table frame is ready to be glued up. While that is being done, I can get the drawer runners cut and glued in; nothing special about these, just some pieces that will be glued to the sides and allow the drawer to set on and provide support from the bottom.

Next, it's time to turn my attention to the drawer itself, but that is for later.

Be Safe!