Latest project, Greene and Greene hall table

[mlzettl]

Here's a few photos of my latest project, a hall table in a classic Greene and Greene style. This piece is part of a small collection that I am doing for a show in February. Each piece will be G & G inspired. This is the most classic piece, with the hallmark elements typical of their furniture.


Primary wood is makore, and the plugs and splines are ebony. Pegged mortise and tenons were used throughout. The breadboard ends are attached with a tongue/tenon, screwed in with 3" screws with allowance for the outside screws to move or flex with seasonal expansion and contraction of the top. The finish is multiple coats of shellac, buffed out with a fine abrasive pad, then waxed with Renaissance Paste Wax.

OK, enough fooling around, on to the next piece!

Matt

[erasmussen]

That is truly a show piece, very nice

[woodArtz]

Very nice work Matt! Beautiful workmanship. I can't wait to see the whole set.

[redhawknc1]

Beautiful piece of work! Make sure you keep posting pics!

[Alan in Little Washington]

Beautiful!!!

With dovetail pins that narrow, I assume they are hand cut and not scribed machine cut. Excellent!

Are the strips on the sides of the breadboard ends just decorative or they a decorative exposed part of a floating tenon?

[Tarhead]

Love me some cloud lifts! The Makore turned out well. Will it maintain its reddish hue or turn more brown?

[TracyP]

WOW! Really nice!

[nelsone]

Pretty table! You do nice work!

[Ken Massingale]

A beautiful piece, Matt.

[DaveO]

Awesome job on the cloud-lift drawer pulls, and the proud BB splines. I love G&G styled pieces. There is so much craftsmanship to them.
How come you didn't do the proud box joint drawer joints?? They are actually easier than DTs and really keep with the style.

Keep it up, that's some great work


Dave

[mlzettl]

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words.

Alan, the splines are functional in a way. They are about 1/2" deep into the top, and help somewhat in keeping the breadboard end aligned with the main body of the top. They are glued to the main body, but not to the end, to allow movement to occur. I would have to say that they are primarily decorative, however.

The dovetails are hand cut. I like the look of the very narrow pins, and to fellow woodworkers it is apparent that this can't be done with a router and dovetail jig. There's something very satisfying to me about doing dovetails by hand. Once you get the hang of it, and settle on a technique that works for you, they're really not all that difficult or time consuming to do.

Matt

[sapwood]

Wow! That is classy, Matt
Sure look forward to the next piece!

Roger

[skeeter]

Matt, that's some really nice work. Be sure to post more of the collection.

[mlzettl]

Dave,

That's a good question about the drawers. I think that one can overdo the G & G features by trying to include everything in one piece. If you look carefully at their work, all of their signature features are not included in every piece. In this table, I wanted something that wasn't so busy looking, so I didn't use the proud box joints. It's certainly a good question, though, and I wouldn't argue with someone who wanted to include them.

I would respectfully disagree that they are easier to do than the dovetails. There is a lot of detailed hand work involved to make those look right, and I guess I'm just more adept at the dovetails.

Thanks for your comments.

Matt

[JohnW]

Thanks Matt, It is inspiring to see such good design and detail done on a G&G piece. I'm not a fan of Makore but your piece is the best I've ever seen.

Also, I really like your entry-way rug and stained windows.