Modern Shaker ??

[Touchwood]

Hi All,

Anyone whose been in my photo gallery knows I've been into Shaker designs for a loooong time. Most of those designs derived from Thom Moser's book "Measured shop drawings for American Furniture". I just adapted his design style and construction methods to thing I wanted to build.

I decided to try something different and sketched up something like I think Shaker would be in the 21st Century . Came up with this little display/foyer table after a lot of doodling.

I've never taken any kind of woodworking or design classes, so I probably did lots of things wrong. Found some dark curly cherry and a nice brown spalted birds-eye maple board in my stash. Used wedged through tenons on the aprons, pearwood for wedges. The cross members are walnut.

I think I'll call it "Shaker on Steroids". :gar-La;

Design suggestions gratefully accepted

Don

 

[PChristy]

Wow Don that looks great - and the top has some fantastic figuring - I like the way the top sets up on the wedges:icon_thum

 

[woodArtz]

Awesome Don! I love all love the features you put into this piece. :icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum

 

[scsmith42]

Don, your craftsmanship is superb. Thanks for sharing.

Scott

 

[Trent Mason]

Don, that is so rediculously awesome! I think you should be teaching a furniture design class. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[Glennbear]

Gorgeous table Don, I am a fan of shaker style and your disclosure that you have never taken classes gives me hope that I might turn out some decent furniture with my "self taught" skills. :wsmile:

 

[Touchwood]

Gorgeous table Don, I am a fan of shaker style and your disclosure that you have never taken classes gives me hope that I might turn out some decent furniture with my "self taught" skills. :wsmile:

Glenn,

If you like Shaker and you don't have Moser's book you should own it.

http://www.amazon.com/Measured-Shop-Drawings-American-Furniture/dp/0806967927

This is his first one so you can likely find some for cheap. He's done others since but I haven't seen them. I learned everything I needed from this one

Don

 

[FredP]

great work of art don!:icon_thum you've been busy......:gar-Bi

 

[Touchwood]

Thanks Fred..in fact thanks everyone!!

Yep, busy Fred...must have had a spurt of energy.

But you know the definition of a spurt right??...a drip under pressure!:rotflm:

 

[FredP]

Thanks Fred..in fact thanks everyone!!

Yep, busy Fred...must have had a spurt of energy.

But you know the definition of a spurt right??...a drip under pressure!:rotflm:

must be somthing in the air.... I finally got in the shop after a long time of not caring about it. I'll be postin some pics later this evening when it cools off outside and I can get good pics. I too have been playing in the walnut pile.:gar-Bi

 

[McRabbet]

Gorgeous table, Don -- it almost floats in front of one's eyes! Beautiful design, great choice of woods and impeccable execution.

 

[JCG]

Don - great figure on top; especially like the 'floating' top design.

John

 

[Shamrock]

Inspiring once again!:eusa_clap

 

[eyekode]

Very nice piece! The wedged tenons look great. On closer inspection the edges of the tenons are rounded over, I am not sure I have seen that before. I would say that the mortise was cut with a router but the ends don't look like semicircles.... Ok how did you do it!

Can anyone recommend a good tutorial or book that includes wedged tenons?

Thanks!
Salem

 

[MikeL]

Don, I always look forward to clicking on your threads and this one is especially pleasing to the eyes! I am fascinated by the designs people develop. This is a gorgeous piece of work (and art as mentioned earlier). You must have quite a "stash" to pick through to select such beautiful wood to use. I'd love to see a photo of the underside of this table with the wedge and tabletop assembly. You are a true craftsman!

Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
:star::star::star::star::star:

 

[Touchwood]

Don, I always look forward to clicking on your threads and this one is especially pleasing to the eyes! I am fascinated by the designs people develop. This is a gorgeous piece of work (and art as mentioned earlier). You must have quite a "stash" to pick through to select such beautiful wood to use. I'd love to see a photo of the underside of this table with the wedge and tabletop assembly. You are a true craftsman!

Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
:star::star::star::star::star:

Mike..I'm going to take some more pics for the calendar in the next day or so. I'll shoot you a PM with an underside shot. Nothing spectacular..in fact I'm not sure it's worthy of a calendar entry. Some others do so..:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:

I'm building two more with variations in wood and design. Fun stuff and a good break from rockers..but my true love is calling:gar-Cr

Don

 

[Touchwood]

Very nice piece! The wedged tenons look great. On closer inspection the edges of the tenons are rounded over, I am not sure I have seen that before. I would say that the mortise was cut with a router but the ends don't look like semicircles.... Ok how did you do it!

Can anyone recommend a good tutorial or book that includes wedged tenons?

Thanks!
Salem

Salem,

I sort of invented it..too lazy to square up the router cut mortises. I'm sure someone else has done it this crazy way. The mortises were cut on a home made jig that I can push around the spacings on. This time the opening for the mortises was 3/4" spaced for the width apart of the rails. I used a 5/8" bushing with a 3/8" cutter in the router. This means the slot is 1/2" wide and the corners end up with a 3/16" radius. I made the length and width of the tenons fit the slots with a horizontal router and then rounded their edges with a 3/16" round-over bit on the router table. The problem with that is you end up with 3/16" digs in the body of the slat..not good. Solution: Table saw and dado blade to VERY CAREFULLY remove the unwanted digs..which means the tenons grow 3/8" or so in length..so you need to take that into account when designing their length.

If you do wedged tenons, always drill a hole at the end of the slot that's larger than the slot width. If not you stand a good chance of splitting the whole rail when you drive in a tapered wedge.:BangHead: I don't know of a book specifically on that..just picked it up along the way.

Hope this helps. Shoot me a PM if you have more questions.

Don

 

[Touchwood]

Don, that is so rediculously awesome! I think you should be teaching a furniture design class. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

Trent,

I've actually been thinking about that....but I've been at this wonderful craft for 25 years and the more I learn, the more I realize what I don't know.:swoon:

Don

 

[Sanders Fine Woodworking]

Very nice work. You should be proud.

 

[eyekode]

Thanks for the explanation the technique is clear .