custard
Established Member
I showed a photo on another thread of this table, which I make fairly frequently,
It's a copy of a piece made in the Harvard Shaker Settlement, it was probably originally intended as a sewing table. There's a measured drawing in John G Shea's book "Making Authentic Shaker Furniture"
I had a few questions about it, rather than disrupt the other thread I'll try and answer them here.
Many Shaker pieces are a curious and charming combination of elegance and crudeness, and this is no exception! The legs (which I've heard variously described as "hayrake", "stirrup", or "boot pull") lend a real lightness to the table, but the drawer arrangement really is very basic. I've made about fifteen or twenty of these, and the design has evolved over time. I now fit a little sprung wooden clip to the drawer to prevent it being pulled right out (it's deceptive as the drawer is only half the depth of the top) and I also now put a central muntin in the drawer. The one in the photo was the first prototype made from cheaper English Cherry (as is normally the case amongst custom furniture makers, this is the version that ends up in my house!), but I normally make commercial versions in highly figured Curly or Fiddleback Cherry, so imagine it constructed from boards like this,
The view from underneath gives most of the construction details,
The cross member is quite a hefty piece of timber as that's what mainly resists racking. As you can see, the top supports are secured by slotted screws on the outboard end to allow for seasonal movement. And the drawer runner really is a simple (verging on the crude) arrangement. But that's true to the original and it works well enough.
When I make one I usually batch out a second at the same time, and I aim to complete two (from beginning to end, including finishing) inside one week. The key to efficiency is this jig which I use to copy rout the legs, consequently four legs can be made (ie from rough cut boards to fully finished components) in well under a day.
Hope that answers everything, any more questions please ask.
It's a copy of a piece made in the Harvard Shaker Settlement, it was probably originally intended as a sewing table. There's a measured drawing in John G Shea's book "Making Authentic Shaker Furniture"
I had a few questions about it, rather than disrupt the other thread I'll try and answer them here.
Many Shaker pieces are a curious and charming combination of elegance and crudeness, and this is no exception! The legs (which I've heard variously described as "hayrake", "stirrup", or "boot pull") lend a real lightness to the table, but the drawer arrangement really is very basic. I've made about fifteen or twenty of these, and the design has evolved over time. I now fit a little sprung wooden clip to the drawer to prevent it being pulled right out (it's deceptive as the drawer is only half the depth of the top) and I also now put a central muntin in the drawer. The one in the photo was the first prototype made from cheaper English Cherry (as is normally the case amongst custom furniture makers, this is the version that ends up in my house!), but I normally make commercial versions in highly figured Curly or Fiddleback Cherry, so imagine it constructed from boards like this,
The view from underneath gives most of the construction details,
The cross member is quite a hefty piece of timber as that's what mainly resists racking. As you can see, the top supports are secured by slotted screws on the outboard end to allow for seasonal movement. And the drawer runner really is a simple (verging on the crude) arrangement. But that's true to the original and it works well enough.
When I make one I usually batch out a second at the same time, and I aim to complete two (from beginning to end, including finishing) inside one week. The key to efficiency is this jig which I use to copy rout the legs, consequently four legs can be made (ie from rough cut boards to fully finished components) in well under a day.
Hope that answers everything, any more questions please ask.
