Side Table Design

[OPJ]

Hi guys,

At college, I've almost finished an arm chair made from English ash with an English walnut seat. Here's a photo from several weeks ago, with most of the components dry-fitted (no finish), without the arms:

You should be able to see there's a lot of curved work involved and, where a lot of the heartwood was split in the 26in wide (!!! :shock 2in boards that I bought, I've had to use some of the lighter wood (not sap! :wink and have tried to make a running theme/feature of it.

Although it's not clear in this next photo, the stretcher rails are the same; the two outer rails are lighter than the middle one, which was cut from heartwood. These have since been fixed together with wedged through tenons and all components have been given a coat of oil, ready for assembly (well, I still need to carve the seat!).

I ended up buying two of those monster ash boards; each about 10ft long. As you can imagine, I have "some" wood left over!! :wink: I'm planning to make a kind of side table to go with it; made in a similar style to this chair.

Here's my initial concept, knocked up very quickly in SketchUp:

I decided that several narrow slats looks better than a few wider ones. It's looking quite Arts & Crafts, at the moment.

I think the basic design and proportions aren't too bad though, I'm sure a little refinement wouldn't hurt in a few areas. I'm also playing around with ideas for the top, which I feel should be more interesting than a "boring" slab of ash. I don't have much walnut left and I came up with this idea, which echoes the design of the stretcher rails:

Now I have the right bandsaw, I could easily slice up my leftover walnut and make it as a veneered MDF panel! That would also eliminate and movement issues (I think I just have enough to do it like this). :wink:

The only refinement I've made so far to the design is to add another rail below the top. Perhaps it should as wider as the others or, I should reduce the radius of the curve? Actually, I think those upper rails are a bit wider than they need to be.

No doubt, I'll have to repeat the "two tone" theme all over this table. Trouble is, I don't have a lot of usable heartwood left, which may mean I have to stain some of the lighter wood to match...

What does the forum think?

I'd like to get the design sorted this month so I can build it in June, ready for July.

Thanks for looking,

Olly.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I like the last design best but I would angle the skirt boards and stretchers on the sides to match the legs. I'd also make the skirt boards on the ends slightly taller.

 

[OPJ]

Thanks, Dave. I agree about angling the rails to match the legs, even though that'll mean cutting more angled tenons!! :roll: :wink:

Do you think the walnut top will work, as in the last two images?

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I don't know. I kind of think I'd rather see one color for the top.

another thought that isn't well thought out would be to carry the idea of the slats over the top with alternating colors of wood. Align the strips of dark wood with the gaps between the slats.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Olly

I like the design in general, but I would advise that you use the two-tone look very sparingly. There was a phase of two-tone stuff about a decade ago. I made a desk and chair, thinking I had something new and exciting, then I went to Cheltenham to discover that everyone else had something new and exciting and two-tone. It's very easy to overdo it.

I've been asked to make a hall clock (all of a morning's work) to go with a suite of hall furniture I made a few years ago (chair, mirror, barometer). That is all oak with a small rosewood trapezium motif. It's much more easy on the eye. Remember, someone has to live with this.

These days I tend to think that form is the dominant attractive aspect of a piece, with figure coming a close second. Colour, especially mixed colours, come way down my personal list.

Given the amount of work involved, I'd err on the side of caution.

Just my 2p.

Cheers
Steve

 

[OPJ]

Steve, thanks also for your comments. Very much appreciated from the both of you.

Taking it all in to account, I think I'll try to concentrate the 'two-tone' theme on the top, rather than everywhere else... It sort of works on the chair but, for a smaller side table, I think it would be too much to do the same again on the slats. So, they'll probably be more uniform than the on the chair, along with the rails.

Dave, you might be on to something... I'll see what more I can come up with, using contrasting timbers on the top... :-k

 

[OPJ]

I haven't had much time to think about this at all, lately. Although, I still set on the idea of using walnut on the top, somehow...

These are my latest ideas, which I have, literally, just drawn up! :roll:

Or, with my limited supply of walnut, I may just veneer an MDF panel with book-matched leaves. Two opposing ash lippings could be curved slightly, like this:

Well, at least I am settled on the design of the frame:

I've made the rails slightly narrower reduced the radius on the top rail and also on the slats, which now blend in with the curved legs much better. I wasn't sure about them before, where they were protruding inwards slightly.

Any more thoughts on the top would be appreciated. I've got to get some walnut in somewhere, as really has to match in with the chair...

By the way, if you haven't seen my blog, I finished carving the seat yesterday and got a coat of Osmo Polyx on there too: 8)

(Yes, I will fill those knots! :wink

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I like the thinner stretchers/rails and the shallow curve on the top rails. I think you should make the top with the framed top and book matched veneer. The book matching will echo the seat on the chair, too.

 

[OPJ]

Thanks again, Dave.

I do think you're right about the top - the book-matched veneer would echo the near-book-matching of the seat (I wanted to make it from two pieces but, together, the two weren't quite wide enough! :x).

The two straight lipping should be straight-forward enough, even with the mitred ends. I think I have a method for perfectly shaping the other two and getting a perfect fit against the centre panel - it involves making a template of the curve and following that with my router; cutting through a larger sheet of MDF to give me two templates with an identical curve (one male, one female). 8)

Hope that makes sense! Cutting those mitres might still prove a little tricky - though, I may cut the curve first and then scribe them; finishing off on the disc sander... :-k

I'd better try and creating some space in the workshop to bring all this ash home then :? - not likely to have time to do much at college, now.

 

[MikeH]

Olly,
Like the seat a lot, wish I could do that, and on that tack, if you don't mind, where are you doing your course? I am looking for a course to get my skills up, and not being to far away am interested on what is on offer.

 

[OPJ]

Hi Mike,

Thanks.


This is the course I'm doing - here - at City of Bristol College (not far from the centre). It's classed as 'full-time'; two-days a week from September 'til the end of June. It's not cheap, either! :shock:

There don't seem to be many course like this around... I think there's also a college in Yeovil that offers a similar course. Otherwise, if you're only looking to hone your skills (rather than pick up a qualification), you might be better off doing a short-course with someone like David Charlesworth (even closer to home! :wink. I can't imagine it's much dearer than what might course will be, come September... :?

Carving the seat was a lot easier than it looks. Hogging the waste out was tiring (physically) but you've just got to work evenly and check to see how it 'fits', regularly.