I’m a South African living in Britain watching your American show – interesting how the world works huh? I’d like to enter a Viewer Project: my “ORIGINS” table. I really want to share this project with woodworkers because it has proven that I have to, like you say, think out of the box. Our schooling and everyday life causes the thought process to become rather closed and problem-oriented, rather than free-flowing and conceptual. It is like nothing I have tried before. Even after three months of making I still wonder how it all came to be.

It began about a year ago with an idea I had for a cabinet. My wife was pregnant and the whole process of birth become a fascination. The idea of male/female, yin-yang, parent and child etc, which I hope is evident in the design grew into the idea of using not only opposing woods, but opposing shapes, textures, types of board/timber. And then the cabinet wanted to become a table that supported a “child” if you will – the bowl in the middle.

Now what I have to keep reminding myself here is that I was trying my UTMOST best to NOT think about how I was going to make it. I’m sure us woodies are all cursed with this, but it has become so important (like with David Marks’ and furnitology’s) to concentrate on design and the “mindset” of the piece first, then problem-solve the issue of “how?” I made 2 HUGE mistakes and almost gave up but decided to go on. I was already on a tight budget for it (the veneers for the top alone cost something like $150!!) but I decided that once you pop, you can’t stop.

I found myself using tools I never had before: a round-bottomed spokeshave to finesse the curves, soil and dirt to tarnish the copper, sawdust and cyanoacrylate glue as wood-filler, a round-bottomed surform to finish the base. I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like, but it was make-it-up-as-you-go-along all the time and that was such a refreshing (though often frustrating) change. I strongly believe now that it’s not what you know, but rather what you want to learn that counts, and as long as woodworking is respective of the beauty that lies in wood, it will always be good :) It’s the ultimate material and unlike other things, it grows on trees!

Here are some construction details: “Female” consists of 27 layers of 19mm birch plywood – each piece individually routed round and then glued and pressed together. The final shape was eventually achieved after much use of a surform, belt sander, chisels and LOADS of 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around a 1.5 inch dowel.

Male consists of two halves. Each is two layers of 5mm bendyply veneered with walnut using contact adhesive (I was worried this would throw the shape out but the 2 layers of bendyply seemed to work well :) Making this was the most difficult part as the two halves had to be joined in a straight line, down a shape that curves in two directions and not only in the middle but where it joins the female too !! It took days of trial and error with a block plane to get that edge down the middle ! It’s still not perfect but hey we all have our limits :) I first made the structure then veneered one side at a time. The compound mitre on the base of the male proved to be challenging too since it does not lie flat on one surface but on an edge.

The cherry piece joining the two was made from a single length for continuity and just cut into smaller angled pieces to achieve the curve. The “foot” that joins the base of the male was done by hand with some chisels and a belt sander. The bowl also came to be using bendyply. Veneers are Maple, Walnut and I think Burr elm.

Once I got the male and female to join nicely with the cherry, and the bowl all fitted, I started on the top. I routed a 3foot diameter piece of 19mm ply and edged it with a 4mm cherry strip. I achieved this using strap-clamps and very straight-grained quarter sawn cherry to avoid it splitting/snapping (Yikes!). Initially it was to be more of a yin-yang shape on top but the waterdrop shape of the bowl called for a more refined curve. I first laid the burr walnut veneer, then the burr cluster maple (quite pink isn’t it?) then I routed the groove for the cherry inlay.

The cherry inlay isn’t conventionally liad. Rather than a thin slice of veneer it consists of about 10 layers of cherry veneer laid on edge within the groove! That proved to be a rather testing time :) After some hand-planing with a SHARP edge, it was flush to the veneer surfaces. I recessed the glass supports into the top and made the template for the glass by tracing on a piece of paper with a pencil (similar to the copper method). I sent it off to the glass-makers and they did a swell job. The glass lid is lifted out using the inch hole.

Now the copper came by accident due to the fact that I had to cover ugly screws sticking out of the female where I had screwed the ply pieces together. I tried to remove them neatly but it turned ugly after a while :) So I decided – as a friend once told me – rather make a display of your mistakes than try to hide them. I think I have realized now how helpful that can be. So I drilled the three 65mm holes 3mm deep around the screws, got hold of some 3mm copper plate and after making a rough paper template I ground them out and shaped them using a belt-sander on edge with 40 grit paper. I then tarnished them by leaving them outside on the lawn for a few nights and beat and scraped them in any way possible to create the aged look. I glued them in with PU glue and sanded them with 600 grit.

The finish: After much debate and much research (including the help of The Wood Whisperer) I finally came to a conclusion. Danish Oil is one of the easiest finishes you could ever apply (I hope Marc agrees here) I have done lots of spraying and used varnishes and oils of all shapes and sizes, but since I had been laid off at work, I had no access to the spray-shop and thus needed a really easy no fuss finish. And I must say – it does take a good 4 coats over 4 days to do the job but it is ever so easy to wipe on. A rub down with steel wool between coats and then some good-old-fashioned beeswax (2 coats) and some elbow-grease to bring out a bit of a shine and I am really very pleased with the finish. I did want to use a polyurethane spray but I think it actually worked out better this way since I can rest assured it is easily re-finished or restored.

Lastly I must say that it really has been an amazing learning experience and I would not have been able to do it without the advice and general positivity of online shows like TWW – so thanks Marc and friends!

Here is the latest project that I finished. It is a coffee table for a corner sectional couch. The table was the result of watching David Marks’ video on curvilinear methods. The design for the table came about one Saturday morning while making coffee. We had been wanting a coffee table for our new couch, and all round, square, or rectangle tables just didn’t fit. The cone filter sparked an idea for the shape of the table, so I walked over to the couch and held the filter out in front of me. Bingo, I had a shape!

I own a copy of David Marks’ DVD on curvilinear design, and I had done some bent-wood lamination development on other projects. So I knew that I would use that technique on the outer rim of the top. The top rim is made from 17 strips of Alder wrapped around a plywood form. Used bicycle inner tubes to clamp each layer as I glued up the rm. The rest of the top is book matched quilted maple veneer in a radial pattern. I used the two ply method for gluing up the veneer so that I could center he radial pattern. The legs, made from Alder, were glued up in one step using a cable jig.

I stained the Alder a Cherry color, and then added two layers of a top coat. It was at this stage that I attached the outer rim to the veneer top. I didn’t want to take a chance of getting stain on the maple veneer. Finished with two more layers of a top coat oil. All together the table took about 150 hours.

The inspiration for this project came from two sources; my wife who loves Asian style furniture, artifacts and art, and a picture of a similar but taller plant stand done by Yeung Chan whom I met at a woodworking show. I had no plans, so, a la David Marks I built about 5 or 6 prototypes out of MDF until I got the proportions right. Believe it or not the hardest part was cutting the moulding around the top on my router table. I probably violated every safety rule in the book! The afzelia wanted to bow so the legs are all laminations of the solid wood. The top is plywood with radial veneer out of the afzelia which I said I cut under the tutelage of David. The legs are joined to the top with Domino loose tenons. The bottom stretchers are a tri lap which I had to teach myself how to do by reading Chan’s book over and over and then execute from poplar with my dado blade over and over until I got it right. They are joined to the legs with Dominoes also. Needless to say, I made a lot of jigs to get the Domino mortises in exactly the right places in the top and legs. The finish is good old Deft from a bunch of spray cans after sanding to 320 grit. I neglected to mention that the moulding miters are held tight by mini splines at the bottom.

This is my most ambitious furniture project to date and one I am verrry happy to be finished with. Needless to say, my wife is happy also. She wanted two new end tables to replace the nice, but 30 year old ones we had in our living room. I began working on design ideas over a year ago passing ideas by the “customer” and after getting approval of preliminary design concepts, began some serious layout and prototyping. I constructed a full-scale prototype of the base with a piece of plywood for the top, for the purpose of determining suitable scale, proportions and some style ideas, like the coves on the aprons. The basic lines of the frame are very close to a couple of hall tables I built for my wife and for my daughter-in-law. Jane wanted it to be dark but not too reddish, and I wanted to see nice grain pattern so I chose walnut.

But rapid completion was not to be. Other high priority projects took precedent and extended the completion to the point of ridiculousness. And working intermittently kinda hurts my head trying to get back into it. Ever have that feeling? Then there are the cold winters in Virginia that make it tough to work in the garage. A few shop/tool improvements over the last 6 months of ‘08 helped make things go much better. Specifically, I bought a used Grizzly 6″ jointer, a new Steel City table saw, a new Triton router with above table height adjustments, built a router table and fence, and a band saw fence.

Pictures 1 through 3 are different perspectives of one of the tables showing the tapered legs, and the coves. Everything but the shelf platforms are solid walnut. The shelf was an “oh, yeah, we need a shelf” idea which wasn’t part of the original design plan. Since I had already built the bases, the shelves turned out to be quite a challenge to come up with a way to mount them. The shelf fits in a dado in the shelf support aprons. I mounted the aprons, both for the tops and for the shelves, with pocket screws.

My wife found the baskets at Michael’s on sale for $10 each. I made a simple walnut plywood lid with finger holes that sit snugly in the top of the basket to hide the junk. The final touch, shown in picture 4, is the ebony inlay. I thought it would add a lot to the top but had never done anything like it before. With much trepidation, but bolstered by Marc’s advice on more than one occasion, it actually worked out pretty decent.

The finish was as follows:

* Wiped on TransTint Dark Walnut in distilled water, applied twice, then very lightly knocked down the grain with 400 grit.
* Wiped on SealCoat (dewaxed shellac) to seal the water-based dye.
* Brushed on 3 coats of General Finishes Water-Based Polyacrylic Semi-Gloss.
* Sprayed on 2 coats GF WB Poly Satin.

The WB Poly was something else I had never tried before but once again Marc’s advice got me going. I owe a big thanks to Marc for his advice, and my wife for her patience and design ideas.

I built this table with my friend Matt and my father-in-law George. We built it in George’s basement. He has all the tools, which was nice. We went over there every weekend for about two months to complete it. It is made from solid cherry and is held together with dowels. The finish is Danish oil and General Finishes Arm-R-Seal satin polyurethane. This was my first actual project so let me know what you think. Right now I am trying to start the tool collection so that I can start working on something else. I have plans on making a woodworking bench by hand as well as the cutting board from your videos. Thanks.

This coffee table/bench is the first project that I did on my own. I had just finished making a boat load of outdoor benches for a local bar. My girlfriend saw the benches and said she wanted one. The benches have certain similarities to George Nelson’s famous platform bench, for which she is a self proclaimed fan. Her birthday was coming up and I decided that I would attempt building her a “honey-do.” I’m typically broke or very tight on money so scrap wood became the available stock option (walnut, oak, beech, poplar). Like I said before I had just finished work on a series of outdoor benches that became my model for the design. The benches used the same kind of system where thiner spacers were placed between parallel pretreated lumber to create a consistent gap. Those benches were all drilled out between the spacers and slats to receive long pieces of all-thread. This was tensioned with lock washers and bolts to hold everything tight and allow for adjustments as conditions change.

I used the same concept for my project, accept I needed to do something different than all-thread. I ultimately decided that I would try glue and brad nails to attach all of the top’s pieces. Since I was using scrap wood, I started by reviewing all pieces available and this determined what could be possible for the actual dimensions. I had various pieces of hardwood that were no wider than just over two inches and no thicker than 3/4 inch. Most of the pieces were no more than 4 feet in length. I had a few wider planks of poplar available and was also offered my take of several oak leg glue ups that had been gifted to the shop.

So with a relatively thought out game plan I began to rip, dimension, and cut out all of my pieces. I then made a simple t-shaped jig with plywood to effectively align and attach all of the thiner walnut spacers to the longer slats. Next step was to spread Tightbond 3 onto the spacer, align with jig, and attach with a couple of 3/4 inch brad nails. After every slat had their two spacers attached I set up two flat boards clamped down in a 90 degree L-shape on a flat workbench. This became my guide to keep everything as straight and true as possible during the gluing/shooting of all of the slat/spacer sub-assemblies. I had to use longer 1 3/4 inch brad nails for this part. I should have thought ahead and clamped the last slat/spacer to the assembly in order to avoid nail holes, but I guess it was a good lesson in the least.

For the base I used the wider poplar planks available for the skirt. And since I was fortunate to be offered the oak glue ups for legs, all I had to do was dimension it to be square. We don’t have a functioning jointer in the shop so it was done with the planer. The glue-ups seemed to have true edges already and in any case the legs came out perfectly square from the planer. I then marked where my mortises would be using a combination square. I was assisted by my shop mentor in setting up a dedicated mortising machine for the depth and fence setting. The mortising machine at the shop is old and a giant metal beast . It has a foot pedal to drive the bit into the wood. Its really cool actually. The mortises were cleaned up with a chisel. I then made my tenons on the table saw. Used some scrap to get the blade height established, then using the miter just nipped away until my tenon was formed. Again the chisel was used to clean everything up. Clamps and glue brought the base assembly together. After the top was dry I noticed that everything wasn’t perfectly flat. The entire top was run through the planer on both sides to get everything nice and flat. All the pieces were sanded and the final assembly step was to attach the top to the base. For this I decided on pocket screws. I didn’t have much time for this entire project and the simplicity and strength of the pocket screws seemed to be the best option. The skirt lengths got 4 pocket screws each and the sides 2 each. It is surprisingly solid and sturdy.

The finish was a mix of linseed oil, turpentine, and mineral spirits protected with Renaissance paste wax. I had time to apply two coats of the oil mix. The second coat was applied with steel wool. I put two coats of paste wax using a powered orbital buffer. I don’t know if the buffer was necessary but it sure was fun. If I made this again I would probably try to finish the inside of the slats prior to assembly. I spent a lot of time using various flossing styles to get oil to those inside areas. It was really difficult and the piece suffered from insufficient coverage in those areas. Its difficult to see, but its personally annoying since I know about it.

Its a fairly simple piece but it was a valuable learning project and it actually turned out better than I expected. My girlfriend likes it…or at least she’s kind enough to pretend. In the photos of the piece you might notice a little black cat with some diabolical looking eyes. This is Sonya and I guess she thought I was making a kitty pin-up calendar when I got the camera out because she started making some fierce poses.

Hi Marc here is some pictures of my holiday projects. I’ve made 2 long couch tables this year they are made out of sepal (African Mahogany) and a solid hard maple top. The top is supported by 2 stretchers that have sliding dovetails into the aprons. The base is all mortise and tenon construction except for the long bottom stretcher which is dovetailed. I had the idea a couple of years ago when I made the end tables in the last picture. Thanks for all your help and inspiration.

I am sending you some photos of one of my latest projects for the project of the week. It is inspired by your End Table project but with a twist. First a little background. The wood working club I belong to. The Ottawa Woodworking Association (OWA) last year had our first 2X4 competition. The basic idea is to take one standard construction grade pine 2X4X8’ long and let your imagination go wild to see what you can make with it. There can be no other wood added to the project. It is challenging and lots of fun. This year one of our local wood suppliers wanted to be involved so The Wood Source donated one 1”X12”X6’ long clear pine board to those who wanted to participate. When all projects are done they will then be given to The Wood Source where they will be displayed in there shop and auctioned off. The money is then given to a charity. Again there can be no other wood added. Once I received my pine board, it was then time to start thinking. I am new to your pod cast and have been going through your past episodes. As I was watching the End Table series I thought this would be great for the 1X12 competition.

I decided originally to do a four legged table but after cutting out all the legs and leaving enough wood for the top I changed the design and decided to make it three legged for no other reason than something different. So I now have an extra leg,for what? I don’t know. As I don’t have a band saw all the curves for the legs, stretchers and the table top had to be cut out using my scroll saw (photo # 3 & 4). Once all legs and stretchers where cut out the sliding dove tales made, glued up and attached to the hub, again using sliding dove tales I then used chisels and sanding to further shape and refine the legs and hub (photo #5 & 6). Once everything was sanded down to 220 girt I then did the finishing. I am very happy with the end result (photo #7 & 8). When it was all done and I stood back looking at it and trying to think of what I would name it. I came up with “Guitar Pick table” as the top reminds me of a guitar pick.

A few challenges came up. The first is using pine. Being a soft wood and only having it be one inch thick and not having enough wood to make the legs thicker they are a bit on the fragile side, yes I knocked one on the floor while sanding it and had to glue it back together. Also I had to be extremely careful when doing the sliding dove tales, again for the same reason of the pine being soft and not very thick. The other challenge with pine is getting a good solid colour. Most of the work I do I don’t stain the wood. I like to let the natural beauty of the wood speak for itself. In this case I decided to use Varathane Light Cherry Stain. Unfortunately, as a pre stain I used Shellac, but did not realise it was not dewaxed, so off it all came and on went Minwax Pre Stain Wood Conditioner I had in the shop. Then several coats of the cherry stain. As a top coat I put on three to four coats of Varathane Clear Finish.

This kind of project is a good design exercise with the limitations of quantity and type of wood that can be used. I am very happy with the way it turned out and even though I knew all along that I would not be able to keep it, it will be hard to let it go. Some changes I will make when I do one for our house is, using different woods and making the legs stretchers and hub a little thicker.

Keep up the great web site and pod casts.

P.S. The OWA had our December meeting last night where the projects where on display and the members voted on the top three. I am very happy to say that this table gathered the most votes. Thank you to all the OWA members.

So a couple of months back I emailed you asking ‘how the h*** do you finish wenge?’ You responded with a brilliant answer which I followed some of, and sorta “adapted” the rest. Here is my finished Asian “inspired” hall table. Its mostly wenge, (the top is from an 8/4 slab that I resawed (took nearly a bloody hour on a 14″ Delta with a riser block…) The sliding dovetails, the floating table top supports and the leg stretchers are cherry. I finished it with Benjamin Moore Interior Wood Finish, Low Lustre Polyurethane (435-00). Thanks for the help by the way: water based poly, my usual choice, looked like mud on a scrap piece, then flaked and peeled off.

This piece was a complete departure from my typical woodworking. Up to this time, all of my pieces have been maple and cherry, and very much the simple forms of someone who is Shaker inspired and admires the work of folks like Christian Becksvoort. I took a class taught on “Asian hall tables” and decided to spread my wings by trying an exotic wood, and a completely new form with some curved work. The instructor had asked the class to do a simple Asian style table in walnut, but after seeing some of my work permitted me to work independently from the other class members by taking his form, and applying my own expression to the table.

I had some beautiful small pieces of cherry left over from making a bed for one of my daughters, and the use of those pieces for some highlight pieces within the table seemed to make perfect sense. I used the cherry for the sliding dovetail cauls for the table top, and for the through tenons for the table support. Artistically I suppose the use of the cherry ties the project back to my earlier work, but it also provides a visual contrast to the wenge. The slight angle to the joinery between the legs and the table aprons gives the table a slight airiness, and the cloud lifts separate the table top from the rest of the piece. I also softened the legs by using a very slight bevel cut to put pillowing on the legs to bring out the grain and figure of the wenge.

“This is the finished piece, it’s a turnable English library (don’t know if the name is correct), it has hidden wheels on the bottom so it can be easily moved or turned.
The finish is stain, french polished shellac and bees wax. Hope you like it!”