I struck out to make a small shaker-style table in one day. Well, it took two – at least in terms of hours. The following is the breakdown of time with some in-process shots. I’d love to hear back where I could improve either time or craftsmanship or what you think about the project! When you want to create a website for your project, try these out.
| Pick Boards and Rough Cut Parts | 1 hour | |
| Mill Parts to Final Dimension | 2.5 hours | |
| Cut Joinery | 45 minutes | |
| Taper Legs | 30 minutes | |
| Top Design, Glueup and Epoxy | 1 hour | |
| Final Mill + Smooth Top | 1.25 hour | |
| Inlay Foot Detail (4 feet) | 4.25 hour | |
| Prep for Finish | 1.25 hour | |
| Assembly (including buttons for top) | 1.25 hours | |
| Finish Process | 3.75 hours | |
| Cleanup Shop | 1 hour | |
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| TOTAL: | 18.5 hours | |
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Morton,
That was pretty quick work for the amount of detail you included. Did you plan ahead of time, or design on-the-fly?
The stripes are a nice effect. I think it would have been interesting to angle the strips so that they fan out from the narrow end. Know what I mean? It looks like you bevelled the edges of the tabletop to make it look ligher. That looks good, but I’m curious to know what you did where the bevel met the live edge. The live edge looks good, but I don’t think it complements the base.
For the foot detail, I think it would look nicer if there were an odd number of elements.. two on each face leading up to one on the corner.
What is “angel-step maple”? I’ve never heard the term.
Thanks for sharing and allowing critique.
Chris, who completed a table, stopping to tweet his progress, all in one day 😛
Chris — damn, you’re right about the stripes at the back, angled would be sweet. Also gives me a better idea for the foot detail which would also be angled. Thanks for pointing that out, you know, after the whole thing is done!
I knew the overall shape and design – shaker-style base + top — but did the details on the fly more or less.
The live edge I didn’t touch or bevel – it is already sloped ala the bevels so it matches nicely.
Yeah – the top is pretty incongruous with the base. Could definitely go a whole different way for a more overall succinct table. Partly I wanted to keep it simple and think it works OK.
Angle-step maple is what my supplier calls it – to help it sell I suspect 😉 Ha!
Awesome work Morton. I can’t comment on the efficiency thing because I’m slow as dirt when I build so anything I suggest will slow you down. Not sure what the thickness of your apron stock was at the outset but wouldn’t it be cool to mimic the curve of the live edge in the apron and bumping out the front right leg a bit so you get a staggered leg but still 90 degree joinery.
Morton- I wish I could do that well in a couple of weeks, much less a couple of days!
An obscure question – love the inlay mark….what type of pen do you use for you signature? I’ve tried permanent markers, but they still run when I put some finishes on them.
Wow – another great idea, thanks Shannon. I’m not used to working with live edges, so the design aspects are pretty new to me. I like it.
Rusty — Ha! This is my first time using a pen, I just used a permanent marker (sharpie, thin one I think). And yup, the finish made it run. I actually signed it after the BLO, but before the shellac (and the picture was taken right when I signed it).
Next time I’m going to use it at the very end, on top of the finish actually. Think that’ll hold for a long time. Plus, that’s why I did the inlay of wood 😉
Very nice and fast work. The natural edge is something I want to try on a table. I love the leg detail, adding little things like that is always fun.
When signing I usually use an engraver or dremel and then marker in the groove. That way the finish only makes it run to the edges.
Sharpies will run under shellac because they are alcohol soluble, I use plain rubbing alcohol to remove Sharpie all the time. Heck, IIRC, Sharpie is also soluble in lacquer thinner, which means it will run under lacquer as well. Not sure about paint thinner/mineral spirits/turpentine.
I realize I’m a couple years late to the party on this, but one way of speeding up the inlay, which was the most time consuming, would be to have made a pattern. Then for the inlay, use crushed mother of pearl or semi-precious stones under clear epoxy or super glue. It’s a technique used frequently by turners, more details found where they congregate.
Thanks for the tips – awesome info. I like the idea of crushed mother of pearl or stones, so I’ll keep that technique on file!
Morton! Very clean room even while under construction. Good cuts and great project! Made a small shaker-style table in one day, awesome work !!! Thanks for the tips.
Nice work Morton! I love this table, especially the natural edge. Just curious, which type of bandsaw are you using ?
Thanks John. I use a couple of bandsaws from Rikon – the small one and an 18″ one. They work nicely – nothing too fancy, but then again its a bandsaw 😉
I saw your video about Three Rikon Band Saws on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI0sdZ3IddA – very cool, very clear and very nice comparison.