Tea Table

Reproduction of an 18th century  Connecticut Valley tea table. the original is in the Connecticut Historical Society museum in Hartford. I took a course, which involved studying and measuring the original, then reproducing it. Some of the work was done at the course, but most was done in my shop.

Tea tables such as this are not uncommon in New England. But this one has some unique features. Very thin and delicate legs, and full-width trays. The museum doesn't know who the builder was, but he knew his stuff!

New York Corner Chair

Design based on a corner chair made in New York around 1765. Wood is mahogany. No one can say exactly why this chair was designed. Some say it was to allow a man to sit while wearing a sword, others say it's so women could sit in those big flowing dresses. But no one's sure. 

I took a course on building this chair at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. Here's a look at the chair in its early stages. All the final work was done in my shop.

The leg corner posts are glued up oversize, then planed flush with the rails. You can see how most of the legs are one piece of wood from floor to top rail.

This is one way of mounting the leg for carving the ball-and-claw feet and shell. I prefer to mount the leg lengthwise in a clamp. Some people build a designated carving jig which works the same way.

A closeup of the front leg, showing the ball-and-claw and shell carving. The round dots are dowels, acting as pegs to reinforce the tenons that join the two side rails. With modern glue and good joinery, this isn't really essential, but it's part of the look. Square pegs were often used, but in the case, the original maker used round.  

All told, a challenging project, with lots of hand-tool work. Finish was a washcoat of shellac, then several coats of boiled linseed oil, tinted with mahogany stain. I had the upholstery done professionally.

Dining room chairs

This is a new chair that I designed to go with the dining room table, and buffet and hutch, that I built earlier. I made a set of six.






All cherry. Finish is a wipe-on oil/poly mix.

The crest rail is made from a solid piece of 12/4 (3") lumber. It has 7 different operations: curves, angled shoulders and mortises for back rails. Shaped by machine and hand.

The job required a lot of jigs, since almost all of the joinery involved compound angles (other than 90 degrees). Picture below shows a simple jig for holding the side seat rails at the correct angle on the drill press.











The finished set: chairs (only 4 of 6 visible), extension table with hidden leaves, buffet and hutch.

It took over 300 hours to design and build these chairs. I'd never done a chair this complicated, or a set of six either.

DINING ROOM TABLE

This is an extension dining room table.

Cherry with oil finish.

Length: 62 inches closed, 98 inches with three leaves in place.

Detail: Fluting and chamfers on leg, stopped chamfer on table edge. Beading on apron edge.

Table top just over one-and-a-quarter inches thick.

Leaves are stored underneath. There's room for two leaves with aprons attached. Additional leaves have no apron, but a tablecloth will hide the gap.

Also visible is a "fifth leg", in stored position. It can be lowered for additional support when needed. Lee Valley extenders used.

The table is meant to complement, but not be the exact same style as the buffet and hutch behind it.

About 200 hours of work went into this.

You can see the fifth leg and aprons in this shot, but once chairs are in place, these are virtually invisible.

So.... time for some new chairs!

Dining Room Table

This is an extension dining room table. Cherry. 62 inches closed, 96 inches with three leaves added.


Right: Closeup of details. Fluting and chamfers on leg, matching stopped chamfers on table top edge.
Left: Leaves are stored inside the table. This shot shows one leaf stored. There is room for two with aprons attached. Third (or more) have no aprons. Also visible is a fifth leg, in the stored position. It can be lowered for extra support when the table is fully extended.

Baltimore Card Table

This is a Baltimore or Federal card table.
Primary wood is mahogany. Veneer is mahogany and yew. Banding and oval inlays were purchased, while I made the stringing (the narrow lines). The feet are coloured with an analine dye.




The rear legs are hinged. This allows them to swing out and support the table top, which is also hinged.

Buffet and Hutch

The finished project.

Buffet

This is the bottom half of a buffet and hutch that I'm building. It's based on a Shaker-inspired linen press. The next step is to build the top (hutch) part.

Wood is cherry. Construction is flush frame-and panel. Oil-and-poly wipe-on finish.

Offset knife hinges for door hardware.
Fussy to install but classy and strong.

Drawers have hand-cut dovetails. (Still need to work on this skill a bit!) Knobs are walnut, turned on my lathe.

Latest Project

This is the latest project I'm working on. It's a Shaker-style buffet and hutch. Frame-and-panel construction, with flush panels. All cherry.

I'm working from a design I found in a book, but making some modifications. The legs are the most complex part so far, requiring about seven different operations, from bandsawing to joinery for the frame-and-panel elements.

This shows dovetail joinery between the top web frame and the front legs. While the glue joint between the web frame and the side aprons is very strong, the dovetail provides extra strength and security. The web frames will be cut back flush with the front legs before glueup.