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1. Coffee table in American ash.
WORK IN PROGRESS
The client had spotted some coffee tables she liked but,
they were only available in Oak and she wanted them in Ash.
We worked out the sizes required and this was the
result.
All three tables are made from solid American Ash. The
gentle reader may notice (??) that an attempt has been
made to balance the colouring of the wood around the tops of
these tables. Traditional joinery has been used for legs to
rails.
The
lightly coloured wood fits in well with the new carpet,
curtains and wall paper. Finish is a modern form of
French Polish that is a little more sophisticated a finish
than polyurethane. The finish can take most things but
a vase of flowers with a wet base and left for a
while will in time damage the finish .
With these tables (and the one below) the solid wooden
top will try to expand and contract as the ambient humidity
changes with the seasons (at the same time the individual
boards will try to "cup" i.e. bend away from what was the
heart of the original log from which the board has been
sawn). While not obvious, the construction of
the top is such that expansion and contraction is possible
while at the same time, any propensity for the discrete
boards to "cup" has been reduced as much as possible.
With a similar table purchased from a shop, the top
is almost certainly going to be made from a piece of 18mm
MDF veneered in Ash , hopefully with a bit of decent lipping
around the edges. It does the job but, the finished top
lacks the "character" of a solid wooden top that will
naturally have some slight undulations in its surface.
2. Coffee table in American cherry
I was asked to make a coffee table in American Cherry
that was of the same style and colour as existing furniture
in the house, also in American Cherry. The problem being,
that the supplier of the original furniture is no longer
able to
provide additional furniture in the same style.
Photo 1: Above ... Finished coffee table (but not in
the customer's home).
General description
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The table is made using conventional mortise and tennon joinery.
The top has been made by joining boards of cherry together.
The top is held to the frame using the traditional
method of buttons. A groove was cut on the inside faces of the rails
(see pictures 3&4 below) for the "buttons". Staff beading has been machined on the legs rails
and magazine rack frame to provide visual interest. The
final colour was achieved using a combination of two water
based dyes and van dyke crystals (to darken things down) . The trick was to achieve
the desired colour saturation which, when the oil went on
(see below) would then match the existing furniture. It took ages
to get the exact match. Fortunately I have written the
formula down should there ever be a repeat order! The choice of finish was Danish Oil
as the customer wanted a finish that could be readily "revitalised". The grain was "filled" then
many coats of oil were applied (and cut flat) in order to build up a deep
lustre.
Click each photo for a larger image
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Photos 2,3 & 4 : Above........ Here you can see the table approaching
completion and the cherry in its natural "pinkish" colour.
A lovely close grained wood to work with.
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Photo5 below.
Coffee table in in its new home, existing furniture just out
of shot..
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