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Monday, November 29, 2010

The Project As Bench--Follow-up













A few weeks ago I posted about holding large work, and how very large workpieces became, in effect, their own bench.

In the meantime I've finished the table and had the chance to take a few pictures. We got a lot of emails requesting pics of the finished table. So here they are.

The table is 10' long, and 44" wide, and just about 1-1/4" thick. It's based almost directly on a Shaker trestle table from Hancock, Mass. I took some dimensions from Chris Becksvoort's article in Fine Woodworking #193. I made the trestle bases wider and thickened the turned columns. I also added a third trestle in the middle without an upper brace. I also didn't recess the bed bolt heads into the column. I like the looks of them, and this leaves the column more intact. The bed bolts are excellent quality and are from Horton Brasses.

One small detail that was a lot of fun to make: the small dovetailed drawer to hold the bed-bolt wrench. I knew over the seasons that the bolts would probably loosen a bit, and having the wrench at hand would be a big plus. I hung the drawer with rabbeted runners and ran grooves in the top of the drawer sides so when the drawer is in place, the runners are invisible.

The entire table is finished with Kemvar conversion varnish.



























































































3 comments:

  1. That became a very impressive piece Jameel! Compliments on the execution and detailing.

    I think you used some gun-bluing on the hardware again? It would be interesting to see that proces explained a bit, also the hardware material and condition you start with (i.e. iron, steel, galvanized steel, etc.).

    Thanks for posting on the finished project!

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  2. Very, very nice. Beautiful wood and it all looks to have gone together perfectly. I would like to get your thoughts on the difficulty of this piece.

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  3. Beautiful work as always and great idea having a bed-bolt drawer!

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