A French Tilt-Top Table

Dave Richards

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This is based pretty closely on a walnut table from France built in the 1850s. To me it has a nice light appearance. I think the feet are a unique touch.

 
It appears that the legs taper a smidge towards the feet, which I think lightens the feel a little. I might be tempted to echo that in the cross beam and taper it gently towards the middle.

Agree that the feet are quite nice. I wanted to try and "fancy up" the middle of them, but playing with it in my head I think it would just detract from the clean lines.

My favorite part though is perhaps the half circle locking mechanism for the top; I think it looks especially nice with the top in place. Having it run through a mortise in the riser is a nice design touch (both from a functional and aesthetic perspective).
 
Hi Ryan, you're right. The legs do taper toward the feet. I thought about making that stretcher a little fancier, too. Maybe turn it to something similar to the posts but I kind of think less is more with this table. There's no pommel in the transitions from turned to square portions of the legs, for example, and I think that works nicely. I might be inclined to turn the legs with entasis, though.
 
Hi Ryan, you're right. The legs do taper toward the feet. I thought about making that stretcher a little fancier, too. Maybe turn it to something similar to the posts but I kind of think less is more with this table. There's no pommel in the transitions from turned to square portions of the legs, for example, and I think that works nicely. I might be inclined to turn the legs with entasis, though.

Yeah I had similar thoughts on the base of the uprights as you and came to the same conclusion, I think the small bead you have there is probably as good as it gets. Hadn't considered entasis (and had to look up the term, although I was familiar with the concept :D) but agree that that could look good but may not be necessary. In some degree the curved lock mechanism fools the eye into a similar effect because of the size contrast. It might even work well not turning the uprights at all but "simply" stepping and reducing them (complicates the construction substantially though, I think that makes it so that they have to be made in three pieces instead of one).

My thought on the stretcher was that it ended up a bit "heavy" in cross section when compared to the legs (from the side view). There are a couple of ways I could see to make it look lighter, tapering very slightly to draw the eye seemed like the least intrusive. Stepping it (so it has a raised ridge on the top/bottom) might also serve the same purpose, but I think would violate the apparent simplicity of the piece.
 
Ryan, I figured I'd stick as close to the original as I could. ;)

Larry, you could be right. That pivot area could be a weak point. Might not last more than 160 years. On the other hand, the original made it that long. ;)

 
I looked at the original table again and noticed I'd left out a little bead around the post just above where the quadrant passes through. I revised the post to include it and added the entasis though you can't really see that.

 
dave, i wasnt saying you done it wrong i just see a piece of solid wood around 1/2" thick moving in a pivot that is setting on another piece that is thin??? if the metal ring wasnt there i dont see how it would hold up at all?
 
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