A small serving table

ken werner

Member
Messages
3,377
Location
Central NY State
Well, this is what I've been up to lately. We wanted a small serving table to put snacks and such on, when sitting near the woodstove during our long cold winters. Easy to move, to use elsewhere too. I thought of making one with folding legs, but ultimately chose a more traditional design, and kept the materials light. It's all cherry, with pegged mortise and tenons to hold the aprons into the legs, which taper from 1 3/16" to 3/4" square. I used my tailed apprentices for much of the work. But no jigs. The tapered legs were cut on the bandsaw, and hand planed. The top is a single board, which was planed flat using a scrub, jointer and smoothing plane. [Oh and my lunchbox planer too]. The top is only 5/8" thick at the thickest, and tapers [handplaned] to 1/2" at the ends and edges. Finish is shellac then wipe-on satin poly, for protection against the food and drink it'll be exposed to. Because the tenons are close together in the leg, I mitered them, as is shown in a piece of scrap I practiced on. The top is attached with figure of 8 hardware from Lee Valley, set into 3/4" holes I drilled with a forstner bit, which will accommodate seasonal movement. I make my own pegs, using a shop-made doweling plate. they are cherry also, and are 3/16" diam, which gives them a subtle appearance. I assembled it with Old Brown Glue, which I really like.

Overall height 20", Length about 24", Width about 12"
 

Attachments

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  • legs and apron.jpg
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  • mitered tenon.jpg
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Very nice piece Ken, should work perfectly for your intended purpose. Nicely executed per normal:) great to see your still making sawdust and better seeing you here:)
 
Looks great, Ken. As I recall from earlier photos and discussions, you've got some other pieces around your house with a similar style, so this new addition should fit right in.
 
Yup, I have some other tables made in the same style and spirit. I guess maybe there's a fine line [maybe not so fine] between consistency and being boring, but simple lines and traditional joinery are what I tend to do. Partly it's because I am not very creative in general, and usually keep to the rectilinear lines, and classic proportions. Larry, it would be great to see you, in MI, NY or wherever.

Here are the other tables.


table front small.jpg


table 1A.JPG
 
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