Thread: Building a pseudo "Art Deco" table.

Nice finish. That HBO shows up the grain very nicely. Do you have any drawings or sketches of the Art Deco design?

Stewie

Do you power sand the HBO when you apply it? I used that stuff for a while with lackluster results, and then I found out you get FAR better results when you apply it and power sand it with high (600+) grit abrasive while it's wet.

Hi Luke,

Yes, that is the way I use the Hard Burnishing Oil. I sand to 400g, then apply the HBO and sand through the grits. Where you want to stop is sup to you. As you say, 600+. For me it's 4000g.

Regards,

Rob

I bought some QLD Maple yesterday and began cleaning it up today. It's nowhere near as pretty as the table top, but it will be 20mm thick when I have finished cleaning up. I think this will be a good thing for stability of the table. I intend to use Dominoes to connect the legs to the table via some supports along the underside of the table. This will become clear down the track.


Rob

So it's been a while since I was able to get the timber I required and the time to talk the design over with the customer. (My brother, who is an Interior Designer). The brief was for a table made from QLD Maple. I was to use the highly figured top that I have shown above. we decided that, despite the low odds of getting more QLD Maple so nicely marked, we would use what we could get and finish the table with that. The supports were to be pieces of QM to fit the erratic shape of the table top. Therefore, one support was made as 230mm length by 270mm height. The second would be 190 x 270mm. These would be placed on an angle to the mid line of the space beneath the top. The panels were finished using Hard Burnishing oil.

Joinery was to be concealed. I elected to use Domino mortise and tenon construction. Three mortises were sunk into the underneath of the table top. These were 4mm domino tenons and were used to secure the top of the table to the supports. In addition, two "wings were added to the side of each panel and secured to sides of the panels in such a way that three 6mm Dominoes would secure the "wings" to the stands. These were then glued together and the whole substructure glued to the table top.

It may prove necessary to add some further stability to the stands, perhaps by way of a rod placed around the centre of the panels. This would help restrict lateral movement.

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Originally Posted by LGS

It may prove necessary to add some further stability to the stands, perhaps by way of a rod placed around the centre of the panels. This would help restrict lateral movement.

I suspect you will definitely need some form of strengthening for those legs to have any longevity; even if the joints can stand up to the leverage they'll be subject to - eg. should the table be dragged along carpet - the grain orientation means the legs can snap along any weak section of grain.

Perhaps you'd be better re-orienting the legs 90 degrees, so the grain is vertical?

As a minor quibble... the legs look too straight for the top to my eye. Perhaps cutting gentle curves into the sides of them would make them more sympathetic to the top?

(Then again, I'd also subtly re-shape the top to remove the straight edges and the sharper corners. But that's just me. Still I can only talk for myself, y'know? )

It's a lovely piece of timber, BTW. Good job on the finish!

Thank you Mr "Skewy",

As I mentioned, I am aware of the limitations of the design. But since the designer is the recipient, I felt it best to let him decide it's future. The table is extremely light and I don't foresee much dragging being involved. I am happy enough with the shape of the top, including the straight edge. As for reshaping the stands, that again is something for the designer to decide. (Pays not to upset family!) Yes it is beautiful QM and yes the finish is good.

Thanks for the comments all are welcome. You learn from everything you do.

Regards,

Rob