Thread: Pedestal side table

Couple more photos. Sorry about the background clutter - hard to find somewhere clear.
Cheers,
Adam

Well done! They came out very nicely indeed.This style of table is one of my favourites. They're very useful and good fun to make.

You mentioned making a jig for the dovetails; did you cut them with a router?

Yep. Used a bit of mdf, gouged it out to make a channel to fit the base of the stem then made a couple of curved holders, hinged at one end and clamped at the other. When I put a stem in the channel and tightened the holders the stem was under the mdf - the router sat on top of the mdf and the bit lowered through a slot cut to match the stem. Screwed some guides on the top and hey presto - the router travelled along the slot - all I had to do was be careful about the depth (hence the slightly-out fit). I actually used the same jig to cut the 3 flat planes on the base of each stem.

Cheers,
Adam

Chumley - seems like you got a better leg fit than my first attempt.

The first one I tried was inspired by a picture in a book of Metropolitan Museum (N.Y.) furniture. This was 2/3rd scale for use as an occasional table beside a chair. I had a deal of trouble getting my leg dovetails to fit well, but the hardest bit was getting the flats right, so that they don't show when the leg is fitted. I also toyed with the idea of making up a jig to cut the grooves with a router, but in the end, became practised enough to manage without. However, it's so quick & easy, I do cut the leg parts on the tablesaw . I've made several dozen of them since that time - they're a great demo piece to do at wood shows as they contain all the challenges of woodworking in a compact piece, including a bit of 'carving' to shape the feet. Most of mine were left plain, but I occasionally put some gum leaves on the knees (Acanthus leaves seem a bit unpatriotic!).

Nearly all of the ones I've made were singles, not sets, so I've played about with different styles of stem - some worked well, others didn't. On the 'earlier styles', I keep the squirrel-cage top (or cricket-cage, depending where you're from) as it's a convenient way of attaching tops, even though I don't make them tiltable. They make a good talking-point, too.

Sorry about the quality of the pics - these examples are long gone, & I had to copy from some not-so-good negatives...
Table 1 in Scented rosewood (lovely stuff to work!)
Table 2 Silky oak
Table 3 SO - with apologies to Duncan Phyfe....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

On the 'earlier styles', I keep the squirrel-cage top (or cricket-cage, depending where you're from)

I think you spent too long in Septicland Ian ; I've only ever known them as bird cages.

I have a larg-ish one that we occasionally eat our supper off and the rest of the time it stands against the wall with the top tilted up, showing off its lovely surface. The TTT is possibly my favourite piece of furniture.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I think you spent too long in Septicland Ian ; I've only ever known them as bird cages.

I have a larg-ish one that we occasionally eat our supper off and the rest of the time it stands against the wall with the top tilted up, showing off its lovely surface. The TTT is possibly my favourite piece of furniture.

Yairs, WW - I learnt my name from the Septics, but they seem to go by a variety of different names everywhere. I suspect the RSPCA might have something to say to anyone who tried to keep either a bird or a squirrel in there! I was going to describe the feet on the first two as 'snake-foot' & Dutch or pad-foot, respectively, but those names too are probably very regional?

How about a pic of your T/T? Does the locking mechanism, still work properly? I fixed one for a friend many years ago - the mechanism had worn to the point it wasn't locking in place securely, which made pouring the tea a bit of a risk! I remade the brass striker plate - bit naughty, but he wanted it to use, & by the time this one wears out, it'll be antique again....

Cheers,

Pad foot works for me.

My awefully dreaded has the TTT set up as a sewing table at the moment, so I can't show it in all its glory, but I will when the table has been cleared and the floor vaccumed!

I took a couple of shots from my chair with the camera held at arm's length which gives some idea of its proportions and the bird cage.

It only takes a very little wear in the bolt, the bolt mouth or the strike plate for the top not to snap shut. Fine tuning with a hammer works until the brass can take no more bending. They are one thing I never trust, even when new, until I have reached underneath and ensured the bolt is fully engaged.

Sorry, the pictures exceed the ridiculously small limit. When the table is free, I'll upload some decent sized pictures to Photobucket and post them then.

Well done Chumley. Might have go at one if I ever find the time.

Thanks.
Gotta admit it was a lot of fun.
Also gotta admit I have no idea what all this talk about squirrel or bird cages is all about???
Cheers,
Adam

Originally Posted by Chumley

Thanks.
Gotta admit it was a lot of fun.
Also gotta admit I have no idea what all this talk about squirrel or bird cages is all about???
Cheers,
Adam

Sorry Adam - a couple of smart-alecs talking to each other & hijacking your thread. The bird-cage is a box on top of the leg. The top of the leg goes through it, so that it forms a very solid platform to support a pivot & lock for "tilt" tabletops. The box is made with a little turned post at each corner (usually matching the table leg), so it sort of looks like a cage. It's one way of attaching a top even if you don't want the top to tilt - I just use 4 srews through the cleats instead of the shaft & lock system on the original type. And on the tilters, the cage is held in place by a collar & pin system so that it can rotate. I make a little decorative collar, but glue it all in place instead of pinning - I think you can see all that in the pic.

T/T tables were designed to be pushed back against a wall when not in use - in the era these things come from, much furniture was designed to be put out of the way when not actually being used - rooms cluttered with furniture are a Victorian invention. A fashion which my better half assiduously follows today!

Cheers,

Ian and I differ on this topic. Bird cages are, in my experience, only found on tables whose tops do, or did tilt up (some restorers screw them up solid, much as Ian describes, rather than restore the tables properly and repair or replace the catch/strike plate).

The bird cage pillars are usually fairly plainly turned and at most, copy 'gun barrel' form. Even tables with vase-shaped columns invariably had plain or gun barrel bird cage columns (see the second picture below).

The Septic versions of virtually all furniture styles are reknowned for being totally over the top, and as Ian has first hand experience of Septic furniture, I submit this is where his expertise arises.

A wedge is pushed through a slot in the top of the column and bears down on the base of the bird cage thus allowing the table top to revolve. A 'banjo' catch is screwed to the underside of the top and engages in a strike plate on the top of the bird cage and the rear of the top of the bird cage has pins formed in it which engage in holes in the bearers. Thereby, mot only can the table top rotate, but it can be tilted up for storage with two of the legs aligned with the wall and the third leg pointing into the room, or one leg pointing into a corner and the other two legs facing the room (you can see why the table top needs to rotate).

The attached image illustrates a typical mid eighteenth century TTT and you can just see one end of the wedge inside the bird cage which protrudes through the top of the column. Notice also the plain turned pillars of the bird cage which match the gun barrel turning of the column.

The final picture shows a TTT with its top tilted up for storage.

I should have added that not all TTTs have a bird cage; some employ a plain block on top of the column (see the first image below). You need to remember when attaching a fixed block to the column to orientate it such that when the top is tilted up, it aligns parallel with the tips of two of the three legs, otherwise, especially with large diameter tops, the top could interfere with one of the leg knees. This is best illustrated with the picture of the oval table below.

I don't think we disagree at all, WW. I should have added that the turnings on the birdcage post match the stem, but usually only in a simplified manner - some that I've seen are indeed quite basic, even on otherwise elaborately carved examples. I like to fuss more over them perhaps to emphasise they are NOT replicas, but newly made, but probably mostly for the fun of it. No-one ever sees them, anyway, even on the larger ones, let alone my shrunken versions.

Of course a birdcage isn't necessary for non-tilting tops, & it's not necessary to have the cage rotate when the top is fixed. I simply like making them that way (as well as with a fixed, extended cleat as shown on the 2nd SO table above, & very occasionally, solid blocks as WW shows) because it looks interesting & is a bit more of a challenge. No one is paying for my time when I do these...

But you are quite right that all of the examples I've seen in the flesh bar one were made in the north-east of the USA, and most of the pictures I have are ditto.

Now we better hand Chumley bak his thread!
Cheers,

There must be dozens of books that cover the making of the various styles of tripod tables, but I found this http://books.google.com.au/books?id=V6TdwguPYXcC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=tilt+top+table&source=web&ots=DFeIA-h7bu&sig=McC6aRWo2d_k6k33n5o_nNAMOvo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=17&ct=result#PPA69,M1]Google book which covers the making of a typically Septic TTT (which makes reference to 'snake' feet ).

However, I would not, in any circumstance, use their recommended mortise and tenon method of attaching the legs to the column. Straight (not tapered) dovetails are the traditional, tried and tested method of going about it. A tenonned leg is far more likely to pull out of the column than a dovetailed leg is to split the column.