Thread: Making a Reading Table - Part One

After much contemplation, head scratching, reviewing pretty pictures, and falling asleep in my chair, I'm quite optimistic I have settled on the details of this reading table – though minutiae may change before the wax goes on!

The table will be true, in materials and construction, to the decade 1750 to 1760. The main timber will be Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) which enjoyed great popularity in England for a brief period. European Walnut (Juglans regia) had been the cabinet wood from roughly the mid 17th century (and England had burgeoning supplies of home-grown Walnut), but France, whence much of the valued timber was sourced, slapped a ban on its export in 1720. The reasons for the embargo were both economic and political, but the English cabinetmakers already had their eyes on supplies of new (and some would argue, superior) varieties of cabinet woods to take the place of France's bois.

In the same year, the first imports of Black Walnut began arriving from Virginia and the following year, the Naval Stores act reduced the tariffs on all timbers from the Americas, making Mahogany and Black Walnut even more attractive to English cabinetmakers.

"Formerly the English Walnut-tree was much, propagated for its wood ; but since the importation of Mahogany and the Virginia Walnut, it has considerably decreased in reputation".[1]

Mahogany piled into England from Central America, but Virginia Walnut's period of favourability came to a fairly abrupt end in 1776 with the American War of Independence.

There are no doubt many more extant Mahogany pillar and claw tables from this period than Black Walnut examples, but the typically rich, deep red of old Virginia Walnut furniture (often called 'Red Walnut' and frequently mistaken for Mahogany) is quite glorious. I can't resist it, so I now have lengths of Black Walnut in the shed.

Of the three pillar forms common to this period, baluster, gun barrel and vasiform, the only example I don't already have in the home is a gun barrel, so this table will have a gun barrel pillar reflecting the Ionic order. The telescoping column will be of Oak.

Mahogany gun barrel pillar with Ionic base turning, c.1760.

One of the deciding factors concerning the period of this table was the current difficulty I have with making a steel spring catch as I no longer have the requisite equipment. A wooden locking screw and corresponding holes in the column are perfectly in keeping with a table of this date and I can easily accomplish threading the screw and pillar.

The block that supports the box carcase, and into which the column is morticed, will be made from either Elm or Oak, depending on which species migrates to the fore when I start scrounging through my store of wood. Both are historically appropriate, but my preference is for Elm as it is particularly tough and resistant to splitting.

The box carcase will be made from deal and veneered with Walnut and will contain two opposing Oak-lined and cockbeaded drawers. The drawer fronts will be blind-dovetailed, veneered Oak and the linings will be made from thin stock and rebated to accept the Oak bottom and drawer runners.

This afternoon I cut out the three legs and shaped them with a spokeshave. I had forgotten how enjoyable making these legs is. I cut and shaped the three of them in a tad under an hour. They'll require about another fifteen minutes each to cut the sliding dovetails and then scribe and finish the tops where they meet the pillar. I snapped this one before the sun dropped.

One bandsawn leg and one shaved leg.

[1] Silva: or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesty's dominions, as it was delivered in The Royal society, on the 15th of October 1662, by John Evelyn, third edition, volume 1, York, 1801, p.149.

Thank you Mr.Wood.!! The rabble was beginning to chatter about all sorts of unrelated subjects.

Well. it will be true to your preferred period of furniture craft.

BTW - glad to see the lemon tree looking so well.

Originally Posted by artme

Thank you Mr.Wood.!! The rabble was beginning to chatter about all sorts of unrelated subjects.

Well. it will be true to your preferred period of furniture craft.

BTW - glad to see the lemon tree looking so well.

That lemon tree is quite superb. We gathered several buckets full of lemons off it a week or two ago to make lemon curd and the unripe fruit left on the tree is already ripening.

3 legs shaped in under an hour! Strewth.

Mmmm, damn forget the pop corn, off to a flying start WW.

Wes the 'gun barrel' description a contemporary one?

I love the clean lines of your chosen design WW. I find some of the others too ornate.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

This afternoon I cut out the three legs and shaped them with a spokeshave. I had forgotten how enjoyable making these legs is. I cut and shaped the three of them in a tad under an hour.

Isn't shaping legs with a well-tuned spokeshave one of the most pleasant things to be doing in woodwork.

Originally Posted by Blue-deviled

Wes the 'gun barrel' description a contemporary one?

'Pillar and claw' was in use from the late 17th century, but I'm not sure of the first use of 'gun barrel'. It's certainly part of antiques dealers' nomenclature.

Originally Posted by AlexS

Isn't shaping legs with a well-tuned spokeshave one of the most pleasant things to be doing in woodwork.

It certainly is Ollie Alex!

The Walnut veneers were cut on the bandsaw and applied to the sides of the carcase. They will also be affixed around the drawer openings once the carcase has been assembled.

The 5 inch wide, 3/32 inch thick Walnut veneers.

I tennoned the pine sides of the box carcase into Walnut 'corner posts' and the two dovetailed end rails were then let into the bottom of the posts to join the two sides together (much as the top end rails of a Pembroke table are dovetailed into its legs).

The underside of the carcase.

The rectangular top frame consists of four pieces of Walnut, morticed and tennoned together. A groove running around the frame's inner edge will support the dust board above the drawers which also accommodates the 'teeth' for the reading slope's ratcheting apparatus. I've seen one of these frames made from Deal which was simply nailed onto the top of the carcase sides, completing the box carcase. The top of the Deal frame was subsequently covered with veneer and the outer edges hidden by applied mouldings. In this example though, the carcase sides and posts will be tennoned into the top frame.

The top of one of the side rails showing the tennon.

Oooooh! Wouldwood's at it again. I'm here. :watchingclosely:

Woodwould, is it typical of the period, maybe due to economics of of the client, or of the profession, that pine was used so widely with veneers? If that observation is correct

I'm just trying to understand the methods. Not making any comments to the negative about skill or technique.

Originally Posted by Waldo

Woodwould, is it typical of the period, maybe due to economics of of the client, or of the profession, that pine was used so widely with veneers? If that observation is correct

I'm just trying to understand the methods. Not making any comments to the negative about skill or technique.

Veneering originated as a method of extending rare or unusually decorative timbers. If made in the solid, decorative (often highly contorted growth) timber would be apt to bow, cup, twist or warp, possibly destroying the piece of furniture in the process.

Straight, slow-grown species of Oak and Pine (Deal) from the cold climes of Northern Europe were extremely stable and therefore ideal substrate materials for veneering onto.

Veneers have been used on the very finest furniture since the 17th century, but it's only since the mid 19th century that veneer has been held in less than high esteem. That was thanks to the Victorians and their ridiculously thin, machine-made veneers which, after scraping, were virtually translucent and significantly prone to damage.

Unfortunately we still produce ridiculously thin veneers, which, when applied to man-made board and sprayed with a plastic finish, look no more like natural timber than Fablon (sticky-back-plastic) or Formica.