Harlequin side table

[MarkSingleton]

Suspect he is busy getting that table done in time for the show.

[Derek Cohen]

This is a longish break. Not much different In the Woodshop. Hope everything is OK at the Cohen house.....

Just heading into the weekend, and must finish by Sunday night. Saturday morning ... 

All the drawers are done bar installing the bottoms, which will be the first task. They need to be measured and then a rebate planed on each side to fit the slips.

Drawer stops, case back ready to go in.

My head heads from drawer pull designs. Still to be made.

Here are a couple of pictures of the drawer slips being installed ...





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

I am in the process of completing the Harlequin Table. I will post the finished piece in a couple of days. Here are a few pictures of making the drawer bottoms for the slips, which may interest a few.

Bill was not enamoured with the slips as they has this ruddy great groove down one side. That was a too-wide quirk from the beading blade. Not to worry Bill, I cut that section away, leaving just the bead.

The drawer slips and bottoms are Tasmanian Blue Gum. The drawer sides are Tasmanian Oak. Both are 1/4" thick.

The groove in the slip is 1/8" (3mm). The slip requires a matching 1/8" rebate. This was planed with a skew rebate plane on a sticking board ...



Although the plane has a nicker, I always scribe the line as well ...



It is worth the effort to set up the rebate plane for a precise cut ...



Once the one side is done, slide the tongue into the groove of the slip, and mark off the width of the drawer bottom ...



Then saw to width ...



Any fine tuning is done with a shoulder plane ...



The drawer fronts are all curved, and the drawer bottom must be scribed to match this ...



Here is the fit behind the front of the drawer, and the match with the beaded slips ...



The rear of the drawer, with the added bearing surface from the slips ...



The profile of the drawer sides ...





Until the final pics ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tapper]

Coming along and looking good! Probably an obvious answer, but what is the purpose of the beading on the inside of the drawers?

Doug

[Derek Cohen]

Coming along and looking good! Probably an obvious answer, but what is the purpose of the beading on the inside of the drawers?

Doug

Doug, the "beading" is the upper side of a slip. The slip replaces a groove in the drawer side, which at 1/4" is too thin for a groove. The slip also adds extra bearing surface to the drawer side.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

FINAL PICTURES

We are done building the side table. Here are pictures (taken with my iPhone6). 

The case is Hard Maple from the USA. The drawer fronts are Black Walnut, figured Hard Maple, and pink Jarrah (hence the name, Harlequin). The drawer sides are quartersawn Tasmanian Oak, and the drawer bottoms/slips were made from Tasmanian Blue Gum. 

Finish was, initially, two coats of dewaxed UBeaut Hard White Shellac (the very faint amber adds a little warmth), followed by three coats of General Finishes water-based poly (this remains clear - does not yellow the maple - and appears to have some UV protection. It is hard wearing, which is necessary for a side table).

The build features mitred, rounded dovetails and bow front and back. Eight drawers featuring compound dovetailing to match the bow front. Drawers are traditional half-blind dovetails at the front and through dovetails at the rear, with drawer bottoms into slips. 

About 2 months to build, mainly on weekends.

 







Here is the rear of the table (which will be seen through the windows, which run floor-to-ceiling along the family room ...



The pulls were shaped from what-I-believe-to-be-some-type-of Ebony ...



The obligatory dovetails ...



Do you think that anyone will notice that the drawer bottoms run sequentially?




And this one is for Bill, who was concerned that the chamfers at the end of the drawers (to ease entry into the case) might impair their extension ...



A last look ...



Thursday morning I haul the table to the Perth Wood Show for the annual furniture competition. Wish me luck.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[fredhargis]

Best of luck with the show...it will take some mighty fine craftmanship to beat that, really well done!

[Greg Jones]

Outstanding as usual Derek! Good luck in the show

[stav]

Fantastic! I’d wish you luck, but you don’t need it with that piece.

[TomFromStLouis]

This one ranks high on your greatest hits list IMO. I was a tad skeptical about the mix of woods in the front but I should trust you more than that. It has great character and spirit overall and as usual the details are sharp. Bravo.