Cherry Side Table - Limbert Arts and Crafts Style

[Frank Pellow]

(part 1 of 3)

I built two different items from plans that I found in the September 2009 issue of Wood magazine. One of these was the jewellery/music box that I described in the thread: http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/musicjewellery-box-made-from-cherry-and-walnut/  The other was this side table:
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The one in the magazine was made out of oak. I made one out of cherry. As usual, I will describe the project by extracting entries from my weekly journal.

2009, Nov 22:

This week I started a couple of Christmas projects. The first one is a small table that I am going to make out of cherry. I am going to make the table for Margaret and I am going to use cherry instead of oak. I have a lot of cherry that I bought last year from a guy in Pembrooke. Below is a picture where I am starting to prepare the cherry on my jointer:  [attachthumb=#2]

In preparing the cherry, I am finding that the wood is not very good.    It is hard to get a continuous straight piece and there are twists and punky places that are creating difficulties.

2009, Nov 22:

This week I started a couple of Christmas projects. The first one is a small table that I am going to make out of cherry. I am going to make the table for Margaret and I am going to use cherry instead of oak. I have a lot of cherry that I bought last year from a guy in Pembrooke. Below is a picture where I am starting to prepare the cherry on my jointer:  

In preparing the cherry, I am finding that the wood is not very good.  It is hard to get a continuous straight piece and there are twists and punky places that are creating difficulties.

2009, Nov 29:

Work continued on the cherry side table:
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[Frank Pellow]

(part 2 of 3)

2009, Dec 13:

On the cherry side table front, I tested various dyes and stains in order to see if I wanted to ?improve? upon the colours provided by Mother Nature:
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In the end, I decided that the dyes and stains revealed too many imperfections in the wood and the finishing of same. As I observed two weeks ago, the cherry I am using is not very good. For instance look at the curve in this glued together piece and also notice the ?punky? section of wood: [attachthumb=#3]

aside: I admit that this was probably partly due to my inadequate glue-up technique  :-[ and I know of ways to improve upon this, but you get the point.[

I first trimmed all the pieces to rough size making use of my Incra crosscut sled: [attachthumb=#4]

then cut the four legs/sides utilizing a jig that I made specifically for the purpose of making cuts that were both 45 degrees and tapered:
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2009, Dec 20:

It was time to get back to the cherry side table. It needs to be completed by Christmas.

Using the drawings from the magazine certrefold, I created a pattern side/leg from a piece of plywood.
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Next I used a pattern bit in a hand-held router to make the cut-outs in the four sides/legs: [attachthumb=#9]

I tried smoothing the cuts with my spindle sander, but it is quite aggressive, so I used it sparingly and did not attempt to smooth things completely. Rather, I completed the job using two different profile pads with my linear sander:
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Next, I rounded over most the edges of the cutout areas: [attachthumb=#12]  

 

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 3 of 3)

2009, Dec 27:

I managed to get the cherry table to the stage where it was possible to give it to Margaret on Christmas morning. First of all, there was the sanding, polishing, and waxing the interiors of leg-sides & the shelf parts: [attachthumb=#1]

Assembling and gluing the joints between the sides were tricky because of the angles involved and the difficulty of using clamps. I glued up the first joint using a generous amount of long open time white glue with masking tape to protect the interior surfaces from glue squeeze out. Masking tape was also employed to temporarily clamp the joint in some places:
[attachthumb=#2]  [attachthumb=#3]

I next tried to fit in the shelf but could not get it into place with the cleat in place. So, I had to chisel off the glued-in-place cleat.  [attachthumb=#4]

Eventually, I managed to glue and clamp all the sides/legs together with the shelf in place. But the plans called for nice sharp edges and mine were anything but sharp (as can be seen in the detail shown to the second photo that follows):  
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This particular table was obviously destined not to have sharp edges. So, I made a slight modification to the taper jig to accommodate the protruding shelf and proceeded to I bevel all four edges on my table saw: [attachthumb=#7]

Next the table top was shaped, sanded and polished, top, sides and bottom then the bottom side was waxed:
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I used Town Talk Orange Wax which is a combination of beeswax carnauba wax and orange oil.

The top was attached to the base as shown below:
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I did not have time to sand, polish and finish the outside of the base before Christmas, so this is what I presented:
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I managed to finish the table on Boxing Day and here it is in place beside Margaret's chair:
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[wnagle]

That's really nice Frank! (as per usual!).

I sure wish I could get back to my shop...but in the meantime, I really enjoy watching your builds.

 

[Wood_Junkie]

Very nice! 

Two particular observations:
1) I really like it in cherry.
2) I like the beveled outside edges.. nice "fix".

This exact plan and table is on my to-do list for my parents, to match an existing Limbert table they have (made by the professional Crafts-folk at Stickley)... so's I'll have to up my game.
I'm also thinking of making a pair for our house out of black walnut.  I think that'll suit us better than oak.

Thanks for the detailed walk-through!  And .. umm...  I'm green with envy of all your Festools!

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thank you Mr. Junkie.  I, too, think the table would look good in walnut and I am thinking of making another one using that wood.  If I do make another one, I will plan from the start to bevel the edges.  After about a month of use, I think that the bevels look better than sharp edges would have looked -and they are certainly less prone to damage.

 

[honeydoman]

frank nice work and a good looking table, bet your wife was very happy !