Federal side tables

[Peter Mich]

Just completed three cherry side tables with walnut drawer faces.


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Started on these about 15 months ago.

Good thing no one is counting on me earning a living from making and selling furniture.

Learned many techniques and skills in the process. I acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of the following individuals in this endeavor:


Steve Latta — videos and articles on building a Federal side table; tools and techniques for making and cutting veneer inlay, Fine Woodworking, March/April 2015

Matthew Teague — panel raising jig, Fine Woodworking Nov/Dec 2004

Christian Becksvoort — techniques for making and applying wipe on oil finish, Fine Woodworking

Rob Cosman — methods and tools for cutting dovetails

Lisa Starr — printing a blade guard for the crosscut sled, Sawmill Creek

Chris A Edwards — downdraft table recommendation, Sawmill Creek

Jim Becker — Noden Adjust-A-Bench recommendation, Sawmill Creek

Carmonius Finsnickeri — making a Domino jig, Sawmill Creek/YouTube

Steven Woodward — methods for building crosscut sled and tapering jig, Sawmill Creek/YouTube

[Leigh Betsch]

Beautiful. And inspirational. It makes me want to add one to my long list of projects.

[Brian Runau]

very nice. Brian

[Patrick McCarthy]

Peter, nice work. I made 6 ( wife and 5 adult kids) of those a few years ago after Steve Latta came out to the left coast for a SAPFM meeting. Same table but did mine in walnut and time slipped away to 2x yours. The one "oops" i had was in finishing. I used orangs shellac to "pop" the walnut . . . which it did nicely, but . . . . my pure white holly stringing and banding is now also "ambered". Unintended consequence or brain fart? Pretty much the latter.

Best, Patrick

[Peter Mich]

Patrick, Latta does a great job explaining things. Must have been a treat to meet him. I had many “oops” along the way, which is why the project took so long. Joints didn’t fit as well as I wanted, grain direction didn’t flow like I thought it should, miters on the inlays didn’t mesh, and so on. I learned many new techniques and acquired some new skills. (Did I mention I bought more tools?) This endeavor gave me a fresh perspective on what projects I might take on in the future.

Cheers,

Peter

[Frederick Skelly]

Beautiful work Peter!

[Mike Allen1010]

Very nice-looks like a fun project!

[Phil Mueller]

Nicely done, Peter. A favorite style of mine. I haven’t met Latta, but his published tutorials have been a big help for me…plus a few of his tools of course!