18th Century Style Campaign Table

[Jim Paulson]

Hi I just finished an 18th century style campaign table and I thought I'd share it with you. My client wanted something light enough to carry to Revolutionary War reenactments and to incorporate folding legs. I made this by using birch plywood with cherry edging for the top and attached the edging with hide glue and cut nails. I used antique cherry dye, polyurethane to seal it and then rubbed it out with Briwax. The aprons and leg sections at each end and the front and back aprons all got the same dye treatment. I then coated them with lexington green milk paint and sealed the paint surface with hot linseed oil.

My challenge with this project came in latching the hinged leg and apron sections at each end so the table wasn't wobbly. I resorted to adding wooden pins at the opposite corners to help lock the ends tight. I learned quickly that the barrel bolt latches had to be tight and that meant positioning the glue blocks with a slight offset to the legs. The leg profile was something that Glen Huey used in one of his books and next time I'll probably use a Sheraton style leg profile. The later wasn't available to me when I made this table.:)

Jim

http://www.chairsbypaulson.com

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[John Keeton]

Very nice work, Jim! Actually, I kind of like the leg profile, and it seems very fitting of the piece. With your dedication to period pieces, I think you done yourself proud with this one. And, perhaps you will get a chance to see it in action at a re-enactment!

[Allan Froehlich]

I like your piece and I feel inspired by it. This is a departure from the norm (not Abrams) for campaign furniture.

I am curious. What inspired you to build a campaign piece? Are the British coming?!?

[Jim Paulson]

John and Allan,

Thanks for the compliments guys. Allan, besides being fascinated by well made furniture that went into the battlefield, I guess my interest in things portable might also reflect my life. I've moved my household seven times since college and that doesn't count the in town moves.

My interest in campaign furniture also stems from Barb and I participating in a couple reenactments each year and I've been researching various designs on the web. There is a cool campaign table at Yorktown that General Cornwallis used but it looks more like a TV tray.

Jim

[Hans Braul]

What a cool piece! Who knew there was such a thing as a "campaign table"? I love the way it looks and the way it folds up. Great top.

[John Thompson]

Very nice piece Jim. Kind of nice to see something done in milk-paint occasionally as I like the fade colors it produces. I have an acquaintance down in New Zealand that was heavy into "campaign furniture at one time. Phillip was a soldier in the S. African army before moving to New Zealand and taking up his pursuit of making Marcou hand-planes.

The campaign furniture is very interesting stuff in both the American and European versions IMO.

Well done...

[Don C Peterson]

Neat table, I've been thinking of doing something similar for our forays into mid-19th century (pre-Civil war) reenactment.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks John for your nice comments and also mentioning about your friend in New Zealand who was into campaign furniture. I'm eclectic in terms of future anyway, but I guess I just marvel at the furniture officers had in the battlefield back then.

If you run across a good resource on it, let me know. I saw a listing for a book awhile back on British Campaign Furniture, but it was unfortunately pretty expensive and probably focused primarily on photogaphs.

Don, thanks for the kind words and I appreciate your interest as well.

Jim

http://www.chairsbypaulson.com

[Allan Froehlich]

Allan, besides being fascinated by well made furniture that went into the battlefield, I guess my interest in things portable might also reflect my life. I've moved my household seven times since college and that doesn't count the in town moves.

I understand thist %110. I have moved many times over the past 5 years. I have design my furniture so that I can disassemble it with very few or no tools. I am also preparing to move again in the near future. I also have a small car, which heightens the emphasis on getting large projects down to manageable sizes.

Despite this, the British argument is still a good one!