Mostly Neader Shaker Hall Table

[Marco Cecala]

This is a recently completed Shaker Hall Table. Here are the specifics;
*Cherry legs, tapered on the inside only, keeps the outside line neater. The mortise and tenons are draw bored. After the 3/16 dowels are cut flush, I square the circle with a chisel and install the ebony plugs then plane flush.
*The cherry top was resawn from a 12/4 blank. There is a sap void I filled with crushed acrylic pen blank and epoxy.
*The drawer fronts are #1 common walnut, got it cheap and the figure is beautiful. Tough to plane though.
*The knobs were glued from 8 ebony squares and one cherry in the middle.
*I like the fine English style pins on my hand cut dovetails, the walnut cleaned up nice.
* The finish is French Polish, open pore on the drawers and closed pore everywhere else.
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[Federico Mena Quintero]

Very elegant. How do you handle wood movement on the side panels?

[Jeff Wittrock]

Marco,

Very nice all around!

[Andrew Gibson]

Very nicely done. It is heard to beat a shaker 5 drawer. I happen to have won best in show with one this year in the florida state fair... :)

[Marco Cecala]

Very elegant. How do you handle wood movement on the side panels?

Federico. The tenons are split for a couple inches at the center of the apron. That has always been enough to keep things from trying to break apart. I want to keep them as long as possible for strength. I find about 20% of the length as a stub tenon in the middle is a good balance.

[Brett Robson]

Beautiful work! Your photos are very well done too!

[Marco Cecala]

My wife the professional photographer took them.

[Gary Hodgin]

That's about as good as it gets. Great job!

[Pedder Petersen]

wunderschön (beautiful)! I like the combination of the woods, very well made!

Cheers
Pedder

[Deane Allinson]

Really, Really nice work and an exceptionally great looking piece.

[Trevor Walsh]

Nice work, the sap going in there is quite nice. What are the dimensions of the piece?

[Marco Cecala]

Trevor; The table is 34" wide and 20" deep, 31" high. The sap was a surprise when I cut the 12/4 blank for the top. I used a dark blue acrylic pen blank and ground it semi-fine in a coffee grinder. I used ZPoxy Epoxy to install the pieces, it planes and sands well. Another product of theirs, ZPoxy Finishing Resin is a great product to use as a grain filler for French Polish.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Federico. The tenons are split for a couple inches at the center of the apron. That has always been enough to keep things from trying to break apart. I want to keep them as long as possible for strength. I find about 20% of the length as a stub tenon in the middle is a good balance.

Thanks, I see. So the two tenons somehow manage to take it when the whole board expands/contracts? From the drawbored pegs, I assume that the tenons can't slide up and down their mortises, correct?

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice.

Any shows in your area to enter?

I like the one photo of the leg that shows some reflection.

jtk

[Michael Peet]

Marco, that is very pretty.

When you squared off the drawbore holes for the ebony plugs, I assume you also needed to excavate a small amount of the peg as well, correct? How deep do the plugs go?

Excellent work.

Mike

[Marco Cecala]

The ebony only goes about 3/16" I made them 1/4 inch long then planed them flush.

[Marco Cecala]

Yes, it holds the top and bottom deep tenons. The movement seems to happen near the center at the stub tenon.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Yes, it holds the top and bottom deep tenons. The movement seems to happen near the center at the stub tenon.

Thanks, Marco; this is enlightening. I always wondered how to deal with tall side panels like those.