My Nakashima Style walnut bench

[William Hamilton]

I finally finished my Nakashima-style walnut bench. I'd started this forever ago, and it sat in a room with one leg for a long time (which isn't very functional, is it?). I finally found the time, and the inspiration, to finish it. I ma very pleased with how it came out. The finish is simply four wiped on coats of waterlox.

[Conrad Fiore]

Very nice piece. Did you use the traditional Frangelico/BLO wipe-on finish?

[Steve Friedman]

Really nice. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions about how you attached the legs to the top. Is anything mortised into the top? How are the cleats and legs attached to the botton of the table top? How are the cleats attached to the legs? I was surprised to find out that Nakashima used screws in the joinery and wonder if you did this without any metal.

Thanks,

Steve

[Craig D Peltier]

I like it!Good job!
The bow-tie looks bigger to me than normal.

[Prashun Patel]

Nice figure and finish.

[William Hamilton]

Thanks guys. I used the original Waterlox for the finish. I went light with the first coat, then progressively went a little thicker, allowing 24 hrs between each.
Before the last coat I sanded very lightly with 320 grit, vacuumed it, and wiped it down with mineral spirits.
Steve, the legs are attached to the top via mortise and tenon. Here's a picture of the leg before joining. At the joint the leg was 13.5" wide so I went with two 4.5" wide tenons, leaving 1.5" at the ends and 1.5" between them. The tenons are also 1/3 the thickness of the leg.
For the cleats, I decided not to use screws, even though as you said Nakashima did. I used 4 dowels to join them to the leg and underside of the top. The dowels going into the leg are blind, and the ones joining the top are through the cleat. If I really wanted to I could have joined the cleat to the leg before joining the leg to the top, and thus could have made all the dowels blind, but I don't mind the look this way. Since I'm a relative newbie (just my 3rd furniture project) I was scared to sit on it. My wife and I gave it a go and it's very solid.


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[Steve Friedman]

Thanks for the joinery explanation. I was hoping to avoid screws and love the dowel idea. Really nice work. Hopefully I'll get mine done within my lifetime. I have had book matched slabs for a coffee table for more than a year and have been putting off the project because I couldn't decide on a base. I really like what you did.

By the way, where did you get the slab?

Thanks

Steve

[William Hamilton]

I got it at Mike Quinn in Yardley. He's very good with pricing. He doesn't have the largest inventory but I check back often. Good luck with your project!

[Jim Becker]

Great job and that's one really beautiful slab of walnut you scored to do the project, too!

[John Michaels]

Beautiful table, that slab of walnut is oustanding!

[Rob Cunningham]

That's a beautiful bench and outstanding figure in the wood.
I'm hoping to finish the redwood burl table this week and will post pics when I get a chance.