Pair of carved cherry end tables

[Brian Millspaw]

I recently completed a pair of end tables to go with the cocktail table shown here : http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?177357-Handcarved-cherry-bombe-cocktail-table&highlight=

They are about 24" square and 27" tall. Made from solid cherry with curly cherry and cherry burl veneers. The top and the drawer fronts are book matched and the two tables are identical.
They feature serpentine curved sides with hand carved details. The drawers are finely dovetailed and cock beaded. They are finished with aniline dye and lacquer.

Thanks for looking
-Brian Millspaw

[Brett Robson]

Wow! Those are beautiful! Bravo!

[Leo Graywacz]

Those are beautiful!!

How long to make them?

[Brian Millspaw]

Leo,

1 week each for me and my assistant per table. So, about 160 hrs total.

-Brian

[Mark Valsi]

Wow, Brian !!! Amazing, although not my style, I'm thoroughly impressed with your talents. I do have one question. Your skill with the hand cut dovetails is outstanding, but why so many tails on each drawer? I think it would look much better with fewer "tails".

Amazing work !!!

[Leo Graywacz]

Sounds about right. Everything was hand carved or did you do some preliminary wood removal with electrics (like I would have LOL)

[Adam Cormier]

Amazing craftsmanship. Well done.

[Brian Brightwell]

Wow! Makes me feel incompetent and inferior. Outstanding!

[Brent Ring]

Beautiful!

[phil harold]

Impressive!!!

[Jay Jolliffe]

Very nice...

[Dale Cruea]

I like everything about them. Very nice looking tables. Impressed.

[Rob Boursaw]

Very nice. I really like a carved piece of furniture.

[Mark Maleski]

Brian, those are beautiful. The cyma on the legs is ideal, and the feet are appealing as well. I love to see the faint tool marks on the knee blocks. How did you smooth those surfaces - #2 gouge? any scraping?

[Mark Maleski]

Your skill with the hand cut dovetails is outstanding, but why so many tails on each drawer? I think it would look much better with fewer "tails".

I'm not Brian, but I'll say that fewer, larger tails would be less formal and not a good choice for this piece.

[Gordon Eyre]

Very impressive work.

[Gus Dundon]

The intricate details is way more awesome! You got made skills!

[glenn bradley]

Oooo, Ahhhh, Ohhhh. Beautifully executed. Really stunning work.

[Brian Millspaw]

Thank you everyone for your comments.
I'll try to answer a few of the questions.

Leo : I use a manual carving duplicator to rough out the carvings. Then I sand with a pump (balloon) sander the smooth areas of the leg and hand carve the rest. I worked for many years as the master model maker at a large carving factory. That was how we did it there and it is a method that I'm comfortable with.

Mark Valsi : There are a lot of design decisions to be made when making this kind of furniture. After I make the decision, I don't spend a lot of time second guessing myself, or else nothing would ever get done. Would fewer dovetails look good ... probably. One thing that influenced me is that the pins are extremely small on the small end. About 1/32" I did that because the cock beading covers them by 1/8" making the small end look bigger than it actually is. With such small pins, I didn't want to jeopardize the strength, so I used many pins. btw. There are only two tails on the back side of each drawer side.

Mark Maleski : Yes, the carved parts are all chisel finished. I don't like to use sandpaper where sandpaper can't get. It just rounds over the detail. For the background I use extra flat gouges. I use Dastra chisels. They name them the 2 1/2 sweep.

Thanks again
-Brian

[Bruce Page]

Stunning work!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Incredibly beautiful! Well done Sir!

[Jeff Monson]

Brian, absolutely stunning!! Very humbling when work like this shows up, you are a true craftsman.

[Marty Gulseth]

Impressive work!

[Jim Foster]

My suspicion is your pictures do not do those pieces justice. I'd enjoy seeing those table in person. Very nice work.

[Mark Valsi]

252742

Brian, I had something like this in mind. I'm not criticizing at all, I love your work and your skill with dovetails is something I wish I had !

[Andrew Hughes]

I agree the tables are top shelf work.Love the color.I would have made the half pins smaller then you could added one more full pin in the middle.The more the better.

[Cody Colston]

Oh..............My............Goodness!!!

That is some outstandingly beautiful work. Thanks for sharing it.

[gary Zimmel]

Top notch craftsmanship. My hat is off to you sir...

[Cary Falk]

Leo,

1 week each for me and my assistant per table. So, about 160 hrs total.

-Brian

I knew I was lacking something to complete a project like this. Off to find an assissant.:D 160 hours, you make me sick. I couldn't complete them in 160 years.

As everybody else has said, Very well done.

[Jim Becker]

Wow. Did I happen to say, "wow", yet! Wow... Those are wonderful!