My First Totally Neanderthal Project

[Stew Hagerty]

I made this for my wife for Mother's Day. I resawed and bookmatched the top from a chunk of walnut crotchwood. I thought the resulting heart shape was perfect. I debarked it, but left the live edge. the legs are also walnut and are square with a tapered quarter turn. With the exception of my electric branding iron, I went completely "Neanderthal" on this project. The youngest tools that touched this project were probably my Type 11 Stanley #4 & 5 planes. I finished it with Behlen "Smooth Coat" lacquer, topped with 3 layers of Black Bison paste wax.

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[Jim Koepke]

Very nice.

Just hope my wife doesn't see this or I am in trouble.

jtk

[Steve Friedman]

Very nice. The top is stunning. Great job. What did you use to resaw the piece?

Steve

[Chris Griggs]

Now that is one cool little table!

[Stew Hagerty]

Very nice. The top is stunning. Great job. What did you use to resaw the piece?

Steve

I used my 11pt D-23. I had just recently sharpened it using that new Veritas saw file holder. I also have a 9pt, which would have been faster, but I figured it would have left me with more to clean up. Each side of the bookmatch is approximately 8" X 20" so my arm got a pretty fair workout.

[Charlie Stanford]

I made this for my wife for Mother's Day. I resawed and bookmatched the top from a chunk of walnut crotchwood. I thought the resulting heart shape was perfect. I debarked it, but left the live edge. the legs are also walnut and are square with a tapered quarter turn. With the exception of my electric branding iron, I went completely "Neanderthal" on this project. The youngest tools that touched this project were probably my Type 11 Stanley #4 & 5 planes. I finished it with Behlen "Smooth Coat" lacquer, topped with 3 layers of Black Bison paste wax.

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Art, brother. It's art.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

That's great - I really like that. Beautiful choice of wood.

What do you mean by the legs "are square with a tapered quarter turn"? They twist? Or they are tapered on two faces? The turn part throws me.

I like the simplicity of it all. Did you debark with a drawknife?

[Stew Hagerty]

That's great - I really like that. Beautiful choice of wood.

What do you mean by the legs "are square with a tapered quarter turn"? They twist? Or they are tapered on two faces? The turn part throws me.

I like the simplicity of it all. Did you debark with a drawknife?

Yeah, I'm sorry about that but I didn't know how else to describe it. Here's what I did... I started our with a square leg and I marked the centerpoint of each side on one end. I came down half an inch from the other end and marked all of the corners. Then I marked long lines from each of the corners down to the centerpoints. I used my #4 & 5 planes to taper the square down the edges following the long lines and turning into a diamond shape half the size at the other end. It looks as though the square of the legs gets turned 45 degrees.
OK, reading that back I'm still not sure I explained it, but I know what I did... :o I don't have a lathe so I'm more limited in what I can do with a long skinny leg like this.

As for debarking... I started off with one of my 10" drawknives to get off the bulk of it. Then I came in with my great little 3 1/2" one that I used to really get it just the way I wanted it. And I finished up with a spokeshave just to "manicure" the edge.

BTW, the final dimensions are 20"l x 9 1/2"w x 18"h and the legs are splayed at 11 1/4 degrees. The front leg goes straight out the towards the tip while the other two are at 45 degree angles off the centerline of the top. I kept playing with the legs until I got them in a position that was stable, but didn't look like a baby colt trying to stand up for the first time. Once I was happy with the way it looked, I measured and 11 1/4 degrees was the result.

[Chris Griggs]

Yeah, I'm sorry about that but I didn't know how else to describe it. Here's what I did... I started our with a square leg and I marked the centerpoint of each side on one end. I came down half an inch from the other end and marked all of the corners. Then I marked long lines from each of the corners down to the centerpoints. I used my #4 & 5 planes to taper the square down the edges following the long lines and turning into a diamond shape half the size at the other end. It looks as though the square of the legs gets turned 45 degrees.
OK, reading that back I'm still not sure I explained it, but I know what I did... :o I don't have a lathe so I'm more limited in what I can do with a long skinny leg like this.

Oh I see what you did. I like that and as a member of the latheless community I will be stealing that idea should I find myself making something with skinny legs. Very very cool technique and cool effect.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Got you, thanks. Makes sense now. Almost basically a chamfered leg that tapers down so the four chamfers meet, then?

I really do dig this, eve though it's not normally my style.

[Stew Hagerty]

Got you, thanks. Makes sense now. Almost basically a chamfered leg that tapers down so the four chamfers meet, then?

I really do dig this, eve though it's not normally my style.

Yeah that's it. The way you just described it, even I understand it.

[John Sanford]

Beautiful work. Lucky woman.

[Stew Hagerty]

Beautiful work. Lucky woman.

No, actually I'm the lucky one. I don't know what I would do without her.

[Stew Hagerty]

Got you, thanks. Makes sense now. Almost basically a chamfered leg that tapers down so the four chamfers meet, then?

I really do dig this, eve though it's not normally my style.

The trickiest part for me was making the through tenons. and boring the mortises. I finally got to use my Flexcut SK108 "Deluxe Starter Set". I knifed the angled shoulder, pared away most of the excess, the used the carving tools to shape the 1/2" round tenon. And, I had never before done precision boring by hand. That top is one of a kind so I was pretty nervous.

[Kees Heiden]

Great work, very well executed. I like it :)

[Stew Hagerty]

Thank you all. It was fun to make. I'm sure it won't be the last neanderthal project I build.

[Kees Heiden]

Wait a second. I just reread what you wrote about resawing that piece. You used an 11 ppi saw? :confused:

[Stew Hagerty]

Wait a second. I just reread what you wrote about resawing that piece. You used an 11 ppi saw? :confused:

Yeah, you read it right. I used my 11pt D-23. Technically it was a crosscut rather than a resaw I guess. My arm felt like it was the same thing.

[Kees Heiden]

Aha, now I see what you were cutting. It is rather thin also, so I see why you didn't want too much cleanup. Still, 11 ppi is probably too fine for my taste. I did a resaw last month, 4" deep and 7' long, and I was very happy with my 5 ppi ripper.

[Jeff Bartley]

Great work Stew, that's one beautiful piece of walnut! I love walnut with the contrasting sapwood. I hope you ate your spinach before resawing that with an 11 ppi saw!!!

[Sean Hughto]

Great looking piece! Congrats!

[Paul Saffold]

Very nice all around. Finish, design, execution. I like the delicate look.