Working on a new project

[Dave Anderson NH]

Occasionally over the last few months as I've been able to steal a little time here and there, I've been working on a Queen Anne handkerchief table. It's also sometimes know as a corner table and has a triangular configuration of the aprons and legs. A fourth leg is a swinging gate leg and will nest next to one of the rear legs and swing out to support a triangular drop leaf. It's been slow work with the tiger maple I've been using. Only small amounts can be cut or planed off at a time to prevent tearout. As you can see, only some of the leg brackets have been attached ( 5 left to go) and none have been fully shaped to fit yet.

[Steve Beadle]

Looks like a good start to another beautiful piece, Dave. I look forward to seeing your progress. On the cabriole legs, do you use a spokeshave at some point in the process? Also, I don't believe I remember ever seeing a gate leg design that was a Queen Anne style--probably just my AAADD brain, though (Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder).

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Mark Stutz]

Dave,
Looking good! Having seen some of your other pieces I have no doubt this will equal or surpass them. Can't wait until the wine glass appears.:D One of these days I have to tackle a Queen Anne leg.

Mark

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Very nice. I really like what I think are the Cabrio legs.

Bruce

[Roy Wall]

Dave,

That's looking good ......and going to look better when the finish hits the TM!!

It doesn't look like an equilateral triangle.......but is it???

[Alan Turner]

Nice to see a little dust in the Anderson playroom. Looking good Dave; keep us up to date.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Actually the swing leg is not a true "gate leg" in the sense you think of one in William and Mary (Jacobean) style furniture. The leg will swing out from the joint at the apron only and isn't supported anywhere else on the leg. Just like in a regular Queen Anne drop leaf table.

Some of the leg shaping was done with a spokeshave, several actually. The grain in the tiger maple requires a VERY fine throat and much of the work has to be done with a cabinet rasp to prevent tearout. The wood I am using has stripes about every half inch so there's plenty of grain reversal and you have to work very carefully.

The base is not an equilateral tringle, but rather a right triangle. If I remember correctly, the 2 right angle aprons are about 18" long.

[Jerry Palmer]

Wow! That is looking great.

I am interested in your statement, Only small amounts can be cut or planed off at a time to prevent tearout. Is that a peculiarity of the Tiger Maple, and what is the reasoning behind it? Reason I ask is I'm making a pair of coopered doors for a cabinet and regardless of how sharp the blade and thin the shavings on my Knight smoother and how careful I am I am getting tearout to the point that I've actually broken out the tailed ROS have given up on obtaining a planed surface.

[Lou Morrissette]

Great looking work, Dave. Please keep us posted on the progress. That grain should realy pop once you throw a little finish at it.

Lou

[Tyler Howell]

Looks Great as always Dave!:cool:

[Dave Anderson NH]

Jerry, I used my 50 degree Knight smoother to surface the aprons and had no problems at all with tearout. You need to make sure you are taking only VERY thin shavings at as fine a setting as you can get. I also made sure the blade was sharpened and carefully honed before starting each apron. For the 3 aprons and the swing leg apron I probably resharpened 4-5 times total. One of the keys is to take the blade out and strop it before it gets dull. Only experience will allow you to develop the sense of when it needs to be done. Experiment a bit.

[Roger Nixon]

Last year a friend and I compared our Knight coffin smoothers on tiger maple. His was bedded at 50º and mine at 45º. Mine would always leave a little tearout where the dark stripes began while his would leave a perfect surface.
I can hardly wait to see your table with a finish on it, Dave. I'm sure it will be gorgeous!

[Mike Wenzloff]

What a nice looking table, Dave.

Living in a Vic with all its wall and hence corners, I can see myself making one of those. Thanks for the post and look forward to seeing the completed table.

Mike

[Steve Clardy]

Looking good Dave!!

[Jerry Palmer]

Ahh so the statement about only planing and sawing a little at a time might be to resharpen??

Mine is a 50 degree smoother and it has worked well on everything else I've used it on, even some real knarly mesquite which I had previously concluded was not workable with hand planes. The convex curves on these doors leave me with both very thin, as in read newsprint through them, but also very narrow shavings. There also seem to be some places where the wood is somewhat softer than surrounding areas, especially in the darker areas of the wood. Even a scraper was pulling grain out there. Anyway, the doors are done, now to build the cabinet to put around them.