Making the plunge!

[Jim Tobias]

I actually jumped in the "CreeK' as one of the earlier members. I was "lost" when Badger Pond closed. I had really gotten into woodworking a few years back as a hobby and it is still the best mental stress relief that I have found.
I was a High School athletic director and basketball coach for 29 years and 3 years ago changed jobs( stayed in the same school). I became Director of Facilities at a private school of about 1000 students in NC with about 60 acrea and 240K sq. ft. of buildings. Since I was kid and workked with my uncles who were in construction, I had always been interested in design, engineering and construction.
Anway, I have lurked here forever and occasionally posted a time or two but have never posted any pictures of anything that I had made. Part of the reason is that while I am reasonably computer literate, I have not gotten into photography and did not think I could take a decent enough picture to post anywhere.
I also want to thank all of the talented people here that make this a "one-of-a kind" woodworking site. I can't tell you how many questions I have had answered by the "Creek Membership". I know it is in the hundreds.
I am posting a few pictures of a coffee table that I made for my wife for Christmas. Padauk, Bird's Eye Maple veneer and solid Bird's Eye for the spindles with ebony for the inlay. Please give me feedback. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I need opinions other than my own if I am going to design and build anything worthwhile.
Thanks for listening/reading and keep making thisa a great site!

[Jim Tobias]

A couple of different views of table.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Well Jim, to this beholder's eye, it's a beauty. Very nice work...the materials are two of my favorites, and the design works for me. Very unique, but I like it.

Now that you've broken the ice, don't stop sharing the pictures. You've been here long enough to know this gang likes the pics. ;)

- Vaughn

[Christian Aufreiter]

All I can say is "WOW"! Excellent job and beautiful wood. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Christian

[Karl Laustrup]

Jim, that is a great design. And the wood!!!!!:) :)

I'm not sure I could stand to see magazines or whatever cover that BE maple.

And the pix are pretty good too. Now that you've got the hang of it, we expect more pix. ;) :D

Karl

[Alan Turner]

Jim,
Nice work, and nice materials. Those 3 are among my favoirtes. Except for the orange dust, of course. (Not to mention that ebony splinters are among the nastiest.) I like the gothic arches created by the maple verticals, but my only thought might be to align the bottoms of those with the stretchers. But, if I were to mock it up to see how it looked, I too might have made the decision you made.

You should definitely stay with this stuff. Much talent would be wasted otherwise.

[Dick Bringhurst]

That's beautiful work. Hard to improve on perfection. Dick B.

[Gail O'Rourke]

That is a gorgeous table. I love seeing woods and design that you will never see in a furniture store. This table is elegant and execution is perfect. I love the close up pictures and I wish I could run my hand a long it...it would say...glass!

Awesome!

[John Miliunas]

Jim, I'm tempted to admonish you for not staying more current with posting but, having seen this piece, I guess it was worth the wait!!! :D That table is gorgeous! :) I've not done anything with Ebony but, I have just completed a mini-project with Padauk & BE Maple and the combination is wonderful all on its own, but you've brought it to the next level! The arched spindles are killer! Great job and please, more pics and posts! You obviously have much to offer here! :) :cool:

[Jim Becker]

Outstanding work, Jim! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Garry Smith]

Great design and use of woods Jim.

[Steve Clardy]

THnaks for sharing. Looks great!

[Brett Baldwin]

Jim, that is a fantastic looking table. I'd be hesistant to actually use it for its intended purppose. Like others have said, those arched spindles really give it a nice flair. My only critique echoes Alan's. Those outside stretchers not lining up with the spindles jump out at me. I was thinking that curving those two outside stretchers in to meet the middle one would be something to consider for a future design. In any case, exceptional work.

[tod evans]

nice work jim........02 tod

[Frank Pellow]

Jim, I am glad that you finally decided to take and to post pictures because that is a great looking table.

[Jim Tobias]

First, Thanks for all of the encouraging remarks.
Alan and Brett,
I actually thought about what you suggested as I was designing it. My desire to make the 3 stretchers functional (correct width for magazines) won out over lining them up with spindles. I don't disagree with your critique, I normally would have thought lining them up would be better, until I tried to lay a magazine across them and that changed my mind. Practicality over design.

Jim

[Jason Tuinstra]

Jim, that table looks fantastic! I love bird's eye maple and you did it justice with this one. Very unique, one-of-a-kind design. Very nice. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Roger Myers]

Beautiful job! The maple is stunning...and I really like the design of the table.
Please keep posting your work!

[Brett Baldwin]

Well there you go then, function over fashion. I totally agree with that philosophy. Again, great looking table.

[Frank Chaffee]

Jim,
I too would have centered the stretchers on the spindles, but I find your design much more appealing. What a serendipitous result from following thru with a design’s development.
Fantastic table in all ways!
Frank

[Dan Forman]

Absolutely lovely. Very creative use of the arches, nice combination of woods, and great execution.

Dan

[John Viola]

Jim, thanks for sharing. You have just reinfocred my notion that I will always be a hack because I don't know that I could ever achieve that grace in my design.

Fantastic work.

[Pete Harbin]

Really nice Jim! The idea of using Padauk as a major wood always scares me, but your table is really beautiful. Very nice combo of woods. Did you run into any staining problems...transfer from the Padauk to the Maple when you were sanding?

Thanks for posing the pics!

Pete

[Bob Noles]

Jim,

What an excellent piece and thaks for sharing it with us. I love the contrasting woods you selected and the craftsmanship is 2nd to none as attested to by so many experts here already.

Don't be a stranger and post some more pictures of your work as you can.

[John Buzzurro]

Beautiful piece, Jim. Is that your own design?

[Jim Tobias]

Really nice Jim! The idea of using Padauk as a major wood always scares me, but your table is really beautiful. Very nice combo of woods. Did you run into any staining problems...transfer from the Padauk to the Maple when you were sanding?

Thanks for posing the pics!

Pete
I know what you mean about the "orange dust" problems with Padauk. Having been down that road on another smaller project awhile back, I was extremely careful to blow out dust with air compressed air, wipe down the padauk with naptha a couple of times and used 2 separate rags as I wiped on the first coats of danish oil. I put it on the veneered panel first, then the Padauk frame, then blended from panel to frame (inside-out) as the last step. After the first coat I didn't have any problems.

Jim

[Jim Tobias]

Beautiful piece, Jim. Is that your own design?
John,
Thanks for the kind comments. For what it's worth, it is my design. I jsut kept playing around with different ideas and shapes for the spindles and finally came up with the shapes you see.

Jim

[Norman Hitt]

Beautiful, Jim. Not only because of the magazine size thing, but I think that with only three stretchers under there, if you had moved them out to match the end spindles, it would not have looked balanced and would have looked like they were to close to the front and back edges.

It's been a long time since I worked with Padauk, but when I did, I tried to do NO sanding at all, and just used a scraper, to keep the dust down, and Padauk really works well with a scraper.

I think there might be merit in the previous suggestion to make the center stretcher straight, and make curved stretchers on the two outsides and that might allow the outside stretchers to mate up with the end spindles, yet keep them close enough on "most" of the area underneath to hold the magazines properly. Interesting concept at least, 'course you'd have to steam bend them after you got them turned, unless you've got some "Magic Knowhow" to turn arched stretchers.:D

Keep up the good work.