18th Century Pie Crust table - Black Walnut

[lou sansone]

good morning ww's

here is a little piece that I just finished up last week. took about a month of to do it. I really love these little 3 legged tables, and the pie crust top really sets it off ( single 16" board ). Black walnut is finished with blo & por o pac, followed with garnet shellac and then top coated with laquer. Photos are not the greatest, but you get the idea. top is carved my hand as are the legs.

enjoy

lou

[lou sansone]

some leg shots

[lou sansone]

some column shots as well

[Jim Becker]

Lou, that is absolutely outstanding!!!! Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing it with us, too...

[Keith Cope]

Wow, nice job Lou! Great looking table. I'm guessing that the hand carving took the lion's share of total project time?

[Carl Eyman]

We seldom get to see the work coming out of your fine shop, Lou, but when we do it is worth the wait. Great table. I'm particularly impressed with the ball and Claw feet. Having wrestled with a few of those I have a particular appreciation of them. Thanks for showing us how it should be done.

[Paul Douglass]

I That is beautiful. Won't let my wife see that... She'll think I should be able to do it!

[Alfred Clem]

Did you cut the dovetails into the central column using a router mounted in a slot jig, first using a straight bit followed by a dovetail bit? That's the way Norm cut his columnar dovetails, and I wonder if you found a better way.

The crispness of the claw foot carving as well as the piecrust curves are outstanding.

[Alfred Clem]

Looking at the underside photo of the column, what is the triangular piece in the center of the column, between the dovetails?

Does your table incorporate a birdcage in the tilting mechanism or did you choose to use a central block mounted on the top of the column?

[John Bush]

Beautiful piece Lou. Any secrets or thoughts on controlling stability of a solid, single board like this. I have an old table similar to yours, tho not nearly as nice as yours, and it has warped or cupped a little.

I've enjoyed all the posts showing your incredible shop and machines and it is good to see what can happen when they are turned on, with some liberal application of talent and hand tooling to boot. Thanks, JCB

[Corey Hallagan]

Lou that is a beautiful piece. The hand carved details is something you don't see often. The finish is a beaut as well. Thanks for the photos.

Corey

[Nate Rogers]

Lou,
That is pretty cool, I am very impressed!!

Nate

[Todd Solomon]

Absolutely beautiful, Lou! The carving on the top is gorgeous, I think that alone would have taken me a month. I've carved a prototype ball and claw, in rehersal for a lowboy. I, too, am an 18th century fan, and am chomping at the bit to make some real ball and claws.

How did you learn to carve? Are you self-taught? I've been toying with going to a Lonnie Bird carving class, where you carve a ball and claw, a shell, and the details at the knee of a leg. I took a casework class from him once, which was the best class I've ever taken.

Todd

[Karl Laustrup]

Beautiful wood and execution as well as attention to details Lou. Those make for a stunning piece of furniture. Is it a keeper or for someone else?

Karl

[Bruce Page]

Exquisite work Lou. Your statement “I really love these little 3 legged tables” implies that this isn’t your first and might not be your last. I would love to see a tutorial on how you made it.

Next time??

[glenn bradley]

Excellent piece, Lou! I am humbled by you folks who are actually artists whereas I'm just a lowly engineer who can enjoy building but have no real talent for creativity. Once again, Beautiful!

[Carroll Courtney]

Very nice Lou,does the table tilt?I have done (once) the ball & claw, and it was diffcult for me.Your's looks fantastic!I have always wanted to do the pie crust table,but its out of my league.Where did you get your design from?(Ykour own or a book)

[Richard Wolf]

Great job Lou.

Richard

[lou sansone]

Did you cut the dovetails into the central column using a router mounted in a slot jig, first using a straight bit followed by a dovetail bit? That's the way Norm cut his columnar dovetails, and I wonder if you found a better way.

The crispness of the claw foot carving as well as the piecrust curves are outstanding.


hi alfred

I do the dovetails on the lathe. I have a homemade indexing head on the lathe that allows me to get the 120 degree spacing right. I don't watch norm, but it looks like he has coppied my way of doing these sliding dovetails:) . The size of the dovetail is a non standard size, so I have to play around with the routing of them. There are two ways of doing these legs. The way I prefer is to mill a flat on the column the width of the leg stock and then put the dovetail in the center of that flat. It is actually harder than the other common way, but most antique pieces I have looked have them done this way. The other way is to cope the inside section of the leg that meets the column and not create a flat on the leg. I have never seen one like that in a true antique, but they may exist. Once the dovetail is layed out on the flat ( I lay it out on the lathe ) with pencile, I then route the slot and then change bits and route the dovetail. The legs already have the mating section in them, but once off the lathe, there is a little hand fitting that is done.

lou

[John Timberlake]

Great looking project. I've been wanting to do something similar, but just haven't taken the plunge. Did you have a pattern or example for carving the feet? I have done ball and claw feet for tables and chairs, but not on flat like this. Quite a different animal and you did a great job.

[Joel Ficke]

Very nice Lou. One of these is on my to-do list, but it may be years away. Hopefully seeing yours will provide some inspiration! Thanks for sharing.

[Pete Bradley]

Lou,

I notice the triangular shape at the bottom of the column. Is the column built up, or is that for something else?

Pete

[Bill Simmeth]

Lou,

Sweet piece! You've got some nice legs there buddy. Thanks for sharing!

[Jerry Olexa]

Really outstanding work!!! Love the details and precision. Always love the sliding dts on these 3 legged beauties... VERY nicely done....Thanks!!

[John Miliunas]

WOW!!! Old world craftsmanship right here in 2007! That is absolutely wonderful, Lou and the attention to detail is nothing short of exquisite. :) I swear you have more talent in your little finger than I do in my whole body!:o Simply beautiful. Thanks for sharing. :) :cool:

[Steve Wargo]

Excellent piece Lou. The ball and claw feet really are a nice added touch. they are laid back nicely. Congrats on a job well. done.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Excellent work Lou. The variation of color hues in the top, along with its grain pattern, make it truly outstanding. I also really like the scallop pattern on the underside of the legs, it adds a lot. Was the piece a composite of several designs or patterned after a particular single piece in a museum or a book? As you well know by now, I'm a sucker for Queen Anne and Chippendale pieces. Beautifully executed piece!!!

[Rick de Roque]

Excellent as always.

Rick

[Per Swenson]

Lou,

Beautiful, the feet are striking.

Wait,the whole piece is striking, not just the feet.

Remarkable.

Per

[Dan Oliphant]

Wonderful piece, well done!!!!

[Ken Werner]

I'll throw in my applause, along with everybody else's. Exquisite work.
Ken

[Don Stanley]

good morning ww's

here is a little piece that I just finished up last week. took about a month of to do it. I really love these little 3 legged tables, and the pie crust top really sets it off ( single 16" board ). Black walnut is finished with blo & por o pac, followed with garnet shellac and then top coated with laquer. Photos are not the greatest, but you get the idea. top is carved my hand as are the legs.

enjoy

lou

WOW! My first thought was that you restored an antique table, but this is even better! I can see why you like the design.

-Don

[lou sansone]

Beautiful piece Lou. Any secrets or thoughts on controlling stability of a solid, single board like this. I have an old table similar to yours, tho not nearly as nice as yours, and it has warped or cupped a little.

I've enjoyed all the posts showing your incredible shop and machines and it is good to see what can happen when they are turned on, with some liberal application of talent and hand tooling to boot. Thanks, JCB

Wide boards like this one can be very fussy, especially when you take a bunch of material out of the center as the pie crust does. What I have found that works good for much of my small projects, that use thin wood, is to put the piece I am working on in a plastic bag when not actually working on it. I always use a moisture meter for my work and I know the condition of my stock. much of it is between 8 and 12 percent when I first start working with it. but my shop is heated and in the winter will definitely drive the moisture down to 6 %. I do keep about 2000 bd feet inside my shop, but it is not stickered. If I dig down into the pile there is a good chance that one of those boards will still be at the 10% value from the summer time. This particular board came from my separate unheated wood storage building and was @ 12% so I had to be very careful working with it. It is nice and flat now, but I knew it wanted to potato chip on me
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=17916

By keeping it in the plastic bag for the time it took to make the table and letting it sit out for a few hours at a time while carving it, it did get down to the 6% range without any tendency to warp.

For bigger projects, I pay very careful attention to my lumber and never let a board "lay on one side" when in process. Sometimes I will use cauls to hold wide panels in check until I get them fixed into some type of frame.

The underside of the table does have the traditional cleats on it and as soon as I could put them on I did. I had to take them on and off a bunch of times during the construction process, but it was worth it. warped tops are very noticeable and detract from the project.

Lou

[Tom Hamilton]

Wow, Lou, your table is beautiful. Congrats on a fine piece.

Tom

[lou sansone]

Absolutely beautiful, Lou! The carving on the top is gorgeous, I think that alone would have taken me a month. I've carved a prototype ball and claw, in rehersal for a lowboy. I, too, am an 18th century fan, and am chomping at the bit to make some real ball and claws.

How did you learn to carve? Are you self-taught? I've been toying with going to a Lonnie Bird carving class, where you carve a ball and claw, a shell, and the details at the knee of a leg. I took a casework class from him once, which was the best class I've ever taken.

Todd

Hi todd
thanks for the kind words.. I am self taught on most things. I read a lot and have always worked with my hands. I think classes are a good idea. I am a decent turner, but would like some formal training for turning. Carving is also one of those things that are helped along if you can get the time to take the class. I do think though that practice makes perfect. I remember years ago fretting about handcut dovetails. I find it always quicker to just cut them by hand than screw around with jigs and books and all that, plus they look better.

[lou sansone]

Beautiful wood and execution as well as attention to details Lou. Those make for a stunning piece of furniture. Is it a keeper or for someone else?

Karl

thanks karl

its a keeper ... It got finished on feb 14th ;) ...
lou

[lou sansone]

Exquisite work Lou. Your statement “I really love these little 3 legged tables” implies that this isn’t your first and might not be your last. I would love to see a tutorial on how you made it.

Next time??

hi bruce
I have built a bunch of these. I will definitly build more. they are really very fun and I find relaxing to build. many of the guys here do take all the photos during construction, but I am just too lazy to do that. I take the photos when the thing is sitting in the house. the order of things is

1. do the top... its cool and fun to do

2. do the legs and make sure you cut the dovetails first before any other shaping work. when doing these or any shaped leg, always do all the legs together. what ever step you take on one leg, you must take on all the others. do not try to complete one leg at a time. this takes dicipline but when the legs all look identical, you have a good piece of furnitue.

3. do the column last. you will have to take it back off the lathe to layout the dovetails on the lower section of the column. mark the lathe spur and the post for registration and you will be able to put it back and it will be pretty close to centered.

4. cut the flats on the column and then the dovetails. all of this is done on the lathe with a 1/4 collet palm router and a little jig that I made that sits on the lathe.

5. once the column is done, take it off the lathe and do the final fit for the legs dovetail ( I usually cut the column dovetail too tight and then use a chisel to tweek it for a good fit.

lou

[lou sansone]

Very nice Lou,does the table tilt?I have done (once) the ball & claw, and it was diffcult for me.Your's looks fantastic!I have always wanted to do the pie crust table,but its out of my league.Where did you get your design from?(Ykour own or a book)

this is a miniature pie crust ( only 16" top ) and so there is no bird cage on this one. I have done 36" tip and turn tables, and those have birdcages on them. there is really no examples of these little ones that I know of with the bird cage. There are a bunch of books that have pie crust examples and most are similar. it is basically just a simple reversing cyma curve. I always do full scale drawings of things like this to make sure they are going to look right. fuss with the design until you like the looks. I like Wallace nutting and Israel sack for good books on 18th century stuff. The pie crust is easy to do. just take your time and think happy thoughts


Lou

[lou sansone]

Lou,

I notice the triangular shape at the bottom of the column. Is the column built up, or is that for something else?

Pete

hi Pete
that triangular shape is part of the waste from clearing away the post to allow me to get my router into the right position for cutting the dovetail in the post. I probably should have sanded it off ...
Lou

[lou sansone]

Excellent piece Lou. The ball and claw feet really are a nice added touch. they are laid back nicely. Congrats on a job well. done.

hi steve
thanks for complement. they are hard to make look right when they are layed back like that. I always try to take israel sack's comments to mind when doing any of these legs. the best legs make it look like the table wants to leap off the gound. if the leg is limp or sort of squat it does not look right. you need the sweep in the ankle / heel area to get it looking like a dog that is ready to jump.

lou

[lou sansone]

Excellent work Lou. The variation of color hues in the top, along with its grain pattern, make it truly outstanding. I also really like the scallop pattern on the underside of the legs, it adds a lot. Was the piece a composite of several designs or patterned after a particular single piece in a museum or a book? As you well know by now, I'm a sucker for Queen Anne and Chippendale pieces. Beautifully executed piece!!!

it was patterned after a few published pieces. nutting and sack were the main influences, along with a little from our friend vandal. thanks for the complements. I also like the little scallops on the legs. some of the examples had carved knees, but for this miniature table, I thought it would just be to busy.

Lou

[jonathan snyder]

WOW, very nice work Lou!! I love the feet. You are a very talented carver. Thanks for sharing. The quality of work displayed on this board never ceases to amaze me.

Jonathan

[Calvin Hobbs]

Lou,

Nice project, nice wood. Good crisp job on the feet. Did you consider carving on the knees?

To my eye the bead on the pie crust looks a little fat and the top thick, but it's probably a function of the small size. The delicate-ness of the best period work is always a challenge to me in my projects.

Keep up the good work. Thanks for posting this project, Cal

[Mike Waddell]

Outstanding work, Lou!

[Mike Cutler]

Very nice Lou. It's beautiful. The ball and claw feet are very well done.

Spring is around the corner, we won't have to the clamping and cauling trick any longer when not working on projects.;)

Mike

[Larry Crim]

Lou that is and outstanding table, I really like the feet and the scalloped edge, some day you'll have to put together a step by step on the feet. I'm sure a lot of us would apriciate it.
Good Job
Larry

[Dave Malen]

Great job,
I particulary like the ball and claw feet. It would probably take a month for me to carve just one. Also the top "crust" is impressive. Thanks for posting.
Dave

[Roy Wall]

Lou,

That is a wonderful little table!! Your skill is impressive - everything about it is just perfect. Nice, nice job!!!

[Brett Baldwin]

It may be small but the work put into it obviously wasn't. It is a great piece and I especially like the claws. They do look more "alive" than others I've seen.

[lou sansone]

Lou,

Nice project, nice wood. Good crisp job on the feet. Did you consider carving on the knees?

To my eye the bead on the pie crust looks a little fat and the top thick, but it's probably a function of the small size. The delicate-ness of the best period work is always a challenge to me in my projects.

Keep up the good work. Thanks for posting this project, Cal

Hi calvan
clarkson's book shows the top to be a total of 1 inch thick. this one is probably about 0.8" at the most. It is its small size and my poor photography that make it look sort of thick. I also reduced the width of the scallop from 3/4" to ~ 1/2". Part of the problem with miniaturizing pieces is not making them so small that they have no strength left. If you were to see the piece in person it would look decent. I am sure you know that when scaling larger pieces, you have to compromise on some things. The legs still needed the same lift that a 36" table would have, but not the same "spread". Again, that is why I do full size drawings. I still ended throwing away some actual leg blanks after sawing. Once sawed out they just did not look right. I know that these pie crust tables most often had carving on the knees and column. I just thought that it would make it too busy with the reduced size. I will definitely build a couple more versions and I may do one with more leg carving the next time.

Lou

[Chris Barton]

Stunning, just stunning!

[Howie French]

Lou,

This is a great looking piece ! It really looks wonderful.

A few weeks back, I was fortunate to meet Lou and tour his shop, along with the tour I was able to see this piece in progress. I was very impressed, and I agree, the pictures can't quite capture the beauty and proportions of the carving.

Let me also add, that meeting Lou was a pleasure, not only is he a very talented woodworker with a beautiful shop, but more importantly he is a fine gentlement.

Howie

[Rob Millard]

Lou,
Excellent work; like everyone else, I’m taken with the feet. They have a lively shape that is often missing on reproductions.

I also agree that carving the knees would have not added to the piece.

I have never joined the legs with way you have, instead I do the “cope” joint; I’ll have to give your method a try.

Rob Millard

[Alan Turner]

Nice work, as always. Good proportion, and nice way to carefully handle the wide plank top. I will have to try that method.

[Don Bullock]

good morning ww's

...here is a little piece that I just finished up last week. took about a month of to do it. ...enjoy

lou

About a month?:eek: Wow, that's beautiful! Wood choice, design workmanship are all superior. Lou, thanks for sharing.

[Mark Valsi]

DAMN, MAN !!!!


holy cow, that carving is amazing !! I SAID AMAZING !!


Dude, that is AMAZING !!!

[Jason Tuinstra]

The master craftsman speaks! Wow! That's a wonderful piece! Thanks for showing it off to us and giving us a goal to shoot for.

[lou sansone]

Lou,
Excellent work; like everyone else, I’m taken with the feet. They have a lively shape that is often missing on reproductions.

I also agree that carving the knees would have not added to the piece.

I have never joined the legs with way you have, instead I do the “cope” joint; I’ll have to give your method a try.

Rob Millard

hi rob
I am honored by your complements. I think everyone knows the level of your work. I do like the method that I use for joining the legs. I have seen a few examples that use that method. you have to be very exact with the width of the flat or it will not look right.

lou

[Zahid Naqvi]

Wow! wonderful piece.

[Calvin Hobbs]

Hi calvan
clarkson's book shows the top to be a total of 1 inch thick. this one is probably about 0.8" at the most. It is its small size and my poor photography that make it look sort of thick. I also reduced the width of the scallop from 3/4" to ~ 1/2". Part of the problem with miniaturizing pieces is not making them so small that they have no strength left. If you were to see the piece in person it would look decent. I am sure you know that when scaling larger pieces, you have to compromise on some things. The legs still needed the same lift that a 36" table would have, but not the same "spread". Again, that is why I do full size drawings. I still ended throwing away some actual leg blanks after sawing. Once sawed out they just did not look right. I know that these pie crust tables most often had carving on the knees and column. I just thought that it would make it too busy with the reduced size. I will definitely build a couple more versions and I may do one with more leg carving the next time.

Lou

Sounds good Lou, I did not mean to say that it's easy to scale down larger pieces at all (which I have never done), or to sound too critical. What I am seeing is probably not the thickness of the top or the width of the scallop, but maybe the undercutting of the lower perimeter.

I love and respect your work, and besides not many woodworkers attempt cabriole legs, much less carved chippendale furniture. It's obvious you know how to control a chisel. And believe me I do like the project.

Thanks, Cal

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Nice feet.
I've been wanting to try that for a while.

[Randy Denby]

I am in awe...and stumped. Is there a tutorial anywhere that describes making the piecrust table? Is it routed to form the recessed top and then hand carved around the edge?
Thanks for any info pointing me in the right direction. I have got to try this.
Randy

[David Less]

Lou,

I can't say anything better than what has already been said. Great job!

What would it take for us to get you to take pictures during your build??

David

[lou sansone]

Lou,

I can't say anything better than what has already been said. Great job!

What would it take for us to get you to take pictures during your build??

David

I would love to take photos during my construction process, but I am lazy about stuff like that. There are plenty of books out there that do show photos and such. these tables are really pretty easy if you put your mind to it.

Lou

[Gary Herrmann]

Nicely done, Lou. The edge detail on the top was very well executed.

[Rob Will]

Nice work Lou,
I'm always interested in things to do with those pesky wide boards;) .
Thanks for the construction tips on how to stabilize them.
Rob