Shaker pedestal table

[Adam Grills]

Here is a sharker pedestal table in cherry I just completed. Not sure if to post in the Turning or Woodworking as its 50/50. There are some funny lighting things going on in the pic's showing light areas.

The table is taken from the pages of Pleasent Hill Shaker House by Kerry Pierce. I have made some slight chages to it.

Top 16 3/4" dia, 26" tall, pedestal dia max spot is 3". The legs are dovetailed into the center. Which created a lot of hand work to get the leg to sit on the column flush on the cruve and have the dovetails fit right.

Finish hand rubbed poly.

Adam

[Jim Becker]

Great job, Adam. These candle stands are wonderful projects and there are so many variations that are possible, both from a reproduction standpoint as well as a personal creativity standpoint. I've made two so far (same design) and hope to make more in the future and maybe with a little variation, too. This one you made really nice!

[Norman Pyles]

Good looking candle stand. I love anything Shaker, and have visited Pleasent Hill, KY many times. Thanks for sharing.

[Don Dorn]

I have the center turned on mine, but it sits in the corner because I'm not real sure how to accurately cut the dovetails in the bottom of the spindle - any tricks you would like to share? I'd prefer not to have to build the large box type jig for this single table, but if it's my only option, I'll guess I'll have to. By the way - it's a beautiful table, nice work.

[Adam Grills]

Don,
Same with me I did not want to build a box for the lathe (not indexed either) and trying to hold the spindle on the lathe from spinning.

I used 2 cove cut scrap wood pieces clamped to the sides of the spindle. The scrap pieces slid against the fence of the router table. Dovetail bit mounted in the router 3/4 depth of cut on the 120 deg marks. That was the easy part.

Using the same bit I cut the pins on the legs. The problem is when cutting the legs they will not sit flush on the sides of the spindle due to it being round. The hard work is to cut curves in the shoulders so the legs sit flush on all parts of the spindle. Am I making sense? The other trick is to cut the pins on the legs at the depth so when you carve the back of the shoulder the dovetail still fits tight. It takes a little thinking.

Adam

[Bill Huber]

Very nice looking table I am sure someone will be prod to have that in there living room..


Now a question for all.......

What defines a piece of furniture as Shaker style?

[Pat Germain]

What defines a piece of furniture as Shaker style?

The Shakers were similar to the Amish in that they avoided anything proud or flashy. Thus, their furniture was practical, plain in appearance and with simple lines; no shiny brass hardware, inlays or exotic wood patterns. Turns out such furniture is quite beautiful as well as practical.

Since the Shakers aren't around any more, we can't ask them. I would say anything built to copy anything actually built by the Shakers would definately be considered Shaker furniture.

Obviously, one could take Shaker designs and modify them. If such designs include anything flashy, I wouldn't think it could accurately be called Shaker. Perhaps such modified designs left with a plain appearance could be called 'Shaker style'.

That's just my take. :)

[Greg Pavlov]

The Shakers were similar to the Amish in that they avoided anything proud or flashy. Thus, their furniture was practical, plain in appearance and with simple lines; no shiny brass hardware, inlays or exotic wood patterns. Turns out such furniture is quite beautiful as well as practical. .......

At the same time, tho, there were some real differences in degree of ornamentation/complexity, esp betw the furniture coming out of Kentucky vs that from New England.

[Pat Germain]

^^ Interesting. I'd like to discuss this more, but religious discussions are prohibited on SMC and it's pretty difficult to talk about a religious sect without discussing religion.

[Bill Huber]

The Shakers were similar to the Amish in that they avoided anything proud or flashy. Thus, their furniture was practical, plain in appearance and with simple lines; no shiny brass hardware, inlays or exotic wood patterns. Turns out such furniture is quite beautiful as well as practical.

Since the Shakers aren't around any more, we can't ask them. I would say anything built to copy anything actually built by the Shakers would definately be considered Shaker furniture.

Obviously, one could take Shaker designs and modify them. If such designs include anything flashy, I wouldn't think it could accurately be called Shaker. Perhaps such modified designs left with a plain appearance could be called 'Shaker style'.

That's just my take. :)

Thanks Pat, I was thinking along those lines but was just not sure.

[Don Dorn]

I used 2 cove cut scrap wood pieces clamped to the sides of the spindle. The scrap pieces slid against the fence of the router table. Dovetail bit mounted in the router 3/4 depth of cut on the 120 deg marks. That was the easy part.

Using the same bit I cut the pins on the legs. The problem is when cutting the legs they will not sit flush on the sides of the spindle due to it being round. The hard work is to cut curves in the shoulders so the legs sit flush on all parts of the spindle. Am I making sense? The other trick is to cut the pins on the legs at the depth so when you carve the back of the shoulder the dovetail still fits tight. It takes a little thinking.

Adam

I think I understand what you are saying - it makes far better sense and I think I'll now be able to move ahead. Thank you.

Don