PDA

View Full Version : a little Stickley for the little wife (pics)



Walt Caza
01-24-2008, 1:05 PM
Good Day to the Creek,
I see that PopWW is now offering their excellent 'Woodworking' mag for subscription. The email offer I received
showed a Stickley tabouret on the cover. This reminder led me to post one that I made this past fall...

I found this project to be very satisfying due to the use of more handtools than I have ever used on anything before...
Dimensions for this Gus Stickley #603 tabouret were taken from Robert Lang's first shopdrawing book.
I did stretch it up an inch taller, which makes a nice mail drop table by the front door.
I had hoped to go a bit darker, but I built it for my wife, and she chose to go lighter.
I figure a pleased wife is as good as gets...
Thanks for looking,
Walt
:)

Walt Caza
01-24-2008, 1:08 PM
Here is the tabouret with oil stain and satin poly...
(and my pleased wife)

Chuck Lenz
01-24-2008, 1:09 PM
I made something on the same order a few years ago. I wished I had put a apron under the top. The top looked too thin for my taste when everything else was so thick.

gary Zimmel
01-24-2008, 1:25 PM
Walt

Beautiful looking tabouret and nice fleck in the QSWO. You did a great job!
Can I ask what color of stain did you use?

George Bregar
01-24-2008, 1:46 PM
Very nicely done...and the table is great too! ;) I like the color, very similar to my MC and furniture in QSWO

glenn bradley
01-24-2008, 2:04 PM
I think the color is perfect. I have been interested in one of those since I saw a pic somewhere (probably where you saw it, eh?). Was it as much fun to make as it looks? Great job.

Eric Mims
01-24-2008, 2:41 PM
I've made 3 of these. My mother wanted an apron on hers and it looks really, really nice. Of course, it took 4 times as long to make since I had to build a lamination clamp, cut the apron tenons, etc.

Roy Wall
01-24-2008, 3:15 PM
Walt -

I think the color is perfect too....always listen to your wife! Beautiful craftsmanship - the wood and the joints do the talking!!

Pat Germain
01-24-2008, 4:16 PM
Indeed, a beautiful example of Stickley, Walt. The wife picture is also very nice. :)

Rob Luter
01-24-2008, 4:21 PM
Nice finish! A dead ringer for the "Fayetteville" finish on current Stickley Mission Collection pieces. I'm fortunate to have a few in my living room. Nice, but pricey :eek:. Once I launch my new career as a Lotto winner I'll furnish the whole house with it :D

Art Mulder
01-24-2008, 7:33 PM
Nice table, Walt. Is that top a full 1" thick?

ps: can you actually get away with calling her "the little wife"? You're a braver man than I!

gary rogers
01-24-2008, 8:00 PM
Green grass & flowers? You have been hanging on to those pictures for a while. Nice job!

Don Bullock
01-24-2008, 9:41 PM
Green grass & flowers? You have been hanging on to those pictures for a while...

I was thinking the same thing.;):D

Walt, I can certainly see why your wife is pleased. Very well done.:D

BTW --- My wife seems to like the lighter wood as well.

Brad Hammond
01-24-2008, 11:09 PM
very very nice!!!!! the through tenons are excellent!

Danny Thompson
01-24-2008, 11:30 PM
Beautiful work, beautiful wife. Congrats on both counts.

C Scott McDonald
01-24-2008, 11:42 PM
Well done, I will agree with the others on the color is perfect. Nice hand craftmanship.

Walt Caza
01-27-2008, 3:42 PM
Hello again fellow Creekers,
I want to thank all for the kind words. I can claim to be no craftsman,
but I can claim to be teaching myself as hard as I can... (shrugs)

If were to build a larger table, I would definitely consider aprons,
but for that little tabouret I stuck with Stickley's design.
The real table is far less squat than the pics portray.

Yes Art, good eye, the top is a full 17/16" thick. It is a crying shame to
waste money and QSW oak, but to get that Craftsman look, I had to
sacrifice 5/4" oak to the thickness planer. It should prove more stable over
the next century as well. Even if the glue fails, the mechanical connections
of pegged tenons and doveys should endure... (3/4" top seemed a compromise)

As for colour, I am surprised by the positive response...
I made 22 colour samples on white oak, and ended up wifey selected
one of the original four, which were the corner cut-offs from the top blank.
You can see it lower right and arched...
Colour is dodgey due to the camera, shop lights and all our moniters are set differently.
Now if I can just recall my blended oil stain recipe!
Thanks,
Walt
:)

Mike Cutler
01-27-2008, 3:59 PM
Nice work Walt. The Taboret is a faithful reproduction. Nice size and proportions. The finish is excellent.

22 individual stain samples. Wow!:eek: You definitley have some perseverance.;)

Seriously though. Very well done. You should be very proud of it.

Jim Becker
01-27-2008, 9:11 PM
The pleased looking customer is the most important part, but that's one fine table! Nice work!

Keith Beck
01-28-2008, 3:23 PM
Walt,

Very nice job! I made the same table as a "honey-do" requirement.

http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL371/9505758/17337251/269134638.jpg
The legs on your table look very nice. I think if I had to do mine over again, I would have done something to get rid of the flat-sawn grain on the side faces of the legs. I'm not crazy about that look.

Keith

Walt Caza
11-22-2008, 2:45 PM
Hey Keith,
In revisiting this old thread, I see you were unhappy with the 2 flat sawn sides on your tabouret legs.
It just occurred to me why my legs did not suffer the same fate.
I just recalled... that I purchased a bit of 8/4" RIFT sawn white oak for those legs. Just barely enough too.
I dug through the pile for that board, because I was trying to build my first
solid wood project as good as I could...
and also, I hoped it would turn out 'Creek-worthy'.
I hoped to avoid plain sawn cathedrals, which would be conspicuous.

Thought I would share it, as an afterthought.
My wife's little table has survived the seasons well so far.(built August 2007)
The bottom stretcher half-laps do seem to open up gaps a little bit in dry winter.
Everytime the front door is opened, it gets an icy blast. (mail drop table)

I think watching our projects and how they fare over time and seasons,
is an important aspect of woodworking.
Only years of such experience can give us that 'bigger picture'.
Hope you get some shop time,
Walt

Mikail Khan
11-22-2008, 3:05 PM
I think this post is really a stealth gloat.;)

Congrats

MK

scott spencer
11-22-2008, 3:12 PM
The table looks great Walt, but it seems to me that it gets upstaged by your wife! You're very wise to keep her happy. ;) Nice work!

John Thompson
11-22-2008, 6:02 PM
I didn't catch this way back when Walt... but very nicely done and I also love the color. Clever little trick using the rift sawn to avoid the two sided fleck effect. I would do the same in this case with that size table to not distract attention for the table top.

Regards...

Sarge..