Walnut table hutch - in progress

[Mark Singer]

John,
The proportions and detail are excellent! Excellent workmanship especially on the dovetail drawers! You are very highly skilled at difficult tasks! Great job!

[Russell Tribby]

Nice job John. I've always wanted to do beading by hand but haven't tried it yet. The dovetailing on the drawers look great. How has your experience with the Domino been?

[Barry Bruner]

John, you are doing a great job and it really has the potential of turning out beautiful. Please keep us posted because it is a very interesting project. Barry Bruner

P. S. John, I tried several times to answer your e- mail and my anti-virus or something is blocking it. This is the first time I have been able to let you know because I have been in the hospital three times since then. I have some kind of strange heart problem and if the rehab I am taking doesn't kill me first I am sure I will be fine.

[John Keeton]

George, a man can never have too much walnut! It is my favorite wood, although I do apparently have a slight allergy to it. The dust used to really get to me with flu like symptoms, but the DC system really has eliminated that.

Mark, compliments from you mean more than you know! I consider you one of the finest artists/craftsmen I know. While your modernistic style is not my thing (as I have commented before), you are a true creator of masterpieces with flawless execution. I never fail to be inspired when I see your work. You are gifted and have used it well.

Russell, thanks for the comments. I actually forgot that I had the Veritas beading tool. It has been around for many years and never used. This was its virgin voyage! Worked great, but I want to expand on being able to edge by hand and will be exploring options for that. The Domino experience has been great! Aside from the mistakes that I made as posted, it has been flawless. Doing the mitered ends on the drawer unit were a breeze with the Domino, as was building up the table base. Great tool, and I wish I had owned one on previous projects.

Thanks again to all who have looked and commented. Headed to the shop to work on the other drawers.

[John Keeton]

Barry, just saw your post - PM sent!

[Ralph Barhorst]

John,

Very nice design and execution. I like your beading tool. It looks like it works great.

I am looking forward to seeing the finished table.

[John Thompson]

Excellent job on this, John. I am also doing a 3 stage desk-hutch as it weighs so much it will take that to get it upstairs to assemble. I look forward to seeing the progression of this. You have a lot of work in both the piece and documenting the steps as that is work in itself.

Keep up the good work and documentation.

Regards...

Sarge..

[Lori Kleinberg]

John, I really appreciate the extra work involved in producing this thread and sharing it with us. That is a beautiful piece of furniture. From the design to the wood used, it all looks great. Please keep posting.

[Bill Wyko]

John this is coming together beautifully. I look forward to the progress.

[Jim Becker]

Lookin' great, John!

[Terry Achey]

Great looking project, John. I'm anxious to watch your progress. In addition to the pleasing overall design, I especially like the recycled legs and the beading detail. Yes, it is true... you can never have too kmuch walnut in stock .

Thanks for sharing!

Terry

[John Keeton]

The kind comments are so much appreciated. I debated about posting this thread because I knew it would pressure me to both move forward on the project, and be more critical in the work I do on it. In the end, for those very reasons, I am glad that I chose to post. Your encouraging remarks drive me forward. Kind of like Pavlov's dog I need to make progress while I can - turkey season is less than a month away!! Chasing birds will be the main prority for 3 weeks or so.

Well, my goal yesterday was to complete the lower drawers, and I did get them done. Went out this AM and planed the sides of the dovetails and took the obligatory pics.

Next will be to remove the temporarily affixed table top, and install these drawers, drawer guides and stops - and make any final adjustments in the drawer shelf. It is not permanently attached at the rear apron yet. Because of the lack of uniformity on the legs, I knew there would be some possibility of a little rack or lack of accuracy in the table base. The diagonals were pretty well on. But, when squaring up the legs, it was not possible to get them all exactly the same size AND square. When it came time to install the drawers, I needed the ability to "fine tune."

There is an interesting thread on the general forum (actually the second thread of a similar nature) on tolerances - and old school woodworkers. These legs were from a table that was circa 1880, and there was a good 1/4" difference among the legs. Most were not even the same dimension front to back-side to side. And, none of them were square - or even close. Yet I remember the table when we purchased it 25 years ago, and it "appeared" to be very well made. Funny what a close inspection will reveal I am hoping in years to come, no one disassembles this table/hutch with the same critical eye!!

[William Hutchinson]

I enjoy seeing the process of building fine furniture, please keep it going. I'd order a set of Blue Spruce chisels if I could make dove tails like yours, but I've learned-- it's ones ability that guides the tool. You've got the "skills" to make those tools dance. Excellent work!

[Ed Sallee]

John, that is a beautiful piece. Quite graceful.... I love watching the "progress posts".... you can learn so much from them. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I must have missed it the first or second time around.... as this is the first I've seen this.... Very well done... I can't wait to see the finished product.

[gary Zimmel]

Nice looking dovetails on those drawers John.

Maybe I could send you some measurements and have you build a couple drawers for me to speed up my project.....