Stickley #599 Keyhole Trestle Table.

[gary Zimmel]

Latest project I have been working on. My wife told me to put the ongoing shop upgrade on hold and do a couple of pieces for our home.
First one is this Stickley #599 Keyhole Trestle Table.I have tried to keep it to the original that L. & L.G. Stickley designed in 1912. All in all a simple build just a little harder working with 8/4 QSWO for pretty much the whole project....
Template first for the legs.

trestle table 1.jpg

Being that the mortises were in 1 3/4" white oak I decided to lay them up in the glue up. This would save a ton of time.

glue up 3.jpg glue up 6.jpg

Legs all done. Cutting the circles were done with a Festool jigsaw.
I've got to hand it to the Festool guys, with the right blade match there was very little deflection.
Everything was then cleaned up with a router and the template.

legs cut out.jpg

With the stretchers done and tenons on all of the ends, I made angled mortices to accept the tusks.

through tenoons 5.jpg

tusks 3.jpg

One big beast… After my wife and I flipped the the top over I’m thinking the top is over 200 lbs. Doing the tops glue up in sections and using lots of dominos the joints were sweet and the top very flat.

ready for finish.jpg

And one pic with the above photo rotated.

ready for finish_2.jpg

Legs are just over 1 ¾” thick. Top is 86”X42” and a bit over 1 5/8” thick.
Quite the fun project and it got the thumbs up from my wife. She has picked her chairs to go with the table. Stickley Spindle arm and side chairs. I’m thinking I will get a free ticket for shop time when we start those….

Hope everyone is getting a little shop time!

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[Dave Anthony]

Very nice. I see work like this and wonder why I even bother with this hobby. But then I start thinking, wait, maybe I could take part of what he did there and apply it to... anyway, thanks for posting, I may steal an idea or two. How did you cut the angled mortises?

[gary Zimmel]

Thanks Dave.
My general mortiser will tilt. Don't use this feature much but when I do, it sure does the trick....
Given the depth of these mortises (3 1/2") I had to do them from both sides to get all the way through.

stretcher mortices 3.jpg

I used a spacer behind the stock, after the first cut I removed the spacer..
This allowed me to do the full width of the angled mortise without having to adjust the mortiser.


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[G Douglas Fowler]

Very nice and well-executed. How did you attach the top for movement? What is your finish schedule?

[Bruce Page]

Gary, great looking trestle table, and stout too! I don't think you will have to worry about wearing it out!
I would love to see it after finishing.

[gary Zimmel]

Thanks Douglas and Bruce.
The top will sit on loose dowels. Holes for the dowels in the top will be elongated to allow for movement.
With the weight of the top I don't think it will need any more than that.
As for the finishing. A quite dark stain to start, but not too sure about the top coat.
Given the size of this it may be time for a HVLP....

[John Keeton]

Gary, finally got over here to take a look at the thread! Had to rush out of here this AM, and didn't have time to comment. Having seen some progress pics along the way, I can affirm you have done an excellent job with this one!! Hard to manage that much mass and weight, and I am betting Geri is glad this thing is done! Got to thinking about the dark stain - you might want to experiment with some dye on this one. I bet you could get really close to the Stickley color, and preserve the clarity of the fleck and ray figure - more like a fumed look. Give it some thought!

Beautiful piece!

[gary Zimmel]

Thanks John, and good call about the dye... I will pick some up and do some experimenting.