Paul Sellers Chairside Table

[Scott Winners]

Finally done. This thing has been floating around my shop for probably two years ready to glue up, but I am just ambivalent about it dry assembled with no finish on it.

I finally glued it up, got some finish on it, and I am still ambivalent. It does have some classic proportions I do appreciate, but I personally don't like the feet. That's it. I don't like this table because I don't like the legs and I dislike the feet. Thanks for listening while I got all vulnerable sharing my feelings.

Material is American Beech. I finished the legs and aprons with hemp oil and Clapham's Bees Wax polish. I used a soap finish on the top made from Castile (Castille?) soap flakes and distilled water. I did use some epoxy however many years ago to build up some stock to make the legs from, but by and large the grandkids can cut every tooth in every head on this table and maybe get some fiber in their diet.

Maybe I will like the feet on this table after they have some teething marks from the grands. For now it is in the living room next to my reading chair, giving it a chance to grow on me.

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[Scott Winners]

The first time I dry assembled this table I had the top to rough size, mortises in the otherwise square legs and tenons cut on the ends of the otherwise square aprons. It was ugly, just too heavy, too heavy, too heavy. The next time I had the arcs cut in the undersides or the aprons and that helped a LOT. Finally I finished carving the legs in maybe 2020 or 2021 and put it together this week.

However much I dislike the feet, this table has always had some kind of presence or grace to it that I cannot overlook. With the bottom glued up and the top buttoned down I broke out my dividers and found out pretty quick this whole thing is designed in increments of 3 inches. Background, I bought the plans for this table contained within "Working Wood 1 &2" by Paul Sellers. I am geographically constrained from popping over to my nearest wood store for weekend classes on dovetails, and don't regret having bought the book and having done all the projects. When I got stuck in the book, Paul has plenty of content on youtube, usually covering whatever I got stuck on; it was helpful to me to not have two different people trying to explain something tricky.

The thing is there is a limited number of hand tools required in the opening chapters of the book to make all the projects. There is no heavy floor standing jointer called for in the opening chapters to machine cut tapers on all four sides of all four of these legs. I decided to carve to the plans with the specified tools. I really really wanted to taper these legs, but I wasn't going to do it with a #4 Bailey, and I wasn't sure how tapered legs would look with the curves on the aprons.

The classic proportions of the design pretty much leapt out of the table as soon as I had the table and my dividers on my bench top. I did grab one of the scraps I practice carved a foot onto to walk the dividers on. None of these dimensions are exact, but they all were within half an inch or so. The top is 15x15 inches, about, so I set my dividers to three inches on a hunch and was able to walk all over the table. So top at 5x5 increments, the footprint of the feet is 12x12 inches (OC) or 4x4 increments... The vertical rhythm of the leg is 3 inches at the floor carved foot, then 6 increments (18 inches) of uniform leg then one more increment at the top. The width of the aprons at their most narrow point is 3 inches. So the legs are (1+6+1) 8 increments long, the foot print is 4x4, the contained space is a double cube 4x4x8 increments.

The square stock for the legs a touch over 1.5 x 1.5 inches, so half an increment by half an increment.

Mr. Sellers did a right much amount of tweaking and massaging and adjusting here and there and everywhere. Respect is due. He has probably built a LOT of these tables and just moves stuff a twitch here and a hair there over the years to arrive at the plans published in the book.

Towards the bottom of my fairly substantial shop build list I am going to pencil in 'chair side table with tapered legs.' A sub part of that build will be knocking out a rough build in construction lumber bang on the whole number ratios called out above, but i already know that will look clunky next to the plans Paul has published.

[Scott Winners]

My next reading chair is on the shopping list, not the building list, but at least I have a place to sit down.

[Christian Hawkshaw]

My next reading chair is on the shopping list, not the building list, but at least I have a place to sit down.

Very nice...Yes, you definitely need a more comfortable chair for reading.