Live edge Walnut tables

This was a particularly interesting job. The owners of a beautiful timber frame home wanted tables built as featured elements in a small living room. After searching for the right piece of wood they found an amazing slab of walnut from a lumber dealer in Margaree. At its widest, this piece was just over 40 inches and over 8 feet in length. Through careful collaboration with the home owners I laid out the rough shape of each table on the wood. Next came the scary part; cutting that magnificent slab in half with the circular saw. These pieces had to fit very precisely around the 8x8 posts of this home. The tables sit atop simple brackets and are finished with oil and wax. Although these pieces will never be reproduced I love working with live-edge wood and try to keep a supply on hand.

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a walnut trestle table

jim and i took a road trip to stowe, vt, yesterday to deliver the walnut trestle table weve been working on . we also dropped off the x table while we were there. whatta place! ..right at the base of the mountain with a shuttle chair to the main base of the mountain literally right outside the sliding glass door. the dining table went in the great room, which was pretty great. the 10 table seemed a little lost for now without the rest of the furniture, but once the house is complete, im sure it will be right at home ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
they were installing the pavers in the driveway, which at first we thought would be a problem but they let us back right in over their completed work and we went in through the garage door.
it was too heavy to carry in one piece, so we assembled it on site.
there are 9" flip up leaves on each end which add 2 more people to the mix. the supports we designed for them worked pretty well. sam milled up some metal supports on his new milling machine and the way they work is they have a notch on the face side. you push the support in until it hits wht stiffeners, fold up the leaf, then pull out the support so the notch supports the leaf. total view of the underside below.
sam made the twisted metal bracing which added a really nice handmade dimension to the design.
in place, more or less. i think it will actually be turned 90 degrees when the room is finally finished.
the x table downstairs ...
and the process is below ...
rough lumber from irion lumber
glued up
routed on the ends for the leaves with sams steel bracing in place.
early stage of the leaf installation and figuring out.
routing for the breadboard ends ... the taped together file folders on the table top raise the breadboard ever so slightly without changing the router setting ...
the breadboard is clamped to the bench to rout, and the clamps are leapfrogged until the groove is complete ... we then fill the slot with short, long grain loose tenons and the breadboard is secured with square peg covering long screws in ovalized holes ...
and we had a nice, tbough gray, ride home down the champlain valley with the adirondacks in the distance ...

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a gate leg walnut console

we finished this walnut gateleg console table today, and it is headed for vail, colorado on thursday with 3 other pieces heading off, respectively, to chicago, (the custom pool table),, florida, (the 53" wide claro walnut table... more on that one later), and houston, (a cherry console table).  power of the internet.  for the first time this year, more of our work is going to clients who we have never met and who have never been to our studio than to clients we know or who have ties to southern vermont.  for the first few years, 10 or 20 at least, it was all people who had at least visted my shop or directly  knew folks who had.  the last 2 or 3 years, thats all changed.  its amazing to me, but im really thankful.

this table started as a concept based on another parsons table we had previously built for this client for their home in connecticut.  the main requirement was that the table was a console table 95% (or more) of the time, but that, in a pinch, could become a dining table for 4 or six additional guests

its your basic form with a fold over, veneered walnut top and two sets of gatelegs that swing out on the back side.

 

 with the legs fully unfolded, there will be room for 6 good friends or

or with the legs partially unfolded as below, comfortable seating for four.  even though we punted on the wood hinges, we still used the traditional dovetailed wood box for the table frame.

in the past, we have gone with the traditional wooden hinge for the gateleg option, but no matter how hard i tried, (and ive had my employees try it too) with the double gateleg, there was always too much play in the wooden hinge for comfort and stability.  this time we used some very tight 3" brass butt hinges, which, while untraditonal, i feel are a long lasting and slightly stiffer alternative.  there you have it, compact seating for six from an 18" x 60" console table.  a good combination.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

email note from a relative below ...

"p.s. we were in vail for xmas, and love the convertible table in kevins condo. it looks fabulous."

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