Dining Table - Mahogany Trestle

Finished height, 29 in., width 36 in., length 60 in.
I will make a scale model  to verify the the design.  Good thing, because customer changed her mind.

Well, like all things -- design changed.    Current design has more massive legs with  double-tenons through legs made of 2 1/2 in. mahogany.

Here is a shot of the sections just off the bandsaw.



 And....after waiting for vacationitis to settle ... the finished product.    I made a last minute change in the top after coming across an old table made of maple blocks finger-joined  into a 36 x 60 table top.  You just never know where your materials are going to come from sometimes ;o)

I ripped it into three sections so I could run them through the planer and reglued with some mahogany strips to tie in the other wood.   Tenon pegs are natural maple.

Since the top is only 5 feet, I will make 12 inch extensions to match the top and give a full 7 ft. if more guests need to be seated.

Well, my CEO decided she didn't like the horizontal trestle and also wanted black chairs. 

 I cut the trestle in half and then cut vertical mortises in leg and made black keys... looks pretty nice.  the keys cover the previously horizontal mortise.

 And notice the white carpet has been replaced -- good riddence!

Mahogany Mule Chest

Finished Mule Chest

My favorite customer has commissioned a big 11-drawer Mule Chest to match her African Mahogany bed I made 5 years ago. From Veneer Supplies, I have purchased some beautiful curly Mahogany veneer for the end panels. There are 18 pieces in the bundle. Each is about 7 in x 82 in., so I'll have plenty for a couple of projects. Since my panels are going to require only two or three strips, I'll have plenty for the drawers if we go that route. The cost was about $170.00 delivered, so that pencils out to $2.50 per sq ft,


Chest dimensions will be about 5.5 ft wide and about 45 in high. Maybe should add handles for the poor guy who has to move it!


The carcass is now glued up. I used some beautiful curly mahogany veneer for the end panels with a substrate of 1/2 MDF. the 2 1/4 in. legs are mortised for all the panels, rails and drawer dividers. Through tenons on the bottom and a dovetail on the top rail holds every thing tight--even if there were no glue.

























































Drawer boxes all done in 1/2 in. 11-ply Baltic Birch

Will pick up 30 board feet of Mahogany for the fronts and we'll be ready to stain. Getting ready for Jody's happy dance when I haul it upstairs.






Attached the drawer fronts, and decided I don't like them this way. Going to redo the guides and resize the fronts to make a flush drawer. Unfortunately, since the drawers will be an inch deeper now, I will have to cut that inch off each drawer back and reglue.

This looks nice, but just not Arts and Crafts style.

It is June 18, I got the drawers rebuilt and ready to stain. I decided against the bronze pulls at 15 dollars apiece. Will have to wait for a while on those. My wife is anxious to finally have this unit in the bedroom -- she's been postponed enough with other paying jobs and a move. I started this back last Fall!

Shelf with inlay

This was a great way to use up some mahogany veneer scrap and a little 1 in lumber I had layin' around the shop. I got the idea to make the company logo by glueing up some mahogany and pine.
It was a humble place, the men's room, but a needed change from the old one someone made out of construction lumber.

Ming Coffee Table

This interesting table was commissioned by a customer who wanted a ming-style table with a granite top for her living room. The dimensions were pretty large, 42 x 60, but the added 300 lbs of granite made for an interesting project.

I was given a photograph of the general design idea, and found some others online to help put a good working drawing together. The Ming Dynasty tables were notable for the legs -- curved or straight, they ended with a horse-hoof element.

I decided to build 6x6 blanks for the legs using 8/4 African Mahogany. The rails are 2 x 4 and are morticed into the legs with traditional European joint. The Chinese mitered joint is a little time consuming for this project and customer was happy with the idea.


I cut the legs on bandsaw, morticed and sanded to 150 grit. The rails had to be tenoned and dry-fit so the leg curve could be transcribed to end of rail. I ran the rails through table saw and hand planed to approximate shape and finished with belt sander and palm sander. Then all glued up.


The 1/2 x 2 mahogany risers were glued and screwed to rails and 2x4 fir support lattice installed to hold the 3/4 plywood support for granite. After everything was fair and sanded, I cut a 1/4 in. vee with the router on inside edge for accent.

Dyed before staining to bring the different colors into harmony.

Thankfully, I didn't have to mess with the granite. It was installed after I delivered the table.

Looked pretty good!
















Some Additional tables for the Media Room:

The customer liked the Ming table, so she had me make an end table in that style and three round tables for the long sectional couch.

I used the vacuum bag to make the top for endtable since it was so large and solid wood for the round tables.

A note on making the round aprons. I made up a form with three layers of 3/4 MDF cut to the inside dim of apron. The form was brought to perfect round by spinning on a center pin against belt sander. Belt sander was clamped on its side and the form spun against it.

Recipe is 1 layer of 1/8 bending poplar, 2 layers of 3/8 wiggle board and finally the finish veneer of African Mahogany. To get a perfect joint on the veneer, I just cut 1 in long and taped the surface of lower piece where it would overlap that 1 inch. After applying glue and temp clamp, I cut the overlap with a sharp blade and removed the waste. Then put on the band clamp, and we're done!

All pieces were dyed with a secret mixture of red, brown and black then stained with Minwax Red Mahogany.