The dining room of my house has become a study since the new conservatory took over its function as family eating place. The central space of this study lacks a focal point so I’ve decided to make a low – coffee table height – library table to fill the space.
The dominant style of the study is English Arts & Crafts, as there are some mouseman-style pieces in oak already in there; and the double doors from the kitchen are in a similar panelled oak style. The new library table needs to keep the English A&C theme but I decided to vary from the mouseman style and make the new table using some elements of the Barnsley style. These are the proposed major changes:
1) The top hayraker stretcher that supports the table top will be replaced by conventional aprons and 2 or 3 drawers, although the bottom hayraker stretcher motif will be retained.
2) The table will be coffee table height – around 40 – 45cm (16 – 18ins).
3) The hayraker stretcher will be widened in some fashion so it can act as a shelf for magazines and/or books. (Any suggestions)?
I propose to retain the following Barnsley design elements:
4) The table will be in solid oak, largely quarter-sawn.
5) The top will be a 2:3 rectangle with slightly convex ends, no breadboard and book-matched grain in the planks.
6) The legs will be octagonal.
7) Drawer fronts and panels will modelled in the Barnsley fashion, with a double slightly-raised central area on a plain field. Pulls will be “carved-loops” rather than the round ones shown in the picture.
8) The edges of table top and outer leg chamfers will have a Barnsley-style repeat relief carving motif (diamonds or squares).
9) Rounding-over, chamfers and other shaping will be with drawknife and spokeshave to give a “tooled” appearance.
Other proposed design elements:
10) The aprons will be frame & panels all made of solid oak.
11) All joinery will use M&T and DT rather than modern techniques such as biscuits.
12) The finish will use a light-oak spirit stain followed by 3 – 5 coats of Liberon finishing oil (tung oil with added resins and driers).
Any comments or suggested design changes would be very welcome. I suppose I’ll have to make a drawing…………
Next stage: selecting the timber from the store and planning the grain orientation for the various table parts.
Lataxe
Edited 12/28/2008 12:02 pm ET by Lataxe
Replies
David,
I sense another great thread coming up here.
A quick question,if I may?
How deep do you see the drawers to be?
BTW, that's a fine study Sir!
Robin
Robin,
The drawers will hold documents (probably with my furniture drawings on them) of size A4 - a standard sheet size in Blighty of 12" X 8.5". So, I'm thinking drawers at 3" deep between top/bottom rails of 1" deep. Any deeper and the proportions are going to look a little strange.
I need to make that drawing of the item - but so far I have no idea how to turn that hay rake stretcher into some kind of shelf wide enough to support a couple of books or a stack of magazines. The Y-ends have to be retained to keep the look; but perhaps the stretcher between the Ys could be formed of three bars instead of one....? Or of some sort of latticework (carved ribbon-weave maybe)?
Lataxe, who may root in the woodstore for suitable planks tomorrow.
"...but so far I have no idea how to turn that hay rake stretcher into some kind of shelf wide enough to support a couple of books or a stack of magazines. The Y-ends have to be retained to keep the look; but perhaps the stretcher between the Ys could be formed of three bars instead of one....? Or of some sort of latticework (carved ribbon-weave maybe)?"
Hmm. If it were me, the table being a low one, *and* I wanted to retain that wonderful stretcher *and* be able to view it *and* use it...I would probably use a piece of 8-10 mm safety glass as a shelf to lay upon it.
BTW, I visited Don Weber at his shop when in Kentucky last month. Here's a picture of his hayrake table. An upcoming PopWood will have an article with Don's table.
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It is a great table to sit at. Unlike my dining table, this bugger is solid and doesn't easily move about. Besides, I am quite taken with the stretcher. Going to have to build one someday.
Take care, Mike
David,
As you indicate,you could be runnung out of room,and run the risk of obscuring the view of the lovely stretcher.
I wonder how strong is your desire to have a shelf?
A very happy New Year to you,
Robin.
Should have read all the subsequent posts before I started running off at the fingers!
Can't add anything to those :-)
R
Here are pics of the initial timber selection. There are some big ugly chunks to get into shape!
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I'm hoping some of the offcuts from these chaps (when making the tabletop planks)will yield small parts such as drawer runners and kickers.
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There is a spare leg in there. If all goes well and a spare is not needed, this fifth leg will become the main beam of the hayrake stretcher.
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When the drawer fronts and panels are sliced from these planks, I need to make sure that the growth rings are at exactly 90 degrees to the cuts, so the medullary rays show up. Just a degree or 5 off and the rays get buried.
There may also be a mixture of oaks in there - the top planks are Swiss; some chnks are English oak and some American white oak. The colours just enough different to be noticeable so it's important what goes next to what. Also, a little light staining may be needed.
*****
Next post will be about the reduction of these chunks to the roughed out table parts.
Lataxe
Great looking wood! Nice quartersawn chunks. Looks like this is going to be fun!
I love the hay rake in general, but wonder if it is the right choice for a 16" high table where presumably it will be difficult or impossible to see most of the time. Likewise, if you want a shelf, it sounds less than ideal in that regard as well.
But if I was determined to make a shelf of a hay rack stretch, I would cut some 3/4" grooves in the 8/4 or so rake "handle" and diagonal members on both sides. I would then cut an 8 or 10 inch wide board to sit in those grooves, Ideally, I would use a contrasting dark wood for the shelves so that their color, and the fact that they are relieved from the top surface of the rake, would leave the rake structure still stands out as a design element.
Just some off the cuff thoughts.
S,
Well, I think ye be right about the shelf - perhaps best left off and just that fine hayraker left to show. I suppose books could always be balanced on the Y - but then the ladywife will only tidy them on to a bookshelf anyway.
Here's another design issue: the table top will have slightly elliptical or convex ends. Should the frame of the end aprons (which will be either one or two panels in a frame, with the panels raised to match the drawers) have elliptical/convex horizontals to match - a bit like those in the pic? Or should the rectilinear aspect be emphasised with straight/flat frame&panels? At present I favour the former.
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Lataxe, with pics via photobucket - thank you Derek.
I favour the former as well. Convex horizontals.
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