Replies

1. 
   Timberwerks | Jul 12, 2003 05:50pm | #1

   Muffin Man

   Today is your lucky day. I will send you my Making A Piecurst Tea Table book by Tom Heller & Ron Clarkson free of charge to keep. You just reimburse my shipping cost. I no longer need the book and it is like new. I will also send you a catalog of Stubai carving tools to look over and help point you in the right direction. 

   Email me your address and any questions [email protected]

   Dale

1. 
   ron61 | Jul 12, 2003 06:27pm | #2

   Thanks for the offer of the book  but I have an older book that has a table that I would really like to build.

   Glad you mentioned Stubai carving tools  they have a great site and looks to be wonderful tools.

   Would you know which tools I would need to do the carving  of the top and feet?

   Its all Greek to me

   Many ThanksThe Muffin Man Can

1. 
   Timberwerks | Jul 13, 2003 12:06am | #5

   Rob has given you a great reply on tool selection. I would just like to add that a couple of back bent gouges may also help you great deal. Even  just a 6- 10mm or 16mm back bent will serve you well for this project.

   Dale

   Edited 7/12/2003 5:08:01 PM ET by timber

1. 
   RMillard | Jul 13, 2003 01:26am | #6

   Dale,

   You were absolutely right, I should have added the No. 25/10 ( a backbend gouge) to the list. This works well for defining the knuckles on the feet. I did mention the No.28/6mm for the beaded edge of the top. Carving tools are a little like clamps, you never seem to have enough.

   Rob Millard

1. 
   Timberwerks | Jul 13, 2003 01:36am | #7

   I agree, this is why I became a dealer. It feeds my addicition for more tools. Don't tell my wife that though. She thinks I do it to make a few dollars.

   Take Care

2. 
   RMillard | Jul 12, 2003 11:24pm | #3

   	12856.2 in reply to 12856.1
   	I made the table in the gallery, I believe you are referring to. There was a discussion on the table just last week so I have attached my reply to that question here. That particular thread did not deal with the feet, so here is my approach to the feet. First start with a full size drawing of the leg. Make sure to get a good ‘lift” to the so called ankle, as many reproductions and some period pieces, suffer from a poor leg design. Since a leg like this is quite hard to visualize, I suggest ( and did this myself) that you make a leg in a cheap easy to carve wood, to insure that the pattern is right. This also has the benefit of letting you try your hand a the ball and claw. The stance of the foot is much different than a foot on a piece like a highboy, and capturing that lifelike stance is not always easy. The leg blank starts out as a monstrous block of wood, and it is quite a chore to get rid of everything that doesn’t look like a ball and claw foot. Here is where the Heller and Clarkson book helps, but their process of adding wings to the feet is not only unnecessary, but it actually distracts for the finished foot making it look wide and clumsy. Even if the table you want to make in not the one shown in their book, anyone with enough skill to tackle a piecrust table will have no problem adapting the details to their table. The tools I used for the feet, were No. 5/18mm, No. 2/5mm, Dbl Bevel No. 1/8 Skew, No. 9/10mm spoon, No. 3/8mm and a No. 7/14mm fishtail. I used more tools than this, but these are what I’d call the most important. I also, made extensive use of various bench chisels for shaping the ball, and small scrapers and files to smooth the ball. When you see a piecrust table, you immediately assume the top to be the difficult part, but it is actually the feet and the leaf carving that are the real challenge Rob Millard Despite its complex look, the top of a pie crust table is quite easy to make. The top should be made from a single board. For the highest historical accuracy, lay your top out so it is a slight oval. Most original tops are narrower across the grain by about ½ “ due to shrinkage. You’d be surprised how noticeable this is. Originals were dished on the lathe, an option that I didn’t even consider. I used a router to remove the bulk of the waste from the center, leaving bridges , to support the base, which I later removed with a chisel. This just happened to make the largest pile of fine nasty dust I have ever seen. The center is then scraped to level and refine it. The carving of the edge is best done completely by hand, using various gouges, with my favorite being the following. No. 7 10mm fish tail, No. 5 8mm, No. 2 5mm, and the No. 28 6mm ( these are all Pfeil). One place that I think a lot of reproductions fall short is that they make the outside bead too pronounced, which results in a clumsy look. The transition from the flat portion of the top, to the raised edge requires great care to insure it remains flat, with no high spots or dips. This is another area that some reproductions have trouble with. The beveling ( or more accurately the rounding) of the underside, is done by first removing the bulk of the waste with a chamfer bit and then completed with rasps and ever finer files. This is not a whole lot of fun, and it seems like it takes forever. Don’t worry about a few file marks being left behind, these are present on the originals. As far a reference material goes, there are the following, that I know of. November/December 1987 Fine Woodworking, with articles by Mr. Pine and Landon Making a Piecrust Tea Table by Tom Heller and Ron Clarkson, Schiffer Pub. 1994. The Heller/Clarkson book is very complete, but suffers on one major point, the finish. The table in the book is in my opinion poorly finished, and is certainly not up to the level of what a table like this calls for. The turnings are rough with noticeable tearout, and the shellac is applied very thick, and was not rubbed out, creating cheap overly glossy look. The Landon article is very good, and shows the edge as is should look, which is quite shallow. The Pine article give an excellent overview of how the complete table should go together.

1. 
   creekwood | Jul 12, 2003 11:56pm | #4

   Thank you, and all knowledgeable contributors, who share their skills and expertise on working with wood. I saw your table, and it is beautiful.  This is why I like this site so much. Everyone shares their experiences for the benifit of all. I am trying to make a living in this profession, and this site is full of old and new procedures. If I can't learn something in here at least once a week, I will know I've died.

   Again, thanks for sharing.