Your mark-out and sample joint surprised me... I had been thinking there would be a stopped haunch or diagonal tenon tyeing the outer board to the end board. Would that have been overkill, or too difficult to execute to justify the extra work?
Thanks for sharing your method. I like the peg in the end to help hold the miter together. I have done the spline shown in Haywards drawing and that works pretty well. The peg would be quicker and easier.
In the picture it looks like the inside edge of the vertical board is approximately where your tenon starts. Zooming in on the upper right corner there doesn’t appear to be a tenon.
If you wanted to draw bore, couldn’t you do it from the bottom, stopping just short of penetrating the top?
Do you have any idea what the little square recesses in the corners are for?
I had thought about drawboring & not going all the way through with the pegs...but at that point, I'd rather go for broke. The square recesses are for tenons on the tops of the table's stiles. The previous post shows the table sans top - but maybe that's behind the paywall, I don't remember. But I got the photos from the Wadsworth Atheneum site https://5058.sydneyplus.com/argus/final/Portal/Public.aspx?lang=en-US
The whole idea of reverse engineering this table from text descriptions and photos of assembled parts, and then reproducing it with all the original joinery methods is almost to big for my brain, Fascinating.
I'm reading Make a Chair from a Tree, at the moment. I'll follow it up with Make a Joint Stool from a tree. I want to do the stool first, but I don't have access to a lathe, so I'll need to find some examples that have, maybe octagonal legs. Paul Seller's has me convinced that you don't need a lathe to make things round, but a leg is not a plane knob.
Peter, there's seven early- to mid-17th century tables at Cotehele House in Cornwall that have similar framed tops with mitred corners. Most have uneven ends and sides, one has a double frame. I have a few photos of them if you are interested.
Wayne - I'm ready! I slept at Cothele once, it was colder inside (in March) than out...but yes, send any you'd care to - my email is Peterfollansbee7@gmail.com
Thanks for the clarification on what a draw table is! I assumed a "table with drawer[s]." The Smithsonian table you pictured had one. I've seen "draw" for "drawers" a lot here in the NE on CL and FB ads. First few times I thought it was a typo or misheard word; but have seen it often enough I think now it might be a regionalism. I suppose "drawer" must come from "draw" though I've yet to look it up.
If I may, are the pine tops also meant to be quarter/riven? Maybe I get the wrong kind of pine, but it seems I break those boards just looking at them. C. Schwarz said something about Southern Yellow Pine getting stronger as the resin dries or something, I don't know if I could tell from common spruce/pine/fir.
Of course you may - pine boards are sawn. Then & now. I know nothing about southern yellow pine, other than I don't want to know about it. Beast to work with from what "they" tell me. Eastern white pine is one of the nicest woods I know...
Your mark-out and sample joint surprised me... I had been thinking there would be a stopped haunch or diagonal tenon tyeing the outer board to the end board. Would that have been overkill, or too difficult to execute to justify the extra work?
It's a fascinating table. Thanks for sharing.
Hayward's description includes a spline in the miter. No idea if the period ones have that or not.
Thanks for sharing your method. I like the peg in the end to help hold the miter together. I have done the spline shown in Haywards drawing and that works pretty well. The peg would be quicker and easier.
In the picture it looks like the inside edge of the vertical board is approximately where your tenon starts. Zooming in on the upper right corner there doesn’t appear to be a tenon.
If you wanted to draw bore, couldn’t you do it from the bottom, stopping just short of penetrating the top?
Do you have any idea what the little square recesses in the corners are for?
I had thought about drawboring & not going all the way through with the pegs...but at that point, I'd rather go for broke. The square recesses are for tenons on the tops of the table's stiles. The previous post shows the table sans top - but maybe that's behind the paywall, I don't remember. But I got the photos from the Wadsworth Atheneum site https://5058.sydneyplus.com/argus/final/Portal/Public.aspx?lang=en-US
Thank you for your reply.
Sellers has a series on an occasional table with this feature: https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/occasional-table/
with a tongue and groove running along the seam up into the mitre.
The whole idea of reverse engineering this table from text descriptions and photos of assembled parts, and then reproducing it with all the original joinery methods is almost to big for my brain, Fascinating.
it is, as Jennie Alexander used to say, good clean fun.
I'm reading Make a Chair from a Tree, at the moment. I'll follow it up with Make a Joint Stool from a tree. I want to do the stool first, but I don't have access to a lathe, so I'll need to find some examples that have, maybe octagonal legs. Paul Seller's has me convinced that you don't need a lathe to make things round, but a leg is not a plane knob.
in the joint stool book we show an alternative leg that's worked with chisels/drawknife, etc - no lathe necessary.
Peter, there's seven early- to mid-17th century tables at Cotehele House in Cornwall that have similar framed tops with mitred corners. Most have uneven ends and sides, one has a double frame. I have a few photos of them if you are interested.
Wayne - I'm ready! I slept at Cothele once, it was colder inside (in March) than out...but yes, send any you'd care to - my email is Peterfollansbee7@gmail.com
Hi Peter, I've sent you three emails. We had a warm day in September but didn't get to stay there.
Thanks for the clarification on what a draw table is! I assumed a "table with drawer[s]." The Smithsonian table you pictured had one. I've seen "draw" for "drawers" a lot here in the NE on CL and FB ads. First few times I thought it was a typo or misheard word; but have seen it often enough I think now it might be a regionalism. I suppose "drawer" must come from "draw" though I've yet to look it up.
Brian - yes, the draw table is rabbit hole, if you'd like to see one in detail look at this link
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/tables/center-tables/small-dutch-baroque-17th-century-oak-draw-leaf-center-table/id-f_20890592/
Thanks for sharing! In some ways, it reminds me of Chinese furniture joinery.
If I may, are the pine tops also meant to be quarter/riven? Maybe I get the wrong kind of pine, but it seems I break those boards just looking at them. C. Schwarz said something about Southern Yellow Pine getting stronger as the resin dries or something, I don't know if I could tell from common spruce/pine/fir.
Of course you may - pine boards are sawn. Then & now. I know nothing about southern yellow pine, other than I don't want to know about it. Beast to work with from what "they" tell me. Eastern white pine is one of the nicest woods I know...