My clients scored a few 9 x 9 beams of wormy chestnut. Some of it was used architecturally: a fireplace mantel and cantilevered shelves to display a lovely collection of Chinese teapots. We selected this 40″ length to make a sofa table to go opposite the shelves and mantel. We settled on general dimensions and the general idea — a simple slab with legs dovetailed into the ends. The legs would be straight tapers to echo the design of the dining table. Basically, keep it simple.
The first task, pull some nails!
Next, do some milling. First joint and square two faces. The hefty beam dwarfs my little 10″ Inca jointer/planer, but it’s up to the task.
Onto the band-saw to re-saw the top and legs.
I use a 6″ high fence clamped to the table and a 1/2″ 4 tpi skip tooth blade. The chestnut saws easily.
Now to do a little mocking up. The general height, width and length were set based on measurements we arrived at at the home. What I want to accomplish now is to get the thicknesses correct, along with the taper of the legs, their placement and, what the dovetail joinery will look like. I cut an extra piece of the chestnut that was full of deep checks to use as a mock up leg and a couple of chips of veneer to represent the dovetails:
I ended up thinning out the top, shrinking the width of the leg and toying around with the dovetail spacing a bit before I was satisfied.
Until next time.
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