Popular Woodworking 2007-10 № 164, страница 55

At the same time, I explored the amount of lift to give the tabletop with the raised stretchers. I wanted to create mystery by "floating" the top - this gives us a point of curiosity while making the piece appear light in visual weight.

The tops of the legs form a point. The idea is that the top of the leg approaches the bottom of the tabletop, but does not touch it, creating a "tension point."

At the same time as determining the lift of the top, I dialed in the amount of underbevel to create further visual lightening of the top. I chose a finished thickness of %" for the solid top to allow enough material to accept the mounting screws. The crisp line of the under-bevel gives the viewer the impression that the top is in the order of ¹/2" in thickness, which is in keeping with the scale of the piece.

The photo to the right shows the top of the leg revealing the visual "tension point" between the leg and tabletop. I handplaned a crisp underbevel on a scrap piece of cherry to explore the effects of varying the underbevel in place on the model. I kept the stretcher that supports the top away from the end of the table to hide it from the end view.

The final tweak was to determine the amount of end overhang to take advantage of the play between the convex curve on the top, and the concave curve of the end aprons as seen below.

The convex curve of the top plays off the concave curve in the apron for a pleasing end

view of the table. In part two of this article, we will discuss details of constructing the actual piece. PW

Ted is a furniture designer/maker from Almonte, Ontario, Canada. He was the founder of Rosewood Studio, a now-closed school that taught high-end woodworking and attracted some of the finest teaching talent. He now designs and makes fine handmade furniture in a small shop in Almonte, Ontario.

Tension point. The top of the pointed leg approaches the bottom of the "floating" table-top without actually contacting it, creating a tension point.

Convex curve. The curve of the top plays off the curve of the apron for aesthetic consistency.

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