Woodworker's Journal 2004 Spring, страница 38

I went to art director John Kelliher and asked him to work with me on a table design that would reflect the details featured in the chairs and the Mission style I like so well. The resulting table is even better than I could have hoped for ... Susie approves as well.

Ttoo Suggestions Before You Start

Throughout this project, you will be chopping stopped and through mortises to fit the various tenons and plugs. If I didn't convince you to buy a mortising machine with the Mission chair project, this table might just push you over the edge.

Suggestion one: get a mortising machine. It looks like a small drill press but can literally drill square holes for you. What a time-saving machine to own.

Gustav Stickley built most of his pieces from quartersawn oak for good reasons. It's attractive and one of the strongest species available in North America. Suggestion two: stay with quartersawn oak for this project. The cut yields straight boards with tight, parallel grain — ideal for tables.

Laminated, Quartersawn Legs

The legs of this table are built up in two major laminations (pieces 1), and the first step in construction is to cut these to the dimensions

shown in the Material List on the next page. If the wide faces of these boards are quartersawn lumber, the thin edges will be plain sawn. The leg's most visible face after machining and glue-up would be the plain sawn view so, for appearance's sake, it must be hidden.

We will accomplish this step by gluing quartersawn leg veneer (pieces 2) to each leg, after the first two have been milled and glued up.

Machining the Legs

Each leg is mortised twice for a couple of rails. The dadoes for the top and bottom rails (pieces 3 and 4) are easily created on the table saw, as shown in Figure 1. Both are machined into the leg laminations before they are assembled. Follow the locations and dimensions given in the Leg Subassembly and Half-mortise Detail Drawings on page 54 to lay out both mortises. After milling, glue and clamp each leg together. Once the glue dries, sand each leg thoroughly and clean out any excess glue left in the mortises with a chisel.

Although both of these openings are technically through mortises, I covered the top mortise with the leg veneer (pieces 2) to create, in effect, a stopped mortise. The bottom mortise is continued through the leg veneer to expose the chamfered end of the lower rail's tenon.

Figure 1: The leg mortises are formed before the legs are glued up. Simply slice wide dadoes to form one half of each mortise.

Making the Rails Next

After cutting all the rails to the dimensions given in the Material List, refer to the Top Rail and Bottom Rail Tenon Detail Drawings (also on page 54) to lay out and mill their tenons. This is a job for your dado head and miter gauge on the table saw. (Don't forget to chamfer the tenon ends on the bottom rails.)

If you decided to invest in a mortising machine, this next step will be your first chance to use it. Refer to the Face View Drawings for the top and bottom rails on page 53 to lay out and chop the five mortises in each rail (see Figure 2). In the bottom rails, these mortises are a strong 3/8" deep, while those in the top rail are deeper. If you don't own a mortising machine, remove most of the waste on your drill press and square up the mortise walls and ends with chisels. This is also a good time to chop the small mortises in the legs for the plugs — the locations and dimensions are on the Leg Subassembly Elevation (page 54).

Apply the same technique for chopping the large through mortise for the beam (piece 10) in each bottom rail. Work from the outside so any minor tearout will occur on the inside, hidden face. Then use a strip of 1/4" hardboard flexed in an arc to lay out and band saw the arches on the bottom edge of each

Figure 2: A mortising machine will make short work of the many mortises featured in this project's Stickley-inspired joinery.

Arts & Crafts Furniture Spring 2004

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