Woodworker's Journal fall-2008, страница 36

Mahogany Serving Tray

Our author turns to the distant past

for a little design inspiration.

by l_ili Jackson

While today's woodworkers have plenty of 19th and 20th century motifs to look to for design inspiration, for this project I turned to the distant past Curule chairs were popular during die medieval i>eri-od, but they actually can be traced even further back than that, to the dynasties of ancient Egypt. They're familiar enough, with their knuckle-jointed "X" shajjed bases, but the design element doesn't seem to find aiot of application in today's furniture. 1 wasn't particularly interested in making a curule chair, but 1 did want to incorporate the "X" shape into a serving table I was making tor my mother. With design in hand, I headed to contributing editor Rick White's shop, where Brad Becker, his trusty assistant, was waiting to help me through the construction stage.

Brad and I settled on mahogany for this project Ifs a great species for a beginner, essentially knot-free and easy to mill and finish.

Getting Started

I built my tray first and then moved on to the base. An overriding concern of mine was that the legs must be true and at perfect right angles to the base and floor. A slight skew in or out would resulting in a spindly, awkward look. If I constructed the tray first, I reasoned, I could always adjust the base rails to push the legs out or pull them in.

The first thing to do is cut the tray's stiles and end rails Giieces i and 2) to width but a bit long. These pieces get

This tray table's simple and elegant lines are a study in positive and negative space. The "X" shaped leg joinery's history is traceable to the ancient Egyptians.

36 ArtS & CrAFtS STYLE SiDE TABLE

Subscribe now at www.woodworkersjournal.com/digitaledition