If you follow me on Instagram then you know my shop time this past week was mostly spent adding texture and burnt wood decoration to the top slab of the table.  It is a simple, albeit time-consuming, process that has the effect of visually lightening the table top.

The lower half of the top slabs received a 16° chamfer all around.  I then stamped in the texture with my home-made stamp.  Just a chunk of steel with pyramids filed into the business end.  I picked up/stole this idea from Peter Follansbee.

Put it on the wood, whack it with a hammer, mover over repeat.  Once the texture was in place, I went over the whole works with a wood burner.  Like I said, this operation is time-consuming, but can be somewhat meditative.

Oh, I did end up purchasing a new wood burning tool.  My old hobby store model just didn’t produce enough heat.  The new model is much, much better and made the task far quicker.

I also spent a good bit of time this week tweaking the leg mortises.  I finally ended up with a satisfactory fit for each individual table and the pair as a whole.  All of the legs and their corresponding sockets were marked for final location and orientation.  I then removed all of the legs and cut the slots in the tenons to receive the securing wedges.  Wedges were cut, the Old Brown Glue was heated and the legs were installed for the final time.

My attention then turned to the drawers.  A quick round of planing leveled the top and bottom rims as well as the joinery at all four corners.  Each drawer front received a corner bead.  I simply use the slotted screw in a block of wood method for the long grain portions and a knife and chisel for the cross grain bits.  Everything is then refined with a little sanding.

I’ll be installing a ring pull on theses drawers and I pre-drilled the installation hole before assembling the drawers.  The ring pull will hang centered on the drawer front.  I wanted a bit of texture in that area as well as a bit of wood burning.  The first step was to scratch in a circle to delineate the area for texture.

Then I fired up the wood burner and burned in a simple flower motif around the installation hole for the ring pull.

While I had the wood burner fired up, I burnt in the trough of the bead detail.

Then, using the same stamping tool as before, I stamped texture within the delineated circle.

No wood burning on this textured area.  Once the oil finish goes on, the texture will be much more prevalent though.  The ring Pull will be black and the two combined will add an element of depth.

I temporarily clamped the drawers into place and drug both tables outside for a quick photo.

I still need to fabricated the drawer bearers and the associated runners.  The legs still need to be trimmed for final height and level.  I have to finish plane the tops and I have a couple more “decorative” elements in mind.  So still a good bit of work to be done.

Part 6 Greg Merritt Part 8