Recently had an order for some No. 516 side tables and, while building them, I took the opportunity to make some modifications to the basic design. The changes really make the table stronger.
I wanted to move the rail towards the front a little so I cut a rabbet into the top of the leg where it meets the rail. The rabbet gives the joint a mechanical advantage the butt joint didn’t have. And moving the rail out (to seat it in the rabbet) is more pleasing to my eye. I’m very happy with it. (I’ll post some pics soon.)
I also faced a challenge in making the tapered legs of the 516 table. Since the legs are laminated, I had to cut an angle into the back face of the glued-up leg to get the taper but when I did that, the nice, even grain that the face of the leg displayed was transformed into something less desirable — the grain changed direction, lost some color and picked up some contrast. Like going from a tuxedo trousers to striped pajama bottoms. Very disconcerting.
You can see the differences in the photo above. The piece to the right used to be the face of the piece on the left before I cut the taper. Notice the grain in the left piece now moves up and to the right, is a little washed out and has more contrast in the growth rings. Does everything I didn’t want it to do.
Well, the solution is interesting, but I’ll spare you the details for now. It’s not a time consuming workaround but it gets nice grain on both faces of the leg and really makes the table look good from any angle. That was the objective.
The point is that like so many things in life, surprises often lead to better things than we first imagined. So it was with this table. I had to modify the leg/rail joinery to get the rails where I wanted them and in the process, I actually strengthened the piece. I had to modify the lamination process to deal with the grain issue and got a better leg in the bargain. Nice.
Your correspondent: Sometimes finds what he’s not looking for.
