I left you in my last post with cutting mortises for butterfly joints and they are FINALLY cut, cleaned and itching to find their home stitched in the table. My breath is held... will everything fit? Lots of parts and no tolerance for error (insert wide-eyed emoji). But in the end, pieced perfection.
Phew.
Now time for permanent, pieced perfection. Glue time.
I would consider myself a leg guy. For the table, y'all. Three legs or four? Straight or splayed? Dimensions? Shape? I struggle here as creativity can run wild, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Basically, I desire to turn a leg with interesting curves but must restrain myself. The beauty of this piece is the organic shape, the ripple of the grain and the cluster of butterfly joints giving rebirth to a simple slab. Adding unnecessary detail to the legs would only distract from that. A simple, straightforward leg with a slight splay and a delicate taper... I think this table's made for walking as I skip to the lathe.
After turning the legs, I drill angled holes in the bottom of the tabletop for the legs to attach. The angle creates the splay effect, which gives the piece a graceful, poised aesthetic and feel.
Sand and repeat. Finish coat and repeat (times five).
I’m often asked “how long does something like that take?” Here is my best guesstimate...
- 30 minutes loading/unloading and hauling the piece of wood home
- 2 hours to cut the piece to size
- 2+ years of drying time
- 5 hours flattening
- 1 hour cutting the ten butterfly keys
- 3-1/2 hours cutting the mortises
- 1 hour dry fitting the piece together (most of that was taking it back apart)
- ½ hour gluing
- ½ hour drilling stepped mortise holes for the legs
- 2-1/2 hours turning the three legs
- ½ hour test fitting and gluing the legs
- 3 hours sanding
- 1-1/2 hours finishing
- The tree grew for 67 years and I’ve been practicing, playing and learning for more than 30 years.
99 years.
I’m guessing that was not the answer you were expecting. So not counting the years of growing, drying and playing time, I have 21-1/2 hours of actual creation time with a piece that will last a lifetime.
In search of a caring home.
