I am going to make a Stickley table #633. It is a round table with canted legs and a round canted apron. How the heck do I make this apron? I thought of the following but in thinking it thru it will not work because it would not give canted legs. How do I do this? Thought some more on this. I think if I add the following step it may work. What do you think?
My plan is to bend thin pieces and then glue up after steaming to make it round on a jig.
Then machine the tenons on the band saw with a curved jig to hold the piece ends parallel with the fence. End cheeks should be milled at same angles as leg.
Then mortise the legs with the mortise parallel with the legs
Then, and here I am not sure, I would place the entire leg/apron assembly upside down on the floor and draw a line parallel to the floor on the aprons. then cut the apron top off to get a flat surface to sit the table on.
http://www.stickley.com/gallery/details.cfm?id=2077&c=36 thanks!!
Edited 5/8/2006 7:52 am ET by chenige
Replies
Those are likely sawn from solid stock. Steaming will make wide pieces belly. It would be much easier to do all the joinery while the piece is nice and square, then saw out the shapes.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
chenige,
Looks to me like those aprons are not curved, but straight with a sawn arched bottom edge. In that case, no lamination, etc is necessary, just angled tenons, or mortises. The ends of the aprons not being square to the top edge will determine the amt of splay to the legs, and the tenons/splines/dowels angled @45* to the face of the apron will meet the sides of the legs.
Regards,
Ray Pine
I have been fighting with that one. I have the original catalogs and they appear to be curved. Just not sure. I am going to try and find one to look at.
Just talked to a local Stickley rep(not a store) and he believes they are straight.
Now I have to figure out how to make 45 degree tenons with so little meat on the apron. Perhaps dowels? How should this be done?
Edited 5/8/2006 10:08 am ET by chenige
Edited 5/8/2006 10:23 am ET by chenige
Edited 5/8/2006 10:28 am ET by chenige
I'm almost positive they are curved, but you can certainly build them straight. If they were originally straight putting the curve in would be a really cool alteration of the original.
You mark out the tenon joinery and the curve (in plan view) while the stock is still rectangular.
The curve is cut with the stock edge up on a bandsaw or with a bowsaw if you are so-inclined.
As Ray mentioned, the tenon shoulders are angled to match the splay, etc.
Have you ever built a chair before?
I guess I could do it out of a rectangular piece but it would be 5" thick by 5" wide by almost 2'. and I would need 4 chunks.
Curved workpieces out of the solid require a lot of stock and a lot of it is left on the shop floor as waste.
I haven't seen your plans, but the dimensions you mentioned seem a bit generous. I guess the curve would be pretty tight.
A glue-lam is a viable alternative but saves only stock, not time (unless you're doing a production run of these tables). Most often you will find your time is worth more than the wood.
You'll never find 5" thick stock so you may, in fact, have to laminate the aprons if you go with the curved aprons.
You might be able to face glue to thickness but bandsawing most likely will reveal the laminations in such a way that would require the aprons to be veneered.
Edited 5/8/2006 2:35 pm ET by BossCrunk
Well, the Stickley guy called the factory and it is a straight piece just like the original. Any idea what kind of joining method they would have used for this 45 degree joint?
spline? biscuit?
The correct solution is probably going to be the easiest one.
Angled tenons (maybe). No biggie. Draw the leg to apron joinery in plan and in elevation. They may very well have used dowels. The plan view is the crucial view to draw.
The table would be truly spectacular with the curved aprons. I might build it myself.
Edited 5/8/2006 8:14 pm ET by BossCrunk
chenige,
You could:
1- cut tenons at a 45* angle. They will of necessity be short (the tenon will run off the face of the apron), and weak due to the fact that the grain will be short; make the aprons thick as possible, 5/4" stock will do fine. Given that this is oak, strength won't be an issue, esp when the top is attached.
2- use loose tenons (splines), that fit into both the aprons and the legs. Now the short, weak grain is on the aprons, either side of the slot cut in the apron for the splines.
3- straight tenons that enter mortises cut at 45* to the edges of the legs. Tenons will still have to be short, now the depth of the mortise is limited or it will break out the face of the leg.
4 dowels. This has the advantage of being the easiest to do, but not very strong (a lot less glue area) the holes would be drilled at 90* to the end of the aprons, and to the edges of the legs.
My personal inclination would be #1, and reinforce with blocks, 1-3/4" thick, applied horizontally, and ends cut @45*, glued and screwed inside the aprons. Notch around the legs. Be a bit of a pain to fit to the splayed aprons, but would add to the strength of the joints.
Regards,
Ray
Guys, thanks for all the responses. I think #1 with the reinforcement block is the way I will go unless I figure out how Gustav did it!
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled