The table design combines 17th century draw-leaf construction with more recent Shaker-style trestle base and A&C features including proud box joints on the apron ends, through-tenons and pegs in the legs and cross-stretchers and Greene and Greene style breadboard ebonized expansion slot keys.  

The top is very heavy so to withdraw or retract the leaves, cam-end wood riser levers were installed to take the pressure off of the leaves as they slide in and out.

The table was to appear somewhat formal but with a rustic and used appearance.  Light tool marks, minor wood defects and slightly uneven leveling of the top and finish were retained.  The finish was a dark grain filler applied directly on the raw wood, 3 coats of an oil/poly mixture, wash-coat of lacquer, lightly and quickly wiped red oak oil stain followed with three coats of semi-gloss lacquer.  The table was rubbed out using 500 and 1000 Abralon pads and waxed with Black Bison dark wax.  The overall appearance is of a lightly faded well-cared for older table.

The chairs are A&C inspired side chairs designed by Kevin Rodel and featured in a FWW article in the Mar-Apr 2007 issue of FWW.  I chose walnut to provide a contrast with the QSWO and compliment the other furnishings in the dining and adjacent great room.  I incorporated sapwood when grain-matching the chair parts since I believe it provides a warm, pleasant presentation and compliments the beauty, figuring and variation in this wonderful hardwood.  The seats are covered in a light buckskin finished UltraSuede. 

Including making a KD pine prototype chair, jigs and templates, the eight finished chairs took about 45 hours apiece.  Building the sample chair was time well spent since it afforded me an opportunity to build and refine the router jig and shape the templates (I also found some template errors in the full-sized plans) and become comfortable with the chair-building process.  The finish is 6 coats of a mixture of tung and linseed oils, turp and poly.  The 7th coat is the same mixture but with carnuba blended in.

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