Woodworker: Jim WallaceThis wenge and marblewood table is Wallace’s version of Charlie Durfee’s bowfront hall table (FWW #204). The table, 18 in. deep by 50 in. wide by 32 in. tall, was shown at the annual Kerrville Texas Furniture Makers Show, where it received the Judges’ Special Award and the People’s Choice Award. The idea for the tapestry came from the end-grain pattern of the marblewood, which reminded Wallace of the lace doilies resting on his grandmother’s tabletops. At first, his veneered tapestry only spanned the top, but he evolved the design so the pattern would fold over the top and down the sides. Looks like lace. Wallace started with a 2-in. by 2-in. block and took 3/32-in. slices from the end, creating small tiles. He arranged those slices in fours to make a rosette-like pattern, and then inlaid those larger tiles in the top. Create the draped effect. Wallace glued the marblewood pattern onto 5/8-in.-thick wenge, and then beveled the wenge to create the illusion that only the thin tapestry wraps over the edge. Biscuits and glue attach the side pieces to the top.

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