Long table

Before ...

...and after

I found a particularly splendid orphan in an auction.

I forgot to take a photo of it, but this is a picture of the same model from the internet.

OK it wasn't *quite* in as nice condition as this picture, because the top was scratched a bit, but it was a very substantial and lovely table. Despite the scratch, the top was a wonderful piece of solid oak, over 4 feet long and 20 inches wide.

See also the long rails that will make good table legs for an A frame table, and I can use the hinges and other parts easily.

I spent a long time on the top, scraping and sanding the surface smooth. See how nicely it has cleaned and scraped up:

A slight diversion as a steam engine clattered past as I was admiring the freshly-scraped tabletop

I decided to keep the tabletop exactly the same size as the original, and make a long, narrow table from it.

First I sorted out what I could use from the rest of the table,

and made the A-frames using some of the pieces.

I cut angled mortices into two stout blocks and fitted them to the underside of the top.

The legs fitted in rather pleasingly, and all that remained was to find a long strut to brace the legs.

Which had to have a carefully-angled mortice and tenon joint at each end, to fit into the slanted A-frames.

And the final bit of construction was to cut square, angled holes in the tenons, to take small tapered pegs to hold the whole thing together.

Here is the fitted joint, showing a hole in the tenon and then how a tapered wooden peg fits through it to hold the joint secure.

This is the finished table, not yet wax polished.

Here I am waxing the underside . . and then the top. I use a medieval recipe polish made from olive oil and beeswax. You can read about how I make it, here.

I have to admit that I am pretty pleased with this one.