This table is an accurate reproduction of one purchased by Molly Brown and her husband in the late 1880s, when they were starting their family in the rough mining town of Leadville, Colorado. It easily disassembles for transport so it could lend instant civility to a new home in unfamiliar surroundings. Simply but ingeniously built, it bears all the hope and exuberance of a young America during its age of westward expansion. Apparently the Browns liked this table. They kept it with them even after they struck it rich, and moved from Leadville to a large house in Denver's most prestigious neighborhood. It still resides there, in what is now the Molly Brown House Museum. Rigid and durable, this table is built with the simplest joinery. You'll only need about 15 board feet of 3⁄4-in.-thick walnut, and you can build it in a weekend using your tablesaw, bandsaw, router and drill.
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1:
Unfold the legs
3:
Put the top in place
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2:
Install the notched shelf
4:
Lock the legs and top together
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Hinges, dowels and friction hold this table together (Fig. A). There are only eight parts and you can make four of them at once. With simple changes, this table could be square, round or half round.
Figure A: Exploded View
Making the Legs
Look for boards without sapwood that are 8-1⁄2-in. wide, otherwise you'll have to glue pieces together. You can saw the legs individually, but it's better to saw all of them at once. Stack the four leg blanks together, using pieces of double-stick tape (Photo 1). Keep the edges aligned. Then affix a full-size paper pattern on one side (Photo 2) and saw out the legs (Fig. B and Photo 3).
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PHOTO 1:
HOLD THE LEG BLANKS TOGETHER with double-stick tape (see Sources). Using the paper pattern at right, outline the leg on each blank. This keeps the blanks properly oriented and shows you where to put the tape. Press the blanks together, one pair at a time. Keep the back edges of the blanks aligned by standing them on a flat surface. Align the end-grain edges with your fingers and then press the blanks together. Glue the paper pattern on the completed stack, aligning it with the edges (Photo 2).
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PHOTO 2:
TRANSFER THE LINE for the dowels onto all four blanks at once, using the reference line on the paper pattern. Before making these marks, true up the ends of the stack on the tablesaw, using the miter gauge, if necessary.
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Sawing the ganged-together leg blank on the bandsaw is a simple combination of curved cuts, access cuts and relief cuts. To be successful, it's important that your saw is in tune and the blade is sharp. A 3⁄16-in. 4-tpi skip-tooth blade (see Sources) will do a good job. To make accurate cuts with smooth curves, it's also important for you to be in tune with the saw. Use a light touch so you can find the blade's optimal feed rate and see how it tracks. Then advance the workpiece steadily—don't try to cut too fast—and let the saw do the work. Make access cuts first. They allow the blade to escape from dead-end curved cuts easily. After sawing, clamp the legs in a vise and sand the edges (Photo 4). Attach the hinges (Photo 5), then pry the legs apart. Use a putty knife with blunted edges and smooth faces—any burrs on the knife will scratch the wood. After the legs are loose, remove the paper pattern and any double-stick tape that remains. Then sand the faces.
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PHOTO 3:
SAW THE SMALL DETAIL SHAPES at the front of the legs in three steps. FIRST, saw the edges of the flat-topped details (Fig. B, 28). SECOND, make a relief cut, sawing into one corner of each half-round detail, creating a notch for the saw blade (Fig. B, 29). THIRD, saw the half-round profile, starting at the newly created notch and working in the opposite direction (Fig. B, 30).
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PHOTO 4:
YOU'LL BE AMAZED how quickly and accurately you can smooth and level all four legs at once, using rubber sanding pads and 3M 216U Production RN Fre-Cut sandpaper (see Sources). This teardrop sander is perfect for the job because it acts like a flexible sanding block, conforming to all sorts of contours.
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Flexible Rubber Sanding Pads (see Sources) come in a variety of shapes and contours, don't cost much and make the job of hand sanding much easier.
Sanding End Grain
Okay. Everybody looks for a way to avoid sanding end grain by hand, and I did too. After all, power tool manufacturers are happy to offer alternatives. But I was disappointed by all of the other approaches I tried. Progress with profile sanders was slow and the vibration made my hands tingle. Drum and spindle sanders worked fine for the wider curves, but they couldn't get into any of the corners. And on these legs there are more corners than curves. Besides, sanding the wide curves is just as easy to do by hand. I even tried cutting the legs on a scrollsaw, one at a time. Scrollsaw blades cut very cleanly, but progress through 3/4-in. thick walnut was slow. And without a lot of practice, it's hard to cut smooth sweeping curves with those tiny blades, which means you're going to have to sand the profiles anyway. Sanding end grain by hand can be surprisingly efficient if you have the right tools and use the right sandpaper. 3M 216U sandpaper (it's gold) is worth its cost because it cuts fast and lasts. Start with 100 grit. You'll be amazed how quickly this stuff removes saw marks and smoothes end grain. Work your way through 120 and 180 grits, then use 280 to finish. There's no need to sand with the grain—the scratches are too small to see.
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PHOTO 5:
MOUNT THE HINGES while the legs are still fastened together. Center the barrel of each hinge over its joint. Pre-drill holes for screws with a #5 self-centering hinge bit. Use the same mounting pattern on both parts of the legs.
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PHOTO 6:
SAW AWAY the corners of the top. Be sure to draw diagonal reference lines for locating the base before you cut the corners off. Lines drawn with colored chalk pencils (see Sources) show up great on dark woods like walnut.
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Attach the Legs to the Top
First, make the top, a rectangle with radiused corners (Photo 6). Rout the top edge with a 3⁄8-in. beading bit. Using a doweling jig, drill dowel holes in the legs, transfer their location to the top (Photos 7 and 8), and drill these holes. Then glue dowels into the legs. Make the lock block (Fig. C and Photo 9) and install it. Then fit the legs to the top, and test the locking operation.
Figure C: Lock Block
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PHOTO 7:
INSERT DOWEL CENTERS (see Sources) in the holes drilled in the tops of the legs. Dowel centers are designed to transfer the location of dowel holes from one piece to another.
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PHOTO 8:
POSITION THE BASE on the top by centering it on a 5-3/4-in.-dia. circle. Then center each leg on its diagonal. Press or tap the base onto the top to set the points of the dowel centers. Mark both the top and one leg for reference. Remove the base and drill holes in the top for the dowels.
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A Notched Shelf Stiffens the Legs
Use the top as a template to make the notched shelf (Photo 10). For the notches to slip around the legs without being too loose, saw on the insides of the lines you've drawn on the shelf. Test the fit on the assembled table. If the fit is too tight, widen the notches slightly with sandpaper or a file. If it's too loose, just make another shelf. (That's what I had to do!)
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PHOTO 9:
EASE THE EDGES of the lock block tongues so they'll engage the legs smoothly.
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PHOTO 10:
USE THE TOP AS A TEMPLATE for the notched shelf that stiffens the legs. First, draw a second circle on the top that's the same diameter as the shelf. Then, with the table assembled, mark where the legs intersect this circle.
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A Canned Finish
This project begs for a spray finish. Brushing the legs would be a drippy nightmare and oil would make the end grain too dark. I used shellac, sprayed from an aerosol can as a seal coat. First I folded the legs together and sprayed all the end grain edges at once. Then I opened them up and sprayed the faces. It took only 10 minutes. The next day, after a light sanding, I sprayed on a topcoat of aerosol polyurethane.
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PHOTO 11:
LOCATE THE NOTCHES in the shelf by centering the shelf in the circle drawn on the top and transferring the leg lines. Then draw another 6-1/2-in.-dia. circle to mark the bottom of each notch.
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Download the Cutting List
Sources:
3M Scotch 666 double-stick (coated) tape, 3/4 in. #910455, $8.54, Office Depot, (888) 463-3768, www.officedepot.com
3/16”, 4 tpi bandsaw blade, #126171 (for 14" bandsaw), $11, Woodcraft Supply, (800) 225-1153, www.woodcraft.com
Brass butt hinges, satin finish, 1-1/2" x 2", about $4 per pair, three pairs needed, Dowel centers, about $4 per set, two sets needed. Get these at your local hardware store or home center
Flexible Sanding Pads, Tadpole contour sanders (complete set of 18 profiles), #KL50000, $18, Teardrop hand sander, #KL05245, $6
Flat rubber sanding block, #KL05215, $8, Klinspor's Sanding Catalog, (800) 228-0000, www.woodworkingshop.com
3M 216U Production RN Fre-Cut sandpaper, $ .50 per sheet, Tools on Sale, (800) 328-0457; www.7cornershdwe.com; also available from auto body supply stores
Chalk Marking Pencils Available at art supply stores
Learn More About Molly Brown, Molly Brown House Museum, 1340 Pennsylvania St. Denver, CO 80203, (303) 832-4092, www.mollybrown.org