This year on New Years Eve day I decided it was time to move the Federal Card Table I was working on along.  It had felt like forever since I last worked on it due to the holidays and having to get a second shot for tennis elbow.

After many long discussions about how to complete this with power tools (that would involve elaborate jigs, much set up time, etc..) I decided to break out my Steve Latta stringing tools I purchased a while back.  Armed with them (and 96 Rock playing on the radio) I set out for an afternoon of using nothing but hand tools.  (Those of you who know me, know this is a big step for me!)

Having already completed the layout work and gluing on my temporary backer blocks I started by setting up the radius cutter and plowing out the curved ends. (Below you can also see where I used a dental pick to help with the clean out.)

From here I set my straight cutter and simply connected the two half circles for each of the 3 sections.

I have to say even though I’m a power tool guy, I did have an enjoyable (and semi-quiet) day of woodworking in peace!  I might have to expand on this!!

Popularity: 100% [?]

Recently I’ve been working on a new Federal Card Table for my home.  While working on it I decided to use my Lie-Nielsen radius inlay cutter (based off Steve Latta’s design) to make my apron inlay circular vs rectangular.  (Photos of that to come)

So prior to just going hog wild on my apron itself I applied a piece of veneer on my apron cutoff and started playing around with the radius cutter.  After trying the layout a couple of times I was happy with the job the cutter did but boy I didn’t like the center point hole that was left behind.

After thinking a bit I overcame this by deciding to do all my layout work and mark my cross hairs in pencil on the apron.  After that I cut a few shims and marked a set of cross hairs on them and then broke out the hot glue gun to attached the shims to my apron making sure to align the cross hairs from the shim to the cross hairs on the apron.

Now I have a piece of wood that will receive the center point hole that I can remove with a little heat and have zero marks left behind!

Do you have a different way that you would have (or have) attacked this type of issue?  Is so share them in the comments below.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Did you know that back in the day Federal Period furniture builders had a grading system in place for customers who purchased their works?

I didn’t but it made since once it was explained to me.  This is a brief explanation of how it works with card table legs.

The system was based on two things:

• The amount of stringing you wanted & where.
• The amount of coin you were willing to part with.

Using a 4 leg card table as an example, if the customer didn’t want to spend much money, they would get fronts of the front two legs of their table stringed and a simple oval inlayed.

This would be considered a “C” customer.

If the customer had few more dollars and wanted to fancy up their piece they would get fronts of all four legs stringed and have a fancier oval inlayed into the two front legs.

This would get you upgraded to a “B” customer.

Now, if you were just showing off how much cash you were tripping over you’d get the front and out sides of you back two legs stringed.  In addition you’d also get the front and both sides of your front two legs strings as well as a fancier oven inlayed.

This would get you to the top of the class as being an “A” customer.

Now this was just an example of the legs.  The same theory held true for the amount (and how fancy) of stringing you wanted on the aprons and tops.

In addition I found that the cabinet makers of old didn’t always make their inlays.  Just like we mail order for them or buy them from Woodcraft/Rockler, they had craftsmen who did nothing but made inlays for them to buy and use in their furniture.  (The main difference was they didn’t use CNC machines to make theirs.)

1. Photo #2 given to me by Glen Huey
2. Photo #3 from Maui Woodworker’s Guild from their workshop with Steve Latta
3. Photo #1 was found many months ago on Google and I have yet to find it  again so I can give proper credit

Popularity: 15% [?]

A few weeks ago I attended a class with Steve Latta on making federal card table legs.  In this class he showed off and demoed from a bench he designed to do inlay work on.  (The main reason for the bench is to get the work elevated off your bench to help eliminate back pain.)

After getting an opportunity to work on his elevated bench in class I decided I had to go home and build one.  But in typical Tim “The Tool-man” Taylor fashion I had to make it better to make it mine.

Once I set out to make this I had 3 things in mind:

1. I was determined that I was going to use what I had on hand to make it. (lumber, vise, etc)
2. I was going to modify it to hold wide boards as well.
3. I was also going to build different sized bench dogs to accommodate any clamping range.

I built my version of the bench to be 9″ x 9″ x 45″ overall.  It consists of a 1 3/4″ poplar top and a pair supports for that are I-beam shaped and constructed from two 1 1/2″ x 4″ pieces of pine with a 1″ thick piece of plywood connecting them.

Once I had the bench assembled I routed 3/4″ diameter holes (4″ on center) down the center of the top to accommodate holding card table legs.  I then routed two more rows near the outside of the bench to accommodate holding wide boards (such as spice box doors) for doing inlay work.  In addition I stole a vise from another bench I no longer use and installed it on one end.

I didn’t want to use the steel dog included on my vise as the only way to secure my work. To get around this, I elevated the board I installed on the vise jaw to give me 9” of space for clamping pressure.

By doing this, I was able to change this from a simple leg bench to something that I can utilize more when doing inlay work.

(P.S. No I don’t do any inlay work in plywood.  It was just used to in the example.)

LESSONS LEARNED – Actually prior to assembling the bench I took the top over to my drill press so I could drill 3/4″ holes but the bit deflected/broke and bored an oval that I had the joy of plugging.  Stupid mistake on my part!

Popularity: 36% [?]

A couple of weeks ago I spent a weekend at Marc Adams School Of Woodworking in the Inlay a Federal Card Table Leg with Steve Latta. I’ll be posting a review of both the class and the school shortly but I wanted to post Steve’s list of suppliers he passed out to us.  (They will also be added to the Resources Links page.

Dremel Accessories

Drill Technology – End Mills
StewMac – Router Base #5260

Hardware

Ball & Ball
Horton Brasses
Londanderry Brasses

Hide Glue & Finishing Supplies

Homestead Finishing – Transtint dyes
Olde Mill Cabinet – Best prices for glue.

Inlays & Banding

Acute Marquetry
Armstrong Inlay
Dover Designs LLC
Inlay Banding

Tools

MSCDirect - three square Swiss pattern needle file #60236924
Woodcraft – Swissmade Palm Chisels #3-12mm #05Y05 & #-3mm #05y32

Veneer Suppliers

B&B Rairwoods – .9mm natural white sycamore/colored veneers
Berkshire Veneers – Holly/dyed black anigre
Certainly Wood

Popularity: 27% [?]