I completed this small ash table for a Christmas gift. It stands 30" tall.





The table took nine hours from the time I decided to make a table (with no previous planning or thought) to the time I got the first coat of finish on. I tweeted along the way with pictures and notes which provided a convenient timeline showing the rate at which I worked. You can view the timeline HERE.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the table, techniques, or documentation process (or anything else for that matter).

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Magic Square - for when "close enough" is good enough.
Chris Wong, Flair Woodworks

Nice work. I like your composition. You have asked for some critique...
so here goes. I would like to see a more amorphous shape in the base, both in the outline of the base and possibly more dimension as in the thickness of the base. Just my 2 cents.
Matt

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Matthew Jones

I like it!
It's hard for me to understand the size of the top. I'm guessing it's more of a stand for an ornament or the like?
Is the top fixed with just the rebate, or is there some hidden joinery in there?
I like contemporary stuff like this, I don't do much of it though. It seems hard to sell around here unfortunately
Cheers!

Matt,

I agree that a more organic shape to the base would have been nice. The base is 1-1/4" thick at the end near the upright and tapers down to 1-1/8" at the other end.

Okami,

The top is 16"x6" and sits in a dado and is secured with glue and a pair of screws, plugged.

Thanks for the comments, questions and critiques, guys!

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Magic Square - for when "close enough" is good enough.
Chris Wong, Flair Woodworks

I like it!

Chris,

Ok, you did ask for a critique,
Generally I like where you are going with the table/stand.

but,
I seem to keep holding my thumb up to the screen to block out the base. Perhaps in place of the wood base I would like to see a zen-like stone as the base. You would have to do a bit of hunting to find just the right one. Aesthetically there is a fine line between that result being a contemporary success or a just artsy crafty stand. (Having a concrete coring drill would also be helpful for the stone mortice or the access to one)

I love the stand.

I like where you are going with the top, but I feel it needs a little more development. I would take Matt's "amorphous" advice about the stand and apply it more to the top as well.
(a safety concern as well with the pointy part if you have kids around)

That is of course if you plan on making more of these or tuning it into a signature piece.

hmmm, it's easier to send off a critique after having met you at our last get-together.

Roger,

That last picture was just for you.

Stone is an interesting idea for the base. However, I just know somebody would stub their toe on it. I was concerned with stability and that's largely why I left it as large as I did - I wanted the larger footprint and the mass. I'm not sure I'm ready to get into drilling stone... is it as simple as a hammer drill and the right bit?

The top does is pointed but is not sharp. I blunted the edge to 1/8" to 3/16" thick and rounded over on both faces. (No little kids running around.)

This piece was really a start-working-and-keep-going thing. The wood that I had on hand really dictated the shape and size of the table. While I don't think that this will become a regularly produced piece, I think that it does exhibit many of the things I like (a-symmetry, raw edges, sculpted surfaces, contrasting shapes, surprising transitions, nice ash...)

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Magic Square - for when "close enough" is good enough.
Chris Wong, Flair Woodworks

Hi Chris, just happened to see something online with a familiar shape...

That looks like a rack for hanging something, Michael.

Chris, I really like your approach. I tend to agree that the base fights with the rest of it. I love Roger's idea of using a rock. I've sometimes just put big cobbles on top of a base like that for added stability. But it would be relatively easy to cut a hollow in the base to hold a rock more snugly. Or you could go to a rock place and get a small slab of a granite or slate offcut and use that. To avoid drilling into the rock, I'd just enclose the rock in a wooden frame, and do the joinery with the wood.

You could also embed smaller river stones into the base with epoxy. It could have a nice rounded look. I think the contrast of colors and textures would be nice.

Or you might try using a contrasting wood - probably something dark like walnut - for the base. It might ground it better. I'd also consider using a light maple for the top. I think your shape is great, but I might play with the colors and textures a bit more.

Nice work!

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I don't have as many Festools as Fred. Or Marcou's, or Brese's, or Lie-Nielsen's, or Lee Valley's, or Blue Spruce's, or Harold and Saxon's, or...

Very interesting! It will be interesting to see how that piece looks finished.

__________________
Magic Square - for when "close enough" is good enough.
Chris Wong, Flair Woodworks