This table was done entirely by hand except for the cove molding. The base is finished with Osmo oil/wax. The top is finished with candlelight oil stain, sanding sealer, pore filler, three coats of 50/50 polyurethane, three full coats of polyurethane, and finally a French polishing buffing compound.
The joinery consists of drawbored mortise & tenons and through wedged mortise & tenons. All hand cut and chopped. All of the curves and heavy chamfers were made with a spokeshave. A 50° smooth plane left the final surface on all flat areas and the spokeshave for the curved.
At this point in the build I have cut all of the mortise and tenon joints and am testing the fit of the pieces while they are still square. This makes it easier to work with them. If you shape the pieces before joinery it can lead to unexpected problems.
Here I have used a framesaw to cut out the rough shape of the pieces. I also made a jig, a piece of maple with a 5° angle to chop the through mortise in the stretcher's tenon for the wedge. It's important that this be accurate so the wedge will pull the joint together very tight. If you look at the last picture you can see the joint has seated very nicely.
Checking the offset of the drawbore holes. I made some riven white oak pins for their strength. Went together very nicely. I used Old Brown Glue on the pins to act as a lubricant.
I glued up the top with Old Brown Glue then made the cove molding. Finishing took about a week to complete properly.
