Nakashima inspired End Tables

Well I've shared a couple of teaser pics of these already - they're not quite finished but I figured I'd bring you guys along for the rest of the ride.

After investing so much of my curly maple supply into the workbench, I felt like I was setting the bar intentionally high; so I had to pull out all of the stops for the first project I built on it. And I wanted it to be a "real" piece of furniture for my house.

I had heard of George Nakashima and knew he was a "pioneer" of incorporating live edge slabs into fine furniture. But after seeing some of his designs and reading about his story I was fascinated. He was born in Washington state, and studied architecture at MIT. Afterwards he travelled to Paris, India, and Japan, working for various firms or himself. He had just returned to the US with his new wife when the Pearl Harbor attack happened, and shortly after that he and his young family were sent to the concentration camps. During that time, he met a man trained in traditional Japanese carpentry, and afterwards decided he wanted to be a furniture maker. After his release from the concentration camps, he settled in New Hope, PA because he liked the name, and there he built his workshop and then his house.

I wanted a coffee table for my living room, and I really liked his "Minguren II" line. I was planning to use a piece of ash for the top at first, but I thought it was too "plain" looking to do his designs or my workbench justice. So I went back out to the lumber stacks and selected the nicest piece I could find: a crotch slab from the curly English Walnut from my sister's house.



After working in it for a while I decided that the size was probably better suited for an end table rather than a coffee table. It also occurred to me that I must have another slab that's the other half of that cut and a book match to this one. So I decided to make a pair. The other one had a couple of decent cracks in it which I mended with "butterfly keys" - which are found in most Nakashima pieces. I tried to clamp some of the twist out of it when I set the keys.



I still need to plane the second one and I'll post some pics of that process. I do it all by hand. Stay tuned.

 

I couldn't decide if I should use another slab for the wide front leg. I tried a couple different ones out but it looked too "Flintstones" to me. So I went with "regular" lumber instead, as he did anyhow.



I used bridle joints and fit them all individually while the stock was still square. It seemed to me that's how he probably did it as well.



All final surface preparation was done with hand planes and I pre-finished the parts prior to assembly. It's the first time I've done so but I think I'll be working this way from now on.



Well, you're basically caught up. I've been distracted for the past couple weeks with the new puppy and trip out to Dennis' in Michigan.

I used shellac for the finish and I plan to do a traditional French polish on the top, so I'll post some pics of my technique for that as well. Stay tuned.

 

I had to read up a little on Mr. Nakashima and look at some of his work. It is very nice, with a heavy Japanese influence.

Your work is excellent. I like the slight taper on the bottom and top base pieces. Did you hand cut all the joinery? It looks very clean.

Using natural slabs is great too, defects and all. It is just part of the charcter. Putting the butterfly's just adds to the quality and skill.

 

Very nice, Shawn!
Can't wait to see them!!

 

I know where I'm ordering some tables in the not to distant future

 

And I know where I'm gonna have IS send those tables in the not to distant future! Just outside of da burg in NYS!

 

Thanks Jon! I wasted the bulk of the material with machines and then fit each joint individually with hand tools. I used to try to do all of my fitting on the machines and invariably I'd end up with a sloppy joint or 3. The thing I like about using the hand tools now for that part is that you usually have to work a lot harder to make a mistake.

Thanks for the rest of nice comments too everyone! My supply of curly English Walnut is extremely limited (1 tree) so you had better get your dibs in now!

 

You New Yorkers are funny. I don't mind driving through your wonderful state one bit, but.....

 

DIBS!!

 

Stunning as usual.

 

Understated elegance. Beautiful lines, great craftsmanship.
That belongs in a gallery........or my house.
Curious how you hogged out all the material for the bridles.

 

Most of the machine work was done on the radial arm, while the stock was still square. I have quite a bit of practice making half lap joints that way and I know I can get them perfect on the first try right off of the saw by simply cutting to my knife lines. The "tenon" portion of the joint, in the trestle feet, is basically 2 half laps aligned top to bottom. So I cut those right to my shoulder lines but intentionally left the remaining tenon portion a hair thick.

The open ended mortise in the legs was a little trickier. But I've got a new power toy to help me out with a couple of them:



I used the mortiser to make the cuts at the bottom of the "U" for the square legs, but it couldn't help me with the wide panel legs. After that, it was back to the radial arm, again cutting right to my shoulder lines, but this time for the purpose of establishing a clean accurate shoulder to register my chisel against.

After that I cut out the remaining waste with a coping saw and chisels. Most of the fitting was done on the tenon portion of the joint using my Record 073 shoulder plane.

So there you go! Probably a wordier answer than you were expecting, but then again, you should have expected that from me.

 

Do you have a pull saw?
Seems like that would be fitting to use on a Nakashima inspired piece.

 

Haha no, I don't have any tools that cut "backwards". Actually my biggest gripe with those are the disposable blades. I want a tool I can sharpen.

I think I probably watched all available YouTube footage about him and his furniture, trying to glean any info I could on construction techniques. Because the only other "plans" I had to go by were a handful of pics. I was surprised and relieved by some of what I saw. I didn't want to get into any complicated joinery for attaching the base to the top, so I was relieved to see them using screws as well. But I was surprised to see how little hand powered planing was done on the tops - looks like they used electric hand planes and did a lot of sanding.

 

My thought was a backsaw too on the tapered pieces. RAS on squared off stock and tapers cut after makes sense. The joints look solid. Good stuff. You sure did some homework.

 

That figure is awesome!

 

I was looking back thru some pics and found these. I had to share cause this is a real gem of a trick. I learned of it from a Paul Sellers video.

Have you ever had this happen? I was completely done with all of the parts and ready to move on to finishing and then I noticed this dent. No clue how it happened but there it was.



Get out the wife's iron and heat it up to the highest setting. Then lay a damp cloth over the dent and just iron it out. I pressed down firmly for about 2 seconds and it was gone.



It works because the steam causes the wood fibers at the surface to swell back up, and as long as they're not severed you're as good as new. It does raise the grain but you're probably ready for finishing at this point anyhow.