I am starting a new project. I am going to make a turret top tea table. This is a Boston furniture piece, there are only 6 known to be in existence. I found the picture and article in the "New England Furniture At Winterthur" by Nancy Richards. Excellent description and pictures. As the article says there are 2 tables with 12 scallops and the rest have 14. The closest to me would be in Deerfield MI, but I don't think I will make the trip. Jeffery Green has a picture in his book on page 237 with the same dimensions but 14 turrets.
There is a picture with the 12 turrets.
This is the one that I plan on making. A number of people have made the piece and I think Gene Landon has plans for it at the Old Mill web site. I decided that I would draw my own and I got some help from the CloseGrain web site when he posted a drawing from a SAPFM meeting which showed a little detail about the corners.
So, I started by making drawings of the leg and turret. I decided to make it out of (you guessed it) soft maple. I know it is a beautiful piece and should be made from fine wood but the turrets are make from 16/4 material. I considered cherry but 14/4 cherry would be expensive. Soft Maple is readily available in 12/4 for the legs and 16/4 for the turrets. I will probably stain it cherry when I am done.
I am going do document the progress with videos and post them to YouTube. I will include the links here as I work through the construction.
Here is the first video. I try to keep them to about 10 minutes.
I am starting by making the legs.
I love the putty knife into card scraper trick. That's great.
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