Woods used:

Mainly maple,laurelwood,ebony(pulls),bark from plane trees(drawer fronts),acrylic paint.

Construction techniques:

The main table construction,including the draw carcases is european maple wood.The table top is laurelwood.All construction joints throughout the table are visible.The four legs and curved strut were bandsawed roughly toshape,then with patterns and moulder dimensioned and cleaned finally. All the mortice and tenons were laid out,cut,chopped and fitted.The wood for the draws was made into carcases using dovetails.The draw fronts were actually an experiment.I had the idea of using the bark from plane trees as a form of veneer,but realised this likely to crack and split under even slight pressure needed to glue it to a substrate.To get around this problem,I painted one side of a sized piece of plywood with blue acrylic paint and when dry added the bark,in small pieces and with space between the pieces,prepared with glue and then left overnight under minimum pressure in a small veneer press.The table top is divided asymetrically into two,with a dimensioned strip of maple coated using the same paint taken for the draw fronts.Draws are housed in an open construction slung under the table top and screwed indierecly to it.This is the first of four versions, all different,using other woods but the basic size and look remaining.The initial idea behind this side table was for it to be used to store cutlery,tableclothes,napkins and suchlike and the top to be used as a temporary serving space for an evening dinner with guests.Of course it can be used in many other different ways according to personal preferences.