From a Shaker sewing table to a display table for art objects, Tables offers 10 excellent reasons to spend quality time in the shop. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced woodworker, the projects offered by Anthony Giudice in this book will provide plenty of challenges to increase your skills. The table projects include a candlestand, an end table, a Shaker sewing table, two coffee tables, a display table, a half-round console table, a hall table, a cherry kitchen table, and a trestle table. You'll get:

• 10 classic projects from historic pieces to contemporary styles
• step-by-step instructions and clear illustrations
• design guidelines for creating your own tables
• numerous tips and jigs you can use for all your projects

Tables is part of the Taunton Furniture Projects series. The other books are:

Bookcases
Desks
Chests of Drawers
Beds
Dining Tables

1. Table-Building Basics

2. Shaker Candle Stand

3. End Table

4. Hallway Table

5. Shaker Sewing Table

6. Oval Coffee Table

7. Glass-Top Display Table

8. Arts and Crafts Coffee Table

9. Classic Console Table

10. Sturdy Kitchen Table

11. Danish Farmers Trestle Table

SOURCES

METRIC CONVERSION CHART

INDEX

The first time I really saw a table through a woodworker's eyes was when my teacher showed me a cherry end table he had built years before. He explained how the top must be high enough for the lamp to throw light, but not too high; that the legs have to be tapered or the proportions will look wrong; and how essential it is to fit the drawer to the guides accurately, or the drawer will bind and stick. He also described the advantages of an oil finish: it's soft and lustrous, the top won't stain if you set a glass on it, and the wood still looks like wood.

As always, I asked questions without trying to appear too stupid. Did you cut all this wood to size with a handsaw? No, a table saw. Did you edge joint the top? No, I used a jointer plane for that -- didn't have a jointer yet. What about the dovetails in the drawers? Hand cut, I think. There were only a few to do. Did you mortise and tenon the legs? He nodded. They've got to be strong to last.

In a simple well-made end table, there are myriad lessons in woodworking. This is why tables are great projects for any furniture maker, experienced or beginner. They can be challenging to make, but without the engineering gymnastics necessary in, say, building a chair. You can be flexible with the techniques you use to build them, without taking undue risks.

The table designs in this book were assembled from all over the United States and from all different types of woodworkers. There are a few traditional pieces, Shaker and Arts and Crafts, contemporary work from the Northeast and the West, and a few surprises included as well.

The range of projects offers a variety of approaches and techniques and the opportunity to learn a new skill, sharpen others, and possibly develop new ways of seeing. I hope you'll carry away something valuable, whether you've built hundreds of tables or are considering building your first.

Before you begin reading this book, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts about workmanship. There seems to be a tendency among many contemporary woodworkers to fuss their furniture to death. Woodworking doesn't have to be flawlessly executed. Joints don't have to be cut perfectly. Just work as carefully as you can to get them fairly snug, and they should be fine. Of the dozens of tables I've made over many years, none of the joints was "perfect," but none has ever failed.

And don't worry about finessing the wood surfaces. How flat does a tabletop need to be? Flat enough so that a ball won't roll off it. As for tool marks, it's fine if some of them show. They just show the woodworker's hand in the piece.

Customer Reviews from Amazon

This book is very inspirational, as it tries to explain how to make a quality piece of furniture, It assumes that you have the basics, and fundamentals of woodworking down pat. If not, skip this book, and find plans and articles that are more in keeping with your skills, and the current inventory of tools one owns. Quality furniture can be made using hand tools only . It is more time consuming ,but well worth the effort . One caveat, If you lack good hand tools, and no power tools , you might be dissapointed in your results. As mr guidice says in his previous book always try to buy the best quality tools and it will solve 90% of the problem . The other 10% involves ones technique. I have built one end table and writing table from this book and heartily recommend it.

I expect this to be a very useful book...and I look forward to trying a few of the projects. However, right from the start I find some misleading disappointments.

From the Intro chapter I quote: "If you own a table saw and a few fundamental hand tools, you'll do just fine." And then the very first project calls for a router, drill press, band or jig saw and a lathe. Sorry, but most medium-equipped work shops don't include a lathe.

Also, the Intro chapter presents five examples of "typical trestle tables" yet only the last project is in the trestle style, and it appears rather difficult...again calling for a lathe.

How about some honesty in the Intro section...as presented in the "Search Inside" found on the web page?

I'm a big fan of Thomas Moser, although I think his furniture is priced a little over my league. So I thought I could make some pieces similar to his to replace the junky stuff I bought when I first got out of college. I bought this book because I liked the basic Shaker projects and I wanted to adapt them to my needs. This book is instructive in a generic sense (although I wish there would be a little more theory on chosing lumber, dimensioning the aprons and joinery, and building table tops) and it also has soom good projects, particularly in the Shaker style, although there are some contemporary and Craftsman style pieces as well.

I built the two variations of the table on the front cover. The first one I built with a drawer and finished it with Tried and True Oil Varnish. The second one I built without a drawer, shortened the aprons and finished with polyurethane. One thing he suggests is that you take your time when gluing up the legs and aprons to make sure that they are square. When I built the first table I measured for squareness then applied more pressure on the clamps. Being green to table building, I did not realize that this would throw off the squareness. It did, and by the time I realized it the glue was set. The moral of the story: the next time I used slow-setting white glue and took my time after the clamps were applied to meticulously test for squareness.

His best advice in the book is to not stain cherry, which I totally agree with. Cherry darkens nicely with age, so oil or polyurethane make it look very nice.

This book contains lots of information about building tables. There are several detailed plans, and not of just one style either. There are Shaker, Arts & Crafts and more styles. Small end tables, dining tables, ovals and glass topped tables.

As with most information from Taunton, it is very thorough. At the begining of the book is a section on the different ways to connect a table top to the base, and when you would want to use each.

Different methods are discribed in making the tables, and as usual for Taunton, there is a lot of hand tool usage.

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