I think this was an example of us looking for a complex solution to what is essentially a very simple problem. We discovered that by a nicely cut through—wedged tenon we could not only effect a very strong joint but we could also create a very beautiful decorative feature visible beneath the table top. Soat this point it was back to the drawing board. Sadly, this almost coincided with David Woodward catching a terrible bout of "Foot and Mouth disease" and disappearing to work for a bespoke furniture making company in Cheshire. So the project was put on the shelf for a while but David gave us a terrific start. Between us, Dave and I had worked out how the piece would be put together, how the petals would fit one within the other, how potential dust traps could be turned into wipe—able grooves and, fundamentally, how a very complex visual statement could be made without too much fuss and bother.

It was then nearly six months before Tom Cornish took up the task. During this time I had been working out how to exhibit the table for it is no use having a pretty piece if you don't show it off. I had arranged what was initially to be a small exhibition of this and maybe one or two other pieces at the Alastair Gill Gallery in Bristol. This rather modest proposal grew and turned into a major one man exhibition with over twenty pieces on show for two and a half months and then travelling to another gallery in the Midlands this autumn.

Putting on an exhibition is all very well and in this very tough economic climate one has to wave ones arms about a bit. But assembling a collection of furniture is frighteningly expensive. Not only do you have to make the twenty odd pieces of furniture which costs a bob or two you have to forego the income that would have been generated in that time producing work for clients.

This decision to exhibit gave us a firm deadline of 10th May. But it was only February when Tom started on this piece and it didn't look like being much more than a twenty five day job.

Firstly, Tom made a batch of table legs. These were to be morticed and tenoned together from three large blanks band sawn to rough shape then finished off on the spindle moulder. Because the tenons were through tenons it was important that Tom cut and finished these joints very nicely. The removal of the waste effectively exposed a part of the joint that one would never normally see but by careful cutting and fitting we were able to get away with it. We wedged the tenon with Pearwood wedges and as this joint now formed a feature in the centre of the table looking rather like the stamens of the flower I was very pleased with the result.

Jointing the eight legs together was the next task. We decided that it would be stronger to fit each of the legs to a facet of a single hexagonal core. This would give a positive location for each individual leg. This was a wizard wheeze because without the core block we would have had to glue up sixteen slippery mitred surfaces at one hit.

Once the base of the table was completed, Tom turned his attention to the petals that formed the table top. Each of these petals was designed to fit upto a glass circular section and to inter leaf with its neighbouring petal. We had to be very careful to allow for timber movement and effect a good joint yet not create a dust trap or an area that couldn't be wiped out if a glass of wine was spilled.

The Ripple Sycamore was very successful. It worked beautifully with the glass surface as its figuring was luminescent and very three dimensional. I have used some Ripple Sycamore that has had a figuring like corrugated iron but this stuff was subtle and very beautiful. Being slightly blonder than the Maple it also floated very beautifully above the pedestal base. Although I love Ripple Sycamore, it did effect considerable muttering from both Tom and Tim Hodgkinson, who had to assist with the finishing. Apparently, being both a very figured wood and a very soft wood, Ripple Sycamore tears up very badly on the spindle moulder especially when running a moulding round a curve. It also makes the finishing pretty long winded.

The truth about deadlines is that they always come around earlier than you expect them. As the beginning of May approached the speed of work took on a kind of controlled frenzy. Neil Harris was finishing off a set of six wine tables and a Burr Walnut and Pearwood dining table all at the same time. Jeff Smith was working on a very promising Brown Oak and Pearwood linen chest and Tom Cornish, having seen the dining table through to finishing stage, left himself about two weeks to make a semi—circular hall table.

As the big day drew nearer tension increased but everything made it in to the van. Everything, that is, except for Jeff s chest and Tom's hall table. The chest went up the following day in my ear and Tom's table went right down to the wire and was delivered the day before the exhibition opening. By this time Alastair Gill was having kittens because if this piece didn't fit literally in the place that we had allocated the entire exhibition would have to be shuffled around. Luckily it fitted and everything was all right.

first published in The Woodworker Magazine by David Savage in the series CRAFT OF CABINETMAKING 15

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