Ming Inspiration (41)

41st post in this series, and we'll by done by 50 posts I do believe. Previous installments can be found in the archive to the right of the page.

I thought I'd snap a few pictures of the table in daylight before getting to work this morning, as I am less than thrilled with the pictures taken after dark when the fluorescent lamps are the only source of light.

Here's a look at the lower end of the brace meeting the leg, and the leg meeting the apron corner:


Here's the meeting of two banwancheng at the central rail:


And another look at the profiled Giant's Arm brace:


Today was a long day where I worked on the surfaces of the four legs and did nothing else. I didn't get to the locking bars and all that, as the legs took me much longer to work than expected. I was defining and cleaning up the beads along the outer corners of the legs, scraping, cleaning, smoothing...and repeat.

This work involved some planing and scraping:


Some chiseling:


A lot of chiseling actually:


Some digging in to the side of the bead with the shoulder plane where I could:


A closer look:


And I had to make up a couple of small blocks to use with sandpaper to get the bead profile the way I wanted. In the morning I had made up a scratch stock to do the job, but wasn't happy with the results. Ideally, I'd have a set of some special steep-angled beading planes for this part of the project, however not on this job. Perhaps if I build more tables or pieces with similar detailing in the future, I can make the investment in those beading planes.

Eight hours later I was pretty tired, and had completed 3 of the 4 legs. Leg 4 requires another half hour of work, which will happen tomorrow in the a.m.

Here's a few shots of the leg after this beading clean up has been done - the front lower portion to start:


Another view:


Closer in:


Another view:


The 'foot' looked at from the rear:


I'm really looking forward to seeing the oil on these pieces, which should be happening in the next 3 or 4 days. The grain on the legs looks great! Getting there! Tomorrow should see those special locking corner draw bars done. Then the remaining joinery work comprises the top panels, 'only'.

All for today - thanks for your visit to the Carpentry Way. --> go to post 42