Printer-Shredder Table.. Pot Luck!

[SARGE..g-47]

Sarge, that's really nice work! I especially like the cutouts in the legs; it lightens up the legs nicely. Nice accents with the ebony, too.

g.

Thanks G. I like the cut-outs also. I have never seen any used in that manner but.. I visualized them to take some mass out of the 1" thick.. 23" long legs to tone them down a bit. I will probably use the concept again when the time is right.

BTW.. interesting note. I cut the square holes with my industrial mortiser.. drew straight lines between them. The intension was to cut the line to the inside and finish the rough cut-out with a bearing bit in my router using a template made of MDF. But.. the ole trusty Bosch barrel grip paired with a T308B Bosch blade (the Extra Clean) left such a smooth cut on the line the router bit and template was not necessary.

I suppose I can hold a steady line as the line was dead straight in that 1" stock.. no burns and extremely smooth in the oak. I quick ripped a 3/8" x 3/8" piece of stock.. wrapped it in 120 grit and made a few passes on each side. Then used the final 180 grit for a few. Done without having to use the router which was really a surprise to me but a welcome one as it saved a few normal steps.

[SARGE..g-47]

Sarge, can you give us its total dimensions? What type of printer is going on it? (something heavy like a laser?)

I really like the looks of that, but would probably need to add a false compartment for weight in the bottom for my project (brothers printer).

Thank you

Thanks sir.. I will attempt to answer your questions. If you any additional ask and you shall recieve.

Top.. 1 1/8" thick..20 3/4" wide X 17 1/2" deep. Base.. 1" X 5" X 17"

Legs.. 1" X 3" X 23 1/2"... Stretchers 3/4" X 3 3/4" X 15 1/4" front.. 3/4" X 8 1/2" side and add tenon depths on each end of course

Her little HP printer is not heavy. It will set on top and is 18" wide.. 16 1/2" deep. The small shredder is 7" X 13" wide X 15" tall.

Dimensions may be an issue with your larger equipment but.. I can assure you strenght would not be. With 1/2' X 1" mortise and tenon.. bridles the same and pinned through tenons on the bottom... I would be very comfortable lowering a 1000 lb. engine block on that table to work on without the slightest worry about wracking it.

"She" probably worries that the table can withstand very heavy weight as "she" knows I might just borrow it while she is "out" to do just what I mentioned with an engine block. She'd kill me but.. I been killed before so...

Again.. any additional info.... ask!

[SARGE..g-47]

Very beautiful Sarge. Are the tenons ornamental or is it an actual wedged joint?

Thanks Richard.. The top ebony accents are not through tenons. They are strickly there as "icing on the cake" to decorate and add visual appeal. There are actually real mortice and tenons on the front stretchers which are 1/2" X 3" X 1" deep. The side stretchers tenons are 1/2" x 3" x 3 1/2" as the mortise is full (open on top to allow more glue surface) which technically creates a bridle joint or what I refer to as a saddle joint. Depends on what neck of the woods you hail from on that call.

[SARGE..g-47]

You should submit that to a good WW magazine! In spite of the odd construction requirements - printer, shredder, height, cat, it doesn't look the least bit awkward. Looks elegant in its proportions too!

Thank you Lee. I will pass on submitting to a magzine. I think everyone including me enjoys a pat on the back.. a few kind comments of nice job.. etc from WW'ing peers as we all have inner ego to a point. But.. my ego doesn't go far beyond that. I won't hestitate to tell you I'm not bad at this WW'ing thing and I don't consider that the statement is based on ego alone but.. I also won't hesitate to tell you that there are many that are much.. much better and light years ahead of me.

After 39 years of pursuit.. I feel I have earned the right to be confident in this hobby as a mechanic. Confidence from experience is not the same as bragging based on ego alone with "no proof based on the results of the pudding". But.. I can tell you I still learn something almost daily and as far as design I am a mere "new kid on the block" with much to learn.

I have never used anyone's plan.. I have never copied or reproduced someone else's work as I don't feel challenged doing so. But.. I have borrowed an element here and an element there from pieces I have seen and modified them into a final piece I call mine. This is actually only the third piece I have designed from stored design techniques and elements that have accumulated in my mind and set into action. Time to step up and create with what has accumulated over the years in my mind without aid of any outside source.

Design is hit or miss without the aid of Auto-cad which makes it attractive to some as it takes away the element of "hit or miss" with a prior view of the finished product. I frankly love challenge and risk and enjoy the hit's when they come and accept the misses so.. I will simply remain on this path and be content with a "nice job" or "I would have done it this way instead" from peers I associate with both on the net and local guilds.

The piece is already in use in it's purpose to function as working unit in my home. So... it's time to move on.. next piece up, time's a wastin"!

[SARGE..g-47]

"a rookie designer as me"

I am waiting to see what you come up with after you turn pro!

Should SWMBO not approve, I think I can find it a home....(And I would be happy to itake the matching junk desk off your hands, too.)

Ha.. ha... I am a rookie at design (see my post to Lee) for sure. Not necessarily a rookie mechanic but.. designing without aid is a very new challenge and one I am enjoying regardless of outcome.

Doesn't look like Miss Thompson is willing to give anything up at this point, Pappy. She appears to be elated with both her bedroom and her new study furniture. I was goint to take a break as I have had the pedal to the metal for two years building for her. She had agreed to that so Xmas gifts was going to get the call while the Furniture 500 was under caution laps.

But.. I got on her nerves so bad yesterday with boredom from completion of this piece she told me this morning.. "maybe you should go get more lumber and get outta my house and into the shop". Appears I may have played my psychological war cards j-u-s-t right. I may take her up on the generous offer even though the budget said wait until after Xmas.

So.. here's teh pieces you'll have to ask here about....

[Norm in Fujino]

Wow, beautiful work, Sarge. I also built a computer desk for my wife recently, but it was much less design-intensive, just painted pine for utility's sake. Yours will definitely be passed on!

[JR]

The top ebony accents are not through tenons. They are strickly there as "icing on the cake" to decorate and add visual appeal.

The ebony accents look great, Sarge! They complement your wonderful table.

I've done a number of similar accents in the past,, but I always wrestle with them. A craftsman purist might balk at something that is there only asa design accent, and not a product of the joinery. But all the great designers did it.

Nice job!

JR

[drillman88]

Nice work Sarge. The pieces aren't exactly the same in design element but compliment each other nicely. Whether intended or not that is very hard to accomplish.

[SARGE..g-47]

Wow, beautiful work, Sarge. I also built a computer desk for my wife recently, but it was much less design-intensive, just painted pine for utility's sake. Yours will definitely be passed on!

Thanks Norm.. first, nice to see you returned from the wilderness or whereever you have been secluded. Function doesn't necessarily require intense effort. At this point I am fully retired and can afford the time and effort to be intent which is required to go beyond just function alone. It keeps me out of trouble.

Regards to you and the Mrs...

[SARGE..g-47]

The ebony accents look great, Sarge! They complement your wonderful table.

I've done a number of similar accents in the past,, but I always wrestle with them. A craftsman purist might balk at something that is there only asa design accent, and not a product of the joinery. But all the great designers did it.

Nice job!

JR

Thanks JR...

In the last year or so I have made an effort to do my homework with design which I was lacking the knack for. I can say the same thing about finishing until about 10 years ago when I decided I was coming up a day late and dollar short on every project. I have mainly focused on A & C.. and Art Nouveau as I like design elements from all of them.

So.. my designs are hinged between country.. A & C and a touch of Art Nouveau as I do use a number of curves and cut-outs much as an architect would in a building. I like my furniture with curves just as most men like women with them.

So.. it matters not to me about purist as I could never be accused of wearing a halo I suppose. But.. with that said, I want my pieces to be pure... pure Sargenskil (Sarge style) as I don't want to copy or reproduce someone elses thoughs and accepted design. Period pieces.. A & C.. whatever to those that feel you must duplicate a piece exactly the way it was originally done is very much like painting by the numbers IMO.

Any good wood mechanic can paint by the numbers as it requires only skill of tools and techique. It leaves no room for creativity of enhancing elements to be more visually pleasing than what someone has already thought of and either built themselves or in the case of most design.. had someone build for them. Morris only designed a chair... he was not a WW and that is the case of the majority (not all as Sidney Barnsley comes to mind) of A & C and Art Nouveau. The designers were architecturally trained and the furniture was built by master craftsman in their employ.

I want to become the creator of the design and the mechanic who takes a felled tree from rough to ready. If it's truly one of a kind how could you question it not being pure?

[JR]

. pure Sargenskil (Sarge style)

And a new school of design is born.

JR

[SARGE..g-47]

Nice work Sarge. The pieces aren't exactly the same in design element but compliment each other nicely. Whether intended or not that is very hard to accomplish.

Thanks Drillman. I did not intend them to be of the exact style as you would find in say a living room suit from Ikea or Rooms to Go. I lothe repetition and the reason I could not nor never have worked on an assembly line of any nature. My wife does high end crochet for baby showers as blankets.. booties.. out-fits..etc. She is the same as she had dealers who have ask her to reproduce say 100 of them to wholesale to them.

She simplu tells them no as she is not interested in doing the basic same piece twice as it bores her as much as it bores me to say on the same theme over and over. But... yes, those pieces were intended to simply compliment each other and the room surrounding them but.. still add variety as each piece stands alone but also blends into a tight knit family when viewed together.

That is what I sought and hopefully that is the result.

Regards...

[SARGE..g-47]

And a new school of design is born.

JR

Ha.. ha.. I got that from the movement that occured in Germany around the Munich area during the A & C period. It was called the Jugendskil or translated to Youth Style taken from a poplar German magazine called Jugend or Youth. The magazine promoted the new styles which A & C and variant were during the late 1800's through the early 1900's.

School of design?.. more like me as the school-boy as I have much to learn in this arena but.... just as I had much to learn in 1972 about wood mechanics... I'm working on it!

[GPA61]

Great work as usual, John.

[jabe]

Looking GOOD!!!