Peter Makula, Berry, NSW

Deco Table
Ebonised oak, red gum and rock maple table
2060 x 1040 x 760mm

Concept
The idea behind the work was to create a modern and elegant piece of furniture with references to Art Deco. I wanted to utilise the skills of design, geometry and engineering, as well as craftsmanship in making the piece.
The design elements were to be kept simple in shape with no extraneous ornamentation, with the visual interest coming from the use of the three different timbers and their relationship to each other, as well as the negative shapes formed by the structure.
By tapering the four facets on the underside of the tabletop I was able to achieve a relatively thin edge to the top, so making it appear as a floating sheet above the base structure. It also reflects the shape of the plinth. Ebonising the oak was done to unify those components and give a rich textural surface. It also provides a contrast to the other timbers giving a colour scheme that is essentially red white and black.
Polishing to a rich lustre was done to reflect light off the different facets and thus emphasise the overall design that I hope is both subtle and hard edge at the same time.

Construction
The piece uses three timbers, American oak, redgum and rock maple. The oak was sourced as offcuts from a kitchen door manufacturer, redgum from a supplier specialising in tree salvage.
The oak was thicknessed to approx. 21mm then butt jointed to form sections five runs wide, making up a 2100mm length x 105mm wide x approx. 75mm thick. These were then re–thicknessed to take out any minor discrepancies prior to gluing the sections together thus forming the blank to shape into the tabletop.
Ten pieces were needed to make up the total width. A similar method was used to form the plinth. The rough-formed blanks were then surfaced on an overhead Wood Wizz router with the tapered planes being formed by propping the blanks at the appropriate angles and then milling on the same machine. The tapered triangular redgum that form the table legs were assembled from 33mm thicknessed sections and then shaped on the overhead router using custom made jigs to hold them in position.
The rock maple pieces were shaped to fit after the body of the table had been assembled, but were shaped using a jointer and belt sander. Full size drawings were made to determine compound lengths and angles of the legs and the tapered mortise joints where the legs are set into the plinth, and also the mortises used to join the legs to the tabletop. The drawings were also used to make the various jigs needed in the construction.

Glues
Titebond III PVA was used to laminate the oak and redgum components. AVS Adhesives AV515 urethane was then used to assemble the leg struts to the plinth and tabletop. The rock maple was glued in position using ATL Composites Techniglue CA epoxy.

Finish
Prior to assembly all timber was sanded to 240 grit. The inner surfaces of the plinth and top were further sanded to 400 grit. Areas to be glued were masked off and the oak was ebonised with a steel wool and vinegar mix. When dry the surfaces were gently sanded and the ebonising process repeated. After assembly all surfaces were sanded to 400 grit prior to oiling with Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil and mechanically buffing with fine Scotch-brite pads. When the oil was fully cured surfaces were cut back with U-beaut EEE and finished by buffing with Organoil Woodsheen oil.

Photos: Peter Makula