In article , dave_in_gva wrote:
Hi,

I am building a low coffee table out of a lovely piece of burled Swiss
pear.

The top will be around 2.5 cm (1") thick and supported by 4 legs with
a gentle curve and an oval cross section. The look I'm after is
something elegant and feminine (the table is for a single mother
friend of ours). I do almost all my work with hand tools and have a
few spokeshaves but have not had reason to use them really till now.

To give a better idea on dimensions the overall height of the legs
will be somewhere around 35 cm (14"), with a curve deflection of
around 5 cm (2") at the apex point of deflection which will be at
about 8 cm (3") off the floor. Maximum dimension of the cross section
should be around 4 cm (1.5").

Any ideas on woods I should consider for the legs? I want to minimize
problems with tearout so don't want anything with interlocking
grain.....basically the ideal for me would be a good beginners wood
for getting into spokeshave work that also is stable and suited to
table construction. Visually I am not after anything to compete with
the table top as the focus will be on the burled figure of the pear.

Spokeshaver gurus....what say you?

Cherry works very nicely with a 'shave, and I think would be a beautiful
contrast with the pear -- and as the cherry darkens with age, that will look
even better.

I've never worked mahogany with a spokeshave, but I've used it on the lathe,
and based on the way it turns I think it would be very easy to work. It has a
reputation for being an excellent carving wood.

Either one is an outstanding material for fine furniture.

On Jul 3, 5:08*am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , dave_in_gva wrote:



Hi,

I am building a low coffee table out of a lovely piece of burled Swiss
pear.

The top will be around 2.5 cm (1") thick and supported by 4 legs with
a gentle curve and an oval cross section. The look I'm after is
something elegant and feminine (the table is for a single mother
friend of ours). I do almost all my work with hand tools and have a
few spokeshaves but have not had reason to use them really till now.

To give a better idea on dimensions the overall height of the legs
will be somewhere around 35 cm (14"), with a curve deflection of
around 5 cm (2") at the apex point of deflection which will be at
about 8 cm (3") off the floor. Maximum dimension of the cross section
should be around 4 cm (1.5").

Any ideas on woods I should consider for the legs? I want to minimize
problems with tearout so don't want anything with interlocking
grain.....basically the ideal for me would be a good beginners wood
for getting into spokeshave work that also is stable and suited to
table construction. Visually I am not after anything to compete with
the table top as the focus will be on the burled figure of the pear.

Spokeshaver gurus....what say you?

Cherry works very nicely with a 'shave, and I think would be a beautiful
contrast with the pear -- and as the cherry darkens with age, that will look
even better.

I've never worked mahogany with a spokeshave, but I've used it on the lathe,
and based on the way it turns I think it would be very easy to work. It has a
reputation for being an excellent carving wood.

Either one is an outstanding material for fine furniture.

Great guys, thanks. Both cherry and mahogany (as well as walnut) are
all available locally here (in Switzerland).

I think I'll go with one of those. I may even use pear from the same
board.

Best,

Dave

In article , dave_in_gva wrote:

Great guys, thanks. Both cherry and mahogany (as well as walnut) are
all available locally here (in Switzerland).

Just be aware that my comments about "cherry" referred to American black
cherry (Prunus serotina). The cherry that's available in Switzerland is likely
to be from the fruit tree (P. avium); never having worked with P. avium, I'm
not qualified to comment on its similarity (either in appearance or mechanical
characteristics) to P. serotina. Bear in mind, too, that taxonomic
classifications are not based on the needs of the lumber industry. It's not
necessarily a safe assumption that being in the same genus implies any
particular degree of similarity in the lumber: the sugar maple and the silver
maple are both genus Acer, and have similar appearance, but radically
different mechanical characteristics. The same may be true of the different
cherry species.