Finn Juhl 500 Telephone Table

I saw one of these at a friend's house, really liked it, and decided to make one from American Cherry. The original was of course in Teak with an option of Walnut.



First I did a drawing. Sorry about the quality it got corrupted in translation.

Got the stock roughed out to size

Board edges prepped and biscuited. Straightened first with a No 6 then hollowed slightly with the BU smoother to hold the ends together.

Glued up and cleaned up with the smoother. Cherry can have a difficult grain and a finely set plane is essential.

Started out with the top moulding the profile on the two edge pieces which would be biscuited to the top. The false fence made for a clean cut with 15mm rad knives.

The profiled edges, one left one right.

Edge profiles biscuited on and cleaned up with a gouge. I trimmed the ends to a slight angle to compliment the side profiles.

The legs were roughed out on the bandsaw, grooved to take the splined stiffener and copy profiled on the moulder with router spindle and template cutter

The legs and rails were glued up on the building board using the splines to keep everything in line.

The splines themselves were dominoes while square then splined on the moulder with a rebate block before being tapered to section with a plane.

Back to the building board for the cross rails which were drilled and the holes slotted with a domino slot for later fixing of the top with screws. I wanted to avoid buttons which I think are unnecessary in this case. I temporarily screwed the rails to the board to keep the frame true whilst it dried.

Finished in Danish Oil

Detail of the leg arrangement

I am very pleased with the result which is notable for it's incredible light weight and strength which is testament to a clearly thought out design for production. This table was the smallest part of a range of similar pieces including settee and armchairs all designed to integrate.