Piecrust Tea Table

This Piecrust Tea Table is based on the table in Making a Piecrust Tea Table by Heller and Clarkson. The wood is Honduras mahogany. The top is of a single board but the column is glued up from two 8/4 boards. The finish is aniline dye, wet sanding with thinned tung oil to fill the grain, sprayed garnet shellac, and then French polish for the top. The carvings are not sanded and the sprayed shellac in those areas is lightly rubbed out with steel wool. The table top rotates and tilts for storage in the vertical position, with a wooden hinge attached to the bird cage. The design is almost identical to a piece in the Winterthur collection from Philadelphia 1765-1780, plate 376, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods by Joseph Downs, Schiffer Publishing 2001.