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Chippendale Commode Table

This is a new model of 2 that I made 40+ years ago that have survived 10 moves. The originals are Philippine mahogany. These are all sapele other than the drawer sides and bottom. There's no hardware other than the drawer pull. These are great as end tables, lamp tables or bed side tables. These were copied from a picture in a Colonial Williamsburg Reproductions catalog with the original in one of their museum buildings. It's called a commode table because of its original use. A potty container was placed inside the drawer section, so shaped as to partially conceal it. Now, it's just a nice drawer with no cut-out! There are 2 crescent-moon cut-outs on the sides, presumably for ventilation, presently useful to move and lift the table. The trick parts are the intersections of all three planes inside the legs. Assembly is slow and PVA glue would not allow the sections to all be aligned properly before glue setup, so hyde glue was used. What I learned in retrospect was to finish the legs last. I used a red mahogany oil stain. The final coating is with sprayed on oil-based poly, but some areas are not easily sprayed and they had to be brushed.

Finish: Polyurethane

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