Square Tea Table Plans

PLATE VIII. The design given on this plan is for a small square table in the Elizabethan style, suitable for an afternoon tea-service, or for any other occasional use. Small tables of this class are most convenient in a hall, drawing-room, or sitting-room.

Fig. i is a side view of the table complete, and the characteristic manner in which the four supports are perforated. If variety is desired, the patterns of the oblong portions of the supports can be of different designs, care being taken to have a similar balance of the solids and perforations: the bottom portions should be the same in the four supports, or a disturbed effect will be produced.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, showing the form of the lower cross-bars: these are halved together in their square, central parts, as indicated by the dotted lines, and glued; their ends passing through the supports, and being firmly fixed by wedges, as shown. The cross-bars need not be pierced; and any characteristic contour may be given to their edges.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section immediately under the upper cross-bars. These bars are halved together in the centre and let into the tops of the supports in the manner indicated in Fig. 4.

The ends of the bars are carried in front of the supports, forming brackets to support the top of the table, as shown in all the drawings: these can be left unpierced, and shaped in any desirable manner taste may suggest. The top is attached to the supports and the cross-bars by the system of blocking and screwing shown in Figs. I and 3. The blocks against the cross-bars may be omitted, and the bars directly screwed to the top, the heads of the screws being deeply sunk in brace-bit holes.

Small Square Tea Table

The most desirable wood for this table is oak, and preferably English oak - the wood always used for such furniture in Elizabethan times - finished with wax, hard rubbed to a slight gloss. If plain American oak or wainscot oak is used, it should be stained or fumed, and finished as above.