Bespoke Dining Table - V - Profiling the Pedestal Base

This is a short series following the creation of a bespoke dining table all the way through the making process, from selecting the timber to delivery to the client.

Once the full pedestal base had been glued up, it was time to apply the edge detailing to each outside edge.  As these were milled up identically to the inside staves, I needed to transform a sharply angled surface into a smooth roundover. As the thickness of the timber increases from top to bottom of the design, the simplest way to manage this is to mark the desired profile onto the end grain at the top and the bottom, and take to the hand tools.

Once marked out, I added a series of tangential lines that represent the 45 degree chamfers that can easily be removed  without ruining the profile.  Once this is complete I repeated the process to add lines at 22.5 and 67.5 degrees and flattened these.  Once complete, I was left with a tapering octagonal shape.  Removing the high points left me with a roughed out fully round shape.  From here, the form is refined mostly by touch and removing small ridges where the hand feels them.  Finally, a long strip of sandpaper can be used to ensure a perfectly smooth transition.

For most of this operation a block plane was the best tool, as shown in the video.  The adjustable mouth and fine blade adjustment meant that I could not only control the depth of cut but avoid any tearout.  The were a few sections with concave profile that needed me to change to a curved spokeshave and some really tight corners at the very top of the pedestal that needed the fine touch of a Sloyd knife.