Texas History Table

  • chisel
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I designed this small table in response to a request for us to build a small Texas style piece here in our shop using hand tools. The point of the table being that we would film the construction of it for a visual presentation to be shown in the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum during an exhibition of Early Texas Furniture (1840-1880). The presentation is to show how traditional hand tools are used, and since we use a lot of hand tools here in our shop it was a fine match for us to build the piece. Lonn Taylor has written a book which is the era the display is showing:
Texas Furniture, Volume Two : The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880 by Lonn Taylor

Frank Strazza, one of our master craftsmen and instructor at the Heritage School of Woodworking is the one actually building the table. Frank has built lots of furniture and one of his award winning pieces can be seen here on our school website: http://www.sustainlife.org/blogs/woodworking/?p=924

We liked the finished table and so requested to display it in the museum. It will be there on display from July-October. We wanted to make available to you, the same style table, made here in our shop by our craftsmen. The table is all Cypress and sports a hand inlaid 5 pointed Texas star. The legs are assembled with Mortice and Tenon joinery, the drawer has half-blind dovetails. A hand scraped finish rounds off the piece ready for the traditional hand rubbed oil finish. For information on the purchasing this table please contact us at: info@homesteadheritagefurniture.com  Please send your name or email and put Texas History Table in the subject line.

Sincerely,
Mark Borman
Master Furniture Maker at Homestead Heritage Furniture