First off, if you did not watch Episode 2 of Framework, you can watch the teaser clip below, or go to SPIKE for the whole episode.
I know I promised, and even though its been a some days since the 2nd episode of Framework aired, I wanted to give some details on the piece, for those of you who are interested in the more technical aspects of it.
The Challenge was to build a Ping Pong table for the Standard Hotel in L.A. It was especially fun, not because I am into Ping Pong or because I have ever built a Ping Pong table, but because it gave me the opportunity to play around with some of my favorite elements and styles.
I have stayed at the Standard before and have always appreciated there style, even though it's a bit hard to categorize. The Ping Pong Club, on the other hand, is not; the style is fairly mid-century with old black and white photos from the 1950' and 1960's of Hollywood icons. For me, the concept and design were not too difficult, but the build, that was different. Not only are you trying to build furniture in 24 hours, but you are constantly working with tools and even people that you are not familiar with, making the 24 hour period seem even shorter.
As you may know, the table was made of walnut, and the top, in order to discourage sagging, we made a makeshift metal frame, used MDF as the core, skinned it all with 4 quarter walnut, and then added 1/4'' strip of brass flat bar down the center.
In the last 6 months, I have been dabbling with danish cord, mostly for weaving seats, but there is so much more possible with this stuff than only seating. Something about the look and color of the cord is so timeless to me. Being that the net was the focal point of the piece, I really wanted to make it unique and it was a blast to make. Truthfully, without the Festool Domino and their tiny 5mm dominos, there is no way I could have joined all those small intricate angle together. I had made a 5/8" groove on the top of the net, wove in the Danish Cord, then willed in the groove with a thin strip of brass to match the accent on the table top.
As for the legs, they are composed of 8 quarter walnut, I would have liked to use 12 quarter, but being that they had to order it, I had to wait too long and with a 24-hour build, there was no time to waste. I used a 15 degree chamfer bit for the bottom stretch of the leg, for the top and side part, I used a 3/4” quarter round. I also tapered the legs making it thicker at the part where it attached to the table; thiner where it met the floor. I joined the vertical part of the leg with the vertical rail by using the domino XL, pretty much using a 5” tenon to keep it all together.
And to wrap it all up, we used the Sam Malloof Finish, which I really like. One of the terrible parts about making furniture in 24 hours is that we only had time for one coat of oil; for most woodworkers, putting on one coat of oil pretty much kills your soul, we all know how much better a piece gets with each additional coat, but time was of the essence. Still, I'm pretty sure Sam Malloof probably was rolling over in his grave.