I’ve always appreciated the look of furniture designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene. Though often equated with the Arts & Crafts movement at the beginning of the 20th century, their furniture designs reflect an Asian influence that softens the often hard lines of Arts & Crafts furniture. While looking for a piece to build, I was talking with Robert W. Lang, senior editor for Popular Woodworking and author of the just-published “Shop Drawings for Greene & Greene Furniture” (Fox Chapel). He suggested adapting a small side table originally made for the Thorsen House in Berkeley, Calif.

The cutouts on the aprons quickly won me over, but I did make a couple modifications that lightened the look of the table. Rather than a full-width shelf captured between two straight stretchers, I opted to make the stretcher with a top-and-bottom cloudlift design and make the shelf only half the width of the original. I also added some 1⁄16" quirk details to the corners of the legs and the edges of the aprons, stretchers and the shelf. These “rabbets” add a simple shadow line to a very pleasant design.

Start With the Lumber
Selecting your lumber for this table is an important step. Because it’s such a small piece, wild grain will dramatically change the overall appearance. You want to look for mahogany that is as straight grained as possible. This will become even more critical if you’re bookmatching the top piece. And because of the high cost of mahogany, I definitely recommend bookmatching. It allows you to buy 8/4 material and resaw for the top, aprons and stretchers, while still allowing enough thickness to yield the legs and breadboards.

Start by selecting the best wood for the top piece. Pay careful attention to the grain orientation as the piece is almost square and it’s easy to get the direction reversed, which will yield a funny-looking top. Resaw the top pieces, then surface and join the two boards, trimming to allow the best grain match possible. Now glue the two (hopefully no more) pieces together to form the top.

While the glue is drying, select the next-best sections of your wood for the aprons and stretchers. Resaw the necessary pieces from your 8/4 material to yield the balance of your pieces. Then surface, plane and saw the stock to final thickness, width and length.

Mortise & Tenon Joinery
The joinery for the table should start at your mortiser. I chose a 3⁄8" mortising chisel for all the mortises on this piece. Mark the locations of the mortises on the legs, paying careful attention to the location for the lower stretchers. There are only two stretchers and they will require mortises on only one inside face of each leg. Orient the legs so those faces are on the inside.

The mortises for the aprons are 7⁄8" deep and 4-1⁄2" long. They are centered on the legs and start 3⁄4" down from the top of the legs. The two apron mortises will intersect one another in the leg, so be careful while cutting the second mortise to avoid damaging the rather thin interior corner left by the two mortises. The stretcher mortises are 3⁄4" long and start 51⁄8" up from the bottom of the legs.

While you’re at the mortiser, lay out and cut the 7⁄8"-deep mortises in the breadboard ends. The middle mortise is 4-3⁄4" long and centered on each breadboard. The two outer mortises are 2-1⁄4" long and start 1-3⁄8" in from each end. All the breadboard mortises are centered in the thickness of the breadboards.

Remove the top from the clamps and trim it to finished size. I used the table saw to cut the tenons on all the pieces, but you may choose to use a router. In fact, I was a little lazy on the saw and opted to leave the 1⁄8" blade in rather than switch to a dado to run the tenons. There’s also a little logic behind my laziness. By making repeat cuts on the cheek of the tenon my blade leaves slight ridges on the surface. If test fitting my tenon achieves a fit that is too snug, I’m able to come back with a rabbeting plane and trim the tenon to fit. Miter the ends of the tenons to fit the legs.

Cloudlifts & Quirks
With the tenons cut it’s time to add some of the details. Each of the aprons and the two stretchers have what have been coined “cloudlift” designs. This shaped offset is formed on the lower edge of each apron and on both the top and bottom of the two stretchers. The offset is a simple 1⁄4". The location of the offsets can be determined from the scaled patterns for the aprons and stretchers. The transition itself isn’t a simple radius, though you could do it that way if you prefer. Rather, the transition can be drawn using 1⁄4" radii, but should then be softened to make the transition more subtle.

I made a few test pieces before I was satisfied with the curve, then used that test piece to mark the cloudlift transitions on the actual pieces. With your pieces marked, head to the band saw and make your cloudlift cuts. Use a file and sandpaper to clean up the shapes on all the pieces.

To add a little trick for the eye I cut a 1⁄16" rabbet (or quirk) on the long edges of the legs on the table saw (see picture at right), and also on the four long edges of the small shelf. To add the same detail to the lower edge of the aprons and all the edges of the stretchers, I set up a trim router with a bearing guide and a straight bit. The guide allows the bit to follow the cloudlifts without difficulty.

Patterns & Ebony
Before assembly, use your scrollsaw or fretsaw to cut out the patterns on the aprons. Enlarge the scaled patterns to full size (or download the full-size patterns from Magazine Extras our web site), then attach them to the aprons using adhesive spray. Cut the patterns and then use sandpaper and small files to clean them up.

One last step is to make the square holes for the ebony accent pegs. I again used my 3⁄8" mortising chisel to make these 3⁄8"-deep holes. The locations of the dual pegs on the legs are 1⁄4" in from either side and the pegs are 5⁄8" apart from one another. The pegs at the tops of the legs start 3⁄4" down from the top of the leg. The lower pattern starts 31⁄8" down from the top. The pegs on the stretchers and breadboards are evenly spaced as shown.

Assembly
Finish sand all the pieces of the table base and assemble the frame. Start with the sides that have the stretchers. Then glue the last two aprons between the two frames. Before gluing up the top, use a 1⁄8"-radius router bit to soften the long edges of the top and all the edges of the breadboard pieces. Finally, glue on the breadboards. Screw the shelf in place through two holes in the stretchers that will receive the ebony pegs.
The pegs are next (see photo below). I used ebony, but you could also use walnut.

I attached the top by using my biscuit jointer to cut slots on the inside of the aprons to match the Z-shaped metal mirror fasteners screwed to the top.
The last step is the finish. A coat of boiled linseed oil will leave a lighter finish, allowing the mahogany to darken with age, or you can speed the process by using a stain. A top coat of lacquer and you’ve  a table with unique details that make it stand out. PW

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David Thiel is aquisitions editor for Popular Woodworking Books