nested food set

After completing a complete kitchen renovation that began during Covid, I needed to add one final piece to the puzzle: a dining table and chairs. The plan was for an L-shaped, dining room-style booth, but the reality of the space didn’t match the dream. At just 70 inches by 41 inches, it was too small by half. The seating layout was changed to a bench and two chairs.

First, I built a storage bench out of bamboo plywood. I cut a notch so that the table legs with supports could fit in to save space, and the corners were designed to allow room for the person sitting. Next, I glued the table top on. When I made it on wooden brackets, I was amazed at the angle of the cuts; I rotated the brackets 90 degrees and saw that I could save more space. I redesigned the hanging wooden brackets to fit the angle of the bench. With the new setup, my already glued table could be made larger.

The solution to extending the table by adding wide breadboard ends is a hybrid joint design that combines a sliding swallowtail, loose wedges, and a tongue-and-groove joint. If you’re curious, you can check it out on the Tailspin Tools blog. I think it’s great that the center of gravity of the table is perfectly balanced when the table is lifted from the ends.

My last attempt at making wood chairs. I cut a piece of cherry wood and air dried it in the garage. I cut it straight from the Woodmizer at a 2017 fundraiser for the North Jersey Woodworkers Association. I took the wood to the store, bought a copy of Christopher Schwarz’s Stick Chair Book and a Tim Manney hole saw. I did some testing and decided to give it a try.

After about halfway through, I passed two chairs on the side of the road and took one home. The size was close enough to use for testing and proved that two chairs side by side could not be pushed all the way in. There was great value in having something that could be adjusted without hesitation. I cut a large slit in the seat and found that it had no effect on comfort.

The theoretical decision to cut the chairs was easy; but transferring the first ever carved chairs to the band saw was not so easy! Some design modifications were necessary to get the fit right. I lowered the backrests by an inch and straightened the saddles slightly. They sat comfortably and fit the space beautifully.

After 35 years in architectural photography, Maiko now works as a consultant, using the same skill set in environmental compliance. He holds three U.S. patents and is the inventor and maker of the Tailspin cross-cutting tool. A woodworker for 50 years, Maiko started with an X-Acto carving kit and a block of balsa wood on his 10th birthday and has been working his way up.