Treadle base topped with Silver Maple slab. Wood top is 1 5/8” thick x 18” wide at narrow end x 20” wide at the flare x 32 1/4” long x 30” tall.
From the late 1800s to the 1950s sewing machines could be powered by moving a foot peddle back and forth. I really like these old machine bases because they were high on design quality. Much of the design was based on the golden ratio of 1.61803396 which is derived from the Fibonacci sequence. The golden ratio is found all around us. Natural examples of the Fibonacci sequence are seen in pine cones, shells, sunflowers, roses and artichokes, just to name a few.
Turns out the designers of most of these bases used it in creating these sewing table bases. I used that same ratio when deciding on the width and length of the wood used to as the table top put on the base. A bit tricky and it takes some time to find the right size that still has a natural edge. I drove about 100 miles one day to various sawmills to find a slab that would be close to the right ratio to put on top of this base.
What I found was a Silver Maple slab harvested from Dorr area in southwest Michigan. The slab has tons of character and various colors ranging from dusty rose, browns and greys. to get it up to my standards, quite a bit of epoxy was poured in to the voids. Then the slab was cleaned and sanded to 220 grit and finished with food safe product called Odie’s Oil.
Treadle base topped with Silver Maple slab. Wood top is 1 5/8” thick x 18” wide at narrow end x 20” wide at the flare x 32 1/4” long x 30” tall.
From the late 1800s to the 1950s sewing machines could be powered by moving a foot peddle back and forth. I really like these old machine bases because they were high on design quality. Much of the design was based on the golden ratio of 1.61803396 which is derived from the Fibonacci sequence. The golden ratio is found all around us. Natural examples of the Fibonacci sequence are seen in pine cones, shells, sunflowers, roses and artichokes, just to name a few.
Turns out the designers of most of these bases used it in creating these sewing table bases. I used that same ratio when deciding on the width and length of the wood used to as the table top put on the base. A bit tricky and it takes some time to find the right size that still has a natural edge. I drove about 100 miles one day to various sawmills to find a slab that would be close to the right ratio to put on top of this base.
What I found was a Silver Maple slab harvested from Dorr area in southwest Michigan. The slab has tons of character and various colors ranging from dusty rose, browns and greys. to get it up to my standards, quite a bit of epoxy was poured in to the voids. Then the slab was cleaned and sanded to 220 grit and finished with food safe product called Odie’s Oil.