All the bowties are is bowtie shaped pieces of stock that are 1/4 to 3/8" thick and let into the table. You'll need a good mortising chisel at least 3/4" wide and a mallet so your edges are crisp where you let them in. A small plunging edging edging router with a spiral upcut bit would help speed things up, but is certainly not needed. Contrasting wood for the ties helps to accentuate your craftsmanship. Have a look at these two sites
www.louqart.com/mesquite_tables.html
and
www.jeffrey greene.com
for examples of the use of bowties (the first site) and some natural looking leg designs (the second site)
I'll post some pictures of my own work if I can figure out how to get past my antivirus system, but I can tell you that I have what is probably the worlds only beeswing, curly spalted pear sofa table and end tables ( in theory, beeswing curly pear doesn't exist, but it did on this windfall ), and the worlds only salmonberry knot pen ( I hate those friggin things )
Playing around with our woodmizer gives me spalted curly bigleaf maple until the cows come home ( I did my entire kitchen in it - worth about $50,000 on the market ), crotchwood galore, mineral stained madrone that looks like marble, quilted bigleaf maple, 1/8" highly figured veneers etc. etc.
This isn't said to boast, but rather to encourage. You will have the time of your life If you go slow on the mill and teach yourself to cut for grade . Keep a little power plane and some tung oil handy at firstso you can quickly see what you are getting from your cuts and remember that wood abnormalities are your friend when making fine pieces. (To me, there is nothing more boring than a perfect oak floor. I'd chuck out all the straight stuff and go straight to the stuff the other guys are throwing away - but thats just me!)
Oh, by the way, congratulations! You are now entering the world of zen!
opcorn:
