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28K views 80 replies 38 participants last post by  Karson 
#1 ·
Sketchup Design

I have been thinking about making another table lately. I had so much fun building the Sewing Table that I wanted to make something for our house. And my wife has wanted a place to put her collection of jewelry. So we came up with this idea (actually it was mostly her idea) and I started doing some designing today. This is what I came up with so far.

The idea is to make a hall table with a lifting "lid" and a hidden jewelry case underneath with lots of room for necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc.

I came up with this alternating single arch design, but I may have seen something similar elsewhere. I'm not sure. The inside will be full of movable dividers. The shelf on the bottom will appear to float since it will be suspended by brass pegs attached to the bent-lamination mahogany arches.















I plan to make the top out of the same stock I made this box top from:



And the apron and legs from the same Birch I used for the Sewing Table:



Again, I'll be blogging the process. Let me know what you think!
 
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#4 ·
Great start Blake. I really like the organizational compartments. The flowing arches are an elegant design feature. It looks nice how they intersect with the opposing arches. Also consider how this interaction of the arches will be distracted depending on how the shelf is used. Something to consider. The wood selection is outstanding. I look forward to seeing the final rendering and following the progression until the final piece is unveiled.
 
#5 ·
Blake - one thing that you might consider is a sliding top. That way you do not have to remove what is on top of the table to get to the precious cargo hidden inside. I have a large secretary that has a lift top for jewelry and it very seldom gets opened because I have to remove stuff. A sliding top-- or a lift top (like a coffee table top) might be an idea.
 
#7 ·
Blake what a great collaboration between you and your wife. I really like the opposing arches in the mahogany. You are going to have fun with those bent laminations. I know I sure did on my tea cart blog. I really dig the brass pegs creating the float shelf below. One thing you may want to consider is introducing the brass somewhere else so that it ties into another detail. You could peg your mortise and tenons with brass or you could run a brass inlay on your top…actually Blake whatever you do will look great. The concealed display is very cool no one will ever know that it is a jewerly case until you show them. I am already getting excited for the blog.
 
#9 ·
Blake a fantastic looking project. It will be fun to see this all come together. What does the Misses think?
 
#11 ·
Super design so far. I'm with Betsy on the flip top. A broad surface such as this will inevitably have something that sits on it that will have to be removed before you can access the innards. C'mon, dazzle us with a solution.

always,
J.C.
 
#13 ·
Hi Blake I really like the overall design. I am not certain how big this table is going to be. Just think of what things ladies put on table tops, and the fact that every time they want to access their jewelry. they have to clear the table top.

Consider making the apron a little wider and making access to the "crown jewels" via a drawer. You can still conceal the drawer front, by making the whole "false" apron slide in and out.
 
#17 ·
Ooouuuh I want one! I love the design but I do think Tony has a point about accessibility. Now the hidden compartment may not want to be advertised, so placing some easily removable objects on top may deter anyone from figuring out there are valuables underneath the top. But, if you could make a version that has a secret slide out drawer with a hinged false front, this would make it easy to get to the contents and still have it as a hiding place for valuables. A simple push peg lock could also be hidden under the drawer and apron so only the owner would know how to access the drawer. Does this make sense? I can send a drawing if interested.
 
#19 ·
Nice Legs!

I finally started working on my table the other night. Here is what I did so far…

(By the way, here is the sketchup design just to remind you…)



I'm actually not sure if I will make the jewelry compartment or not. I will have to see how it goes. I do about half my design on paper/computer and the other half on the fly.

Here's the pile after I cross cut some of my pieces to rough length (still designing on the fly a little until I get a sense of my proportions). Birdseye Maple and that curly/quilty mahogany that I love…



The legs are Bubinga which actually came from the yard as 2×2s. In just a few moments of cutting I've got a rough idea of my overall shape. I call this the "sneak peak." This is where I make changes to overall dimensions. (Its just clamped together without any joinery yet.)



Here I've got most of it "mocked up." I am going to make it narrower. Notice the "shelf" down below.



I got a good deal on some Bubinga 2×2 stock which I am using for the legs:



Whenever I joint or plane anything I make lines all over so I know which side(s) have been planed and when the entire surface is planed. Depending on the project I either use pen or pencil. This time I used two colors of Sharpie (and two different patterns) for the four sides. This makes the "plane, plane, plane, plane, TURN, etc…" less confusing.



All set for planing:



All done Jointing and planing… and here's the surprise spoiler: The short legs are for a matching coffee table!



All set for the [fun part] mortising:



Notice the various stop blocks for repeated cuts. I only had to measure and mark one side of one leg.



The cutting: Keep a brush near by to clean chips away…



And here's the end result!



I still have to do a little hand work with a chisel to lean up the inside surfaces.

Building time so far: 4 hours
 
#30 ·
Top and Tenons

I had a couple of hours to work on my table the other night.

Most of the time was spent sanding my Mahogany with my homemade thickness sander. I love the figure in this mahogany but it is hell to work with. If you plane or even scrape it the surface becomes as furry as a cat because the grain is so wavy. It will still require many hours of sanding by Random Orbit Sander and Palm Sander before it is glassy smooth.



Then I biscuited the top together:







And glued it up. The smaller clamps on the end are to keep it flat:



Now time for the tenons. I love my little Incra marking square:





I set up my Radial Arm Saw with a stop block to cut the tenons:



The blade "floats" above the table to just the right depth:



Here is the finished tenon cut completely on the RAS. This method is very efficient to set up and I had all my tenons done in about 10 minutes.



Here is a video of the process:

http://blip.tv/play/AdSTQQA

Checking for fit here… I left it tight because I still have some trimming to do inside the mortises:



That's all for now… Total project time: 6 hours
 
#31 ·
Blake, I thought I'd drop you a line! Nice work lately, I've been watching from the shadows. I see your shop is improving!!!
Not a lot of time lately, trying to keep my ship afloat. thanks again for the kind words of encouragement a while back! I'll be back…LOL
peace,
Chuck
 
#39 ·
Tapered Legs and Joinery

On my Sewing Table I tapered the legs on only two sides. I made the cuts freehand on the bandsaw and then cleaned them up on the Jointer and sander. For this table I really wanted to taper the legs on all four sides for a more refined look.

So I decided the easiest way to make the tapers would be to build a simple "5 minute jig." So this is the quick, cheap, disposable, dedicated taper jig I made:





Here it is set up on the table saw… The rip fence is being used as a guide:



Done… This taper jig worked really well. I got surprisingly smooth cuts which will cut down on sanding time.



Its not an optical illusion, those are tapered legs!



Here's how I cut the haunches of the tenons on the table saw:





And the waste on the bandsaw:



Because of how small my legs are I decided to make "Mitered Tenons" where the tenons actually meet as a miter inside the mortise. Here is a Sketchup of the joinery:





I cut the miters on the table saw:



Here is what it will look like inside:



There's one of the mitered tenons in the mortise…



After a little trimming all the joinery fits great in the dry-fit. I have a lot of sanding and other work to do before I glue it up:



This was another 2 1/2 hours. Total project time: 10.5 hours
 
#47 ·
I Pulled an All-Nighter

I was up until 5:00 AM. Yea, 5 AM.

I was gonna work on my table all day today but I got called into work because my boss is sick. I really wanted to work on my table so I thought I would do a little woodworking last night before bed. Well, a little turned into a lot. The hours flew by and when I looked at the clock and it said 5. I was pretty sure that 5 PM had passed long ago… yup, it had. Anyway, here are a few photos I took but I sort of forgot to pick up the camera most of the time… sorry.

Cutting the curves: I bent a scrap of hardwood in a clamp and tied a string between both ends to keep it bowed.



Then I clamped it down to my apron and drew the curves:



And then cut them on the bandsaw:



I started sanding for a while and then said to myself… "what am I thinking? This is stupid. I'm gonna get my scraper." So I scraped all the legs and apron pieces.



Anyway, I wasted about 45 minutes sanding (and only got about half way done) before I decided to start over with a scraper. It took me about 1/2 hour to finish all the parts (legs and apron) with the scraper.

I glued up the legs and apron in three stages with epoxy. Here is the first stage:



Here is the final glue up:



The table top did need to be sanded because of that cat-fur-like Mahogany. So I spent 45 minutes or so stepping down grits, etc. Then I beveled the edges on my router table with a 45 deg chamfer bit. (Sorry no photos for any of this.)

Finally I made my "buttons" and fastened the table to the legs:





I couldn't resist wiping the top down with some oil before calling it a night (or morning).



I am still going to sand that top quite a bit more. I am going to step it down to at least 600 grit for a glassy smooth finish.

Anyway, I'm pretty much done with the table… now I just have to make those bent lamination arches.

Another 7 1/2 hours this morning. Total project time: 18 hours
 
#64 ·
Building the Arches... Design Challenges

Like I mentioned before, I am building a matching coffee table along with my "hall table." I have been making an effort to document the time I spend on larger projects for my own reference. But since I am building two projects together the concept of time is getting a little blurry. I spent a few hours the other day just getting the coffee table caught up in the process. All the joinery is the same as before.

I decided to try taping my joints to make it easier to peel off the glue squeeze-out. It did help a lot.





Here it is with the glued-up top but I haven't finished it yet. It still needs the beveled edges and a lot of sanding:



Lamination Forms

My Better Bond Ultra-Cat adhesive (as recommended by bfd) showed up in the mail today. But I've got quite a bit of work to do before I mix it up.



Here is the MDF I got for the bent-lamination forms:



I started by laying the table on the MFD and tracing the legs and apron:





Through trial and error I came up with a low-tech but effective method of precisely drawing the first arch on the MDF. I used a pen attached to a piece of string around four nails. Its not a simple radius but more of a "compound radius" since it is wider than it is tall.



Then I used a Kleenex box to mark a series of parallel lines that would serve as clamping areas around the curve after being cut:



I cut the straight clamping edges with a jigsaw and then cut the two inside curve lines on the bandsaw. Then I screwed one side of the form to another piece of MDF that will serve as a base to keep the lamination flat:



Mock-up of the arches

At this point, I am still doing a lot of designing "on the fly." I was planning on making a prototype lamination to see how the shape looks. But then I realized that the arch that I cut out of the form was already the shape of the final lamination. So I grabbed it and attached it to the table to see how it looked.



Then I found some thin scraps that I bent into position for the smaller side arches as a mock-up:



Then I attached a few clamps to temporarily hold the lower shelf in position to get a sense of its location:











Design Challenges

My intention is to somehow attach the shelf to the arches rather than the legs so that it appears to "float." I am having a hard time seeing how that is going to work now that I've got a tangible model to play with.

This is the reason I believe that Sketchup has its limits as a practical design tool. I personally need to literally put my hands on certain parts of a complex design problem to work out a solution.

I am also realizing, as I look over the original Sketchup drawings, that I had drawn the arches differently than I arranged in my mock-up (I didn't have my computer in the shop with me). Notice how in the drawing the arches start at an angle from the legs as opposed to flush against the lower portion of the legs:







Another thing I am seeing at this point is how thin the "side" arches need to be in order to look proportionally correct, which doesn't leave much room for a pin or dowel to attach the shelf on the sides. This is appearent in both the original Sketchup drawings as well as my model arches.

At this point I am unresolved in how to shape the arches and attach them to the legs as well as how to attach the shelf to the arches. I'll have to sleep on it but would also love your input if you've got any.

I'll apply today's 4 hours of work to my timeline since I was actually working on the hall table… Total project time: 22 Hours

I couldn't resist bringing the two unfinished pieces up from the shop and see how they look together in my living room. The coffee table will get arches as well (but no shelf)...

 
#75 ·
Laminating the Arches

Finally I have the first set of arches glued and clamped in the bending form. I have only made the arches for the hall table so far. Once I finish it I will go back and do the coffee table.

Since I only made one form for each shape I did it in two stages. I glued the first two arches yesterday and just got the identical ("opposing") set in the forms tonight.

I used my Thin-Strip Jig to cut the bending strips. That was very repetitive work for a while. I cut all the strips for all of the 8 arches at the same time. Each arch is made of 6 strips about 1/8" thick for about 3/4" total thickness (and 3/4" wide as well).



Then I mixed up the glue. After carefully reading over the highly technical instructions several times, I figured out that it is actually easier to mix the adhesive like pancakes (add a little powder, add a little water) without measuring. It seemed to work fine.

I screwed one half of the form to a MDF "base" to keep it flat, added a lot of packing tape to keep it from sticking, and then clamped the other half of the form together with the strips in the middle.

I definitely tested the limits of my clamp collection!





By tomorrow I will have all four arches for my hall table laminated. After I pop them out of the form I will start working on sanding and fitting them to the table.

About another 6 hours went into laminating the arches. Total project time: 28 hours.
 
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