Darrell Peart's Aurora Sofa Table #5: Breadboard Ends

While I’m ammonia fuming another project, I figured I’d make progress on this one. I pulled a WoodWhisperer and threw away the tape measure. I milled the ends to the proper thickness (which also gave me some nice mahogany veneer). I can’t tell you how lovely working mahogany is, compared to oak. Then while the stock was still one long piece, I used the table saw blade to make the dado that fits the tongue on the top (Darrell calls it the “core”). I achieved a nice slip fit.

Now it was time to cut the ends to length. The overhang isn’t specified in the drawing, but probably in the text, but since it’s one solid board, I wanted to give it plenty of room to expand across the grain, so I cut the breadboards over half an inch longer than the top (plus I still have to joint the edges of the top). My first attempt in trimming an end resulted in a lot of chipout, so I wrapped it with tape. Chipout inside the dado! That’ll look like crap when the ebony spline is there. So I made a filler strip of oak (I’ve got lots of oak scraps lying around for some reason). Viola! A perfect cut.

Not using the tape measure gave me a very organic feeling when deciding how long to cut the ends. I just slipped the stock on and made a mark. To make the second one, I just sat the first one on the offcut and made another mark. Very satisfying. I immediately ran the assembled top into the living room and held it up to the sofa. Magnificent.

As you can see, I’ve got to remove wood along the sides of the top for the ebony spline. I haven’t really decided how I’m going to do that yet.

Thanks to sufficient clamping pressure, the glue line on the laminated ends is almost invisible. I’m a little conflicted about putting a thin veneer along the edge. I guess this is the time to buck up and become a real woodworker…

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails