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74K views 96 replies 31 participants last post by  Nightman54 
#1 ·
Test Drive

The first installment of this blog is here due to LJ blogging technical issues…

To make sure the dimensions are correct for our new table, we decided to do a little test drive. It didn't hurt that we're having eight people over for a Fourth of July BBQ. We ran over to the big box store and bought a sheet of particle board for $29. When we got it home, I cut it down to 45" x 72", the finished dimensions of the table top. After I sanded it and eased the edges, we spun our little table around and centered it in the dining room. It's a lot bigger than I was expecting, but I'm getting used to it. It fits eight comfortably. My girlfriend likes it, although when it's just the two of us, it'll seem a bit large. The good news is that the wine barrel end lazy susan I'm planning on building will look quite nice in the middle of it. I'll be heading down to San Jose to make a major lumber purchase soon. I'm still going with Schroeder's Rodel design.

 
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#2 ·
Template Adjustment

So, we decided that 72" was a bit overpowering. I yanked the pseudo-top out into the garage and cut a foot off, and then to preserve the Golden Ratio (we just watched a documentary about the Parthenon), cut the width down to 37". This size is much better, and is more amenable to placing a Limbert Lamp Table or sideboard in the dining area. It seats six comfortably instead of eight, but we'd rather setup another table or TV trays instead of having a monolithic table 24/7. This size is also much more acceptable for just the two of us, without vast expanses of table top unused. Albeit, this may impinge on my wine barrel top lazy susan plans. C'est la vie…
 
#4 ·
Rationalized Need



After working in the Valley for a couple of weeks, I decided to spend some of my harder than I thought earned money to get a mortising machine. I settled on the DELTA 14-651 because of its Amazon reviews and price point ($289). I would've loved to get the Powermatic, but that would've taken another year to justify ($480).

I rationalized that with all of the mortises that I'll need for the dining room table, that this additional expense will pay itself off on this one project when you figure all of the time I'll save not dulling my Narex chisels. It was a lot heavier than I expected. I used to have a cheap Chicago mortiser, but it wouldn't cut butter. It was rather late in the evening when I started assembly, so I was a little tired and the directions were just unclear enough to confuse me for a bit. I got it all put together and working and cut a nice little mortise in a piece of scrap walnut. Other than the fence and bit weren't square to each other, it worked pretty well. Once I get up and running with it, I'll post a more thorough review in the proper location.

I've been waiting a long time to get a mortising machine, but with the potential for a lot of pegged picture frames and the table w/ six chairs coming down the pike, I thought it made sense. Luckily, I have a microwave stand out in the garage that I will be able to attach it to as a dedicated station.

Wish me luck!
 
#5 ·
Change of Plans?

Thanks in large part to WhatTheChuck, I'm giving serious thought to changing the design of the underbody of the table. With all due respect to Schroeder's table, which I prefer the looks of in many ways, I think the lack of a footrest underneath is a good thing, and the spindles underneath are magnificent, yet kind of a waste of time, energy, effort, and lumber as they'll be hidden by chairs. I think the trestle-style design might be more pragmatic, and still embody the simplicity and elegance that I'm striving for. It looks like I'll still be making the Rodel chairs, which I guess in some way completes the set (but without the fillers in the back splat).







Cool video of Kevin Rodel making the back splat of his chair on Finewoodworking.com
 
#6 ·
I think both designs are interesting. I don't think that the long rail functions as a footrest. You can't even reach it with your feet on mine. Also, you can sit eight easily at my Stickey Table
 
#9 ·
Slight Change of Plans

Just a short update. While surfing plans, as I am wont to do, I stumbled across these trestle table plans. I didn't give much thought to it, as it's a bit too modern for me, but when I looked at the detailed preview, I saw something quite interesting. The plans include a leaf extension system that will work perfectly with my oversized breadboard ends. This means that I can make a table that seats six and with just a bit more work, seat eight.

 
#10 ·
If you made swing-out legs, you could even make the extensions long enough that it'd go from seating 6 to seating 10. That is a neat design, and simpler (and more structurally sound), I think, than having the table split in the middle.
 
#15 ·
The Hard Part

So, today I ran over to Plywood & Lumber Sales in Oakland, CA and purchased about 100 board feet of quartersawn white oak. I finally have enough lumber to do the dining table. I'm going to start with the top and get that finished so I can bring it into the dining room and set it on top of my old table. This will get rid of the MDF table top we've been using for months. It'll also let me use the MDF for more important things like jigs. I also abhor the tablecloth we've been using to cover up the MDF. Now that the Limbert Table is about done, I can focus on the top over the next week. It'll have breadboard ends and ebony splines/plugs, I just don't know about Schroeder's base or Rodel's. I think Rogowski has a nice design too. Sigh…
 
#16 ·
hey--add a link to those guys designs so we can take a look and help you decide--lol…

I FINALLY GOT TO MACBEATHS in Berkeley and it was fun…I had wife and toddler's in tow since we were on the way to the oakland zoo…but i still had fun….its not too far from napa…especially on a saturday morning…and maybe next time I will add PALS…
 
#19 ·
I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep...

When I bought the $500 worth of quartersawn white oak a few months ago, I promised my girlfriend that I'd make a dining table for Thanksgiving. We had to run down to the Caribbean for a business trip over Turkey Day (don't cry for me), so we fried a turkey the weekend before. Long story short, Christmas and New Years came and went and we're still serving it up on the MDF mock up. Sigh… I found an unexpected week off between sailing lessons (I've got 20 days worth in January, so much for the off-season), so I got myself all jazzed to make progress on the dining room table.


^ I busted out all the QSWO I had and selected the best pieces for the top, then I arranged them according to medullary ray flake, color, grain, etc. with the help of my furry supervisor.


^ I was dreading the glue up until I remembered that I read on here somewhere that you don't have to glue up all the boards at once (duh!). I did one seam at a time and was able to control things (with the help of the "persuader"). It took all night to do all of the glue ups, but the end result was the largest, and best table top I've ever done. I no longer use biscuits for these kinds of glue-ups because for some reason they have caused me more alignment problems than they solve.

I flipped the table over and sanded the joints until the entire top looks practically like one huge slab. I bought 5/4 and only planed the top surface to leave it as thick as possible yet still achieve uniform thickness.

Then there was the breadboard ends. I thought I was going to make fixed ends, but we made an executive decision to make it expandable, so I ran off to the woodworking store and got some hardware for just such an occasion. I was rather proud of the tongue I milled into the top of the table (I offset it to make the breadboard end top as thick as possible. We also decided on a completely flush top (ala Kevin Rodel), so the placemats would sit flat. Needless to say, I had to cut my tongue off and then use a straight edge to trim it flush with the router.


^ I made a template for the router to plow out the notches in the breadboard ends necessary to seat the slider bars deep enough for strength, but tucked back enough so you wouldn't necessarily see it unless you were looking. I taped everything to reduce chipout and was relatively successful. I bought 8/4 for the breadboard ends specifically so I wouldn't have to glue up a thicker board and stare at the seams. The proportions turned out amazing. The field of the table is beefy enough for the size (38" x 62" = Golden Ratio), and the ends give it enough mass to feel solid. I used all of my safety gear when cutting the 8/4 stock. It made me considerably more confident.


^ I then had to make the brackets for the sliding bars to slide through. I made the sliders thick enough to bear the weight of the leaves, so I had to make the brackets large enough to handle the sliders. I drilled a large diameter hole in the inside corner to reduce splitting (splitting is inversely proportional to the radius of the intersection) and milled the rest out. Doing anything eight times is tedious. I had to focus on safety as what's left of my fingers were very close to the blade.


^ Here you see my sliding expanding table in all it's raging glory. I think it might actually work. I glued the pads to the underside of the table to match the thickness of the breadboard ends, which make the hardware line up. I could've routed a notch into the breadboard ends deep enough so the bottom would be flush with the bottom of the field, but I didn't want to undermine the solidity of the ends.

Tomorrow is more sanding, some small tweaking, and laying out the base onto the bottom of the top. Because of the way I jury-rigged everything to make the breadboard ends slide out, I need to lay out the 4"x4" legs, aprons, etc. to make sure nothing interferes with the sliding mechanism. To complicate matters further, I learned from my old apartment table that you need to make sure two chairs can fit easily between the legs, side by side. As a result, I'm going to lay out the leg spacing very carefully. Of course that is completely determinded by which base I'm going to make. I guess I'll make that permanent decision tomorrow morning over coffee and my daily LJ's fix. Sigh…

Unless some cosmic event interferes, I'll be using the formula that I used to finish the pagoda tile frame. I'm hoping the table will look instantly like it's a hundred years old.
 
#20 ·
#25 ·
Welcome to the Big Top

So, I decided to go with the Kevin Rodel Taliesin desk design as my table base. This involved a couple of hours of laying out. I had to account for leg room on the overhangs at the ends, I had to account for chair room on the long sides, I wanted 4" x 4" legs to balance the 3 3/4" breadboard ends, decent overhang on the sides, and this all had to miss the crap I'd already glued to the bottom of the table to make the sliders work. Whew! Like I said, it took several iterations. The saving grace is that the Rodel chairs I'll most probably be making next are trapezoidal in plan view, meaning they don't need the full width to clear the legs because the wide part will be tucked in toward the middle of the table. This is why you design stuff BEFORE you start cutting wood.
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I slapped some sanding sealer on the underside of the table to keep the wood from moving as much (which looked so nice it made me second guess my choice of finish) and I cut the pyramids on the ends of the breadboard ends. Since I stupidly glued the sliders to the breadboard ends, it was immensely more difficult to pull this off. I ended up making it happen with just a bit of sanding to smooth out the end grain.

Another "design modification" came up when I realized I wouldn't be able to mortise the ebony splines into the breadboard ends with my mortising machine because of the sliders. We decided that on such a dark finish, the ebony wouldn't show very well. I actually like the clean look of the plain ends.
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^ Here's the table leaf extension showing. It's actually pretty sturdy. I never realized how long 12" was until I had to cantilever it (12" is not shown here).
 
#26 ·
My New Stickley Finish!

So I followed the recipe I synthesized for the pagoda tile frame and applied it to the top and breadboard ends. It turned out amazing! It looks like something right out of an antique store. Here's the progression:
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^ TransTint "Dark Mission Brown" aniline dye in isopropyl alcohol only (with flash on = more red).
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^ Same with flash off (see how muddy it looks)
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^ One coat of Zinser amber shellac (1 pound cut). Man shellac is a pain to work with. Once you paint it on, there's no going back over it with a quick touch up or tipping it off. It gets tacky as soon as the denatured alcohol evaporates and stays that way until it cures hard.
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^ One coat of Antique Walnut gel stain. Really makes it rich looking and highlights the grain tinted by the shellac. This one was taken with the flash, which makes it a bit bright red. The gel stain goes on really muddy looking. When you start to wipe/blend it, it really lets the grain show through nicely.
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^ Same finish taken without the flash. You can really see how deep and rich the finish is. Like I said, It looks 100 years old already.

So I messed up on the shellac and had to do a repair job. Then I messed up on the gel stain (almost in the same place, and for the same reason), so I'm going to let it cure rock hard, then address my boo boo. Overall, I'm ecstatic with the finish. It's easy and authentic looking. I just need to learn patience. I wonder how long that's going to take…

Next, I'm off to work on the leaves and the base. The leaves are already milled and glued, so I just need to cross-cut them and finish them to match. I'm taking extra precautions to avoid chipout. The base will be a modified version of the Rodel Taliesin desk. More about that in our next exciting episode…
 
#32 ·
Make Like a Tree & Leaves

I was able to successfully refinish my boo boos on the breadboard ends. I also sanded the leaves and finished them at the same time. The ends had a bit more stain to start with (from the previous finish), but they both came out looking great. I'm really glad I learned my lesson on shellac. BTW, it did a bit of redistributing of the aniline dye, so I had to quickly blend/tip it before it got tacky. I missed a couple of spots on one leaf but was able to blend it in with the gel stain. Only I'll know why that splotch is there. The grain really shows through nicely if you rub the gel stain out with a clean cloth. If the cloth gets saturated, it stays a bit muddy looking.
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^ The differential you see in the photo is partly flash, but mostly the light fixture above the table. The real look is somewhere in between the overexposed grain on the right and the dark grain on the left. It looks really good under our mica dining lamp. I will be replacing that ASAP.

I used my random orbital sander to remove the faulty finish. I didn't realize until I made the Limbert lamp table that the ROS creates so many swirls in the wood. It's actually pretty inconvenient and relatively difficult to remove. I increased grit a couple of times, then used a cabinet scraper to get it all out. Geesh…

So, I'll be putting on several coats of a water-based urethane that's originally intended for marine use, but will make a bullet-proof (and more importantly water-proof) finish. I used it on my old dining table, and you have to hit it with a hammer to ding it. The manufacturer says they use it on gymnasium floors. Good enough for me. I hate having to worry about coasters, especially at the dinner table.

After that, it's time to start working on the base. I'll probably bust out my new 45* lock miter bit and make some 4" x 4" legs. I used up a lot of extra lumber making the expansion stuff and the leaves, so I might have to run back over to Plywood and Lumber Supply to get a bit more QSWO. I'm actually pretty happy with my decision to go with the Rodel design. I just need to make sure there's room to tuck your feet in under the ends.
 
#35 ·
Next Step...



So, the new top is in daily use. I put seven or eight coats of Bristol Finish water-based polyurethane on it. It's a marine varnish for boat interiors, which I used on my old table, and it's pretty impervious. No coasters required! It's still sitting on top of the mock-up MDF and the old table, so it's pretty high.

I was going to start on the Rodel Taliesin base next, but since I made the leaves, I don't have enough lumber to make the base, or the money right now to get more lumber. My thought was to make the prototype chair next. This will use less wood, and let me make all of my mistakes on the first chair. Then I can make the other five in a batch. Right now, we're using pakka wood (from the rubber tree) chairs bought online and assembled. They're pretty crappy, but suffice.

My girlfriend is concerned that I might "forget" about building the base because her Dad is still working on his kitchen cabinets after ten years. I assured her this wouldn't be the case with me, I just would rather optimize what I have to work with than lay out a few hundred more bucks right now.

So, if I pull the trigger, I'll be starting the rather popular Rodel chair next. I didn't bother getting full-size plans because they're pretty linear. The first step will be to make the templates for the back legs. Once I'm comfortable with how that looks, I'll be able to start some glue-ups to achieve my required thickness. There are lots of little pieces that can be made in between the bigger, more complicated pieces.

As I've said before, I'm going to leave out the filler strips between the back splat spindles. I think this will give them a lighter look and offset the monolithic look of the table.

I'm pretty darn excited about starting this phase of the project. The old chairs look horrible next to the new table top. I've never made chairs before, so this will be a quantum leap in my woodworking. I can only envision the rickety, crooked monstrosity that I'm going to pour hours of blood, sweat, and tears into. The good news is that I think I'm being smart about making the single prototype first and making all my mistakes on that one. I'll try to post the process, good and bad, as I go. Wish me luck!

 
#42 ·
Rodel Chair Layout

So I took a few minutes to draw this up in AutoCAD (sorry I'm not up to speed in SketchUp yet). The only dimension I had to assume were the front-to-back rails that intersect the middle of the chair back. I went with 3" because that's what looked to scale, and gave room for a proper radius. I could've sprung for the $20 full-sized plans, but what's the fun in that? The reason I drew this out is because the back is defined by a 7 degree angle. I thought it would be more accurate to locate the top of the back using Cartesian coordinates vs. a shallow angle. A little bit off on the angle, and you're way off at the top.



I'll need to get some masonite. I think MDF might be a little mushy to make router templates out of for so many copies, plus the added depth complicates things. A nice thin hardboard template will allow me to use all of my pattern following bit/plunge with no worries. It's brilliant to screw the blank to the template at the mortise hole locations (not shown). It looks like I'll have to do a series of routing along straight edges to make the template perfect, which of course will make all the chairs perfect, right?
 
#47 ·
It's All About the Template...



So today, I cleaned up the shop a bit and started on the template to make the back legs. Based on my AutoCAD drawing, I laid it out on some 1/4" masonite (hardboard). I even remembered to make it longer to affix the ends together. I cut it out and faired it as best I could. It's almost perfect (you can spot 1/1000" off) when sighting down it. It looks pretty darn good from the side.

I then double-sided taped it to a roughed out blank and using my pattern-following bit, made an exact duplicate, which needed almost no sanding. I then started laying out the mortises, because that's how you mount the blank to the template (the mortises will eventually eliminate the screw holes). You just have to make sure to screw half the legs on one side, and half on the other, so that the mortises will be on the inside (note to self). BTW, I made sure to put the rough side of the masonite inside to have the slick outside slide better on the router table.

I'm gluing up the 1 1/2" blocks/spacers for the end of the jig, and will route them to fit tomorrow, after the glue dries. After that, it's gluing up large 1 1/2" blanks for the legs out of 3/4" stock. I'll obviously try to optimize because the bent back leg could waste a lot of wood. I'll try to get the front legs out of the waste. While that's curing, I'll start on thinner parts like spindles, gussets, etc.
 
#51 ·
The Paradox of Quartersawn on Four Sides...

I ran over to the lumber yard and picked up some 4/4 for the base and a stick of 8/4 to make a single chair out of. I was going to finish the base before I started on the legs, but this 8/4 stick was magnificent (and I didn't want anyone else to nab it). I recently posted a question in the Design Forum about possibly laminating 3/4" stock to make the legs 1-1/2", but I couldn't take any shortcuts (regardless of how cost-effective they might be) on the dining room set. This way, I can make the four legs, and work on the chair while they're drying. Nice rationalization, huh?

I started by optimizing the sixteen 4" faces I'd need for four legs. This took into account board width, waste, good sides, etc. I then planed them all to the same thickness, which is important because I'm using a lock-miter bit to make the 45's. I ripped them all down to a nominal width, then trimmed off the excess with the tablesaw blade tilted to 45 degrees. I left a 1/8" shoulder on purpose for two reasons: 1) You need that shoulder to run against the fence when you cut the 45 on the flip side. 2) The router bit needs to bite in somewhat to create the tongue for where it meets it's mating groove. At least that's what I hope happens. I used some scrap to create test pieces that get machined first on each process.

The deal with the lock-miter bit is that one piece gets cut horizontally, and the other vertical, so they mate. I need to mark my leg faces so that each 45 degree intersection has the right horizontal or vertical profile on it so that all four sides create a hollow column with the seam in the corner. The seam will hopefully disappear when I ease the edges and stain the legs. I also need to optimize "show" sides, and which ends of the faces will on top (and partially hidden under the table top), and which ones will be bottom (and more visible). When you're talking sixteen faces 32" long (I'll trim them down to their final 29" length after they're glued), you can't be too picky otherwise it costs a fortune in board feet.

The beefy 4" legs are an important part of the design, and I hope will ground the rather slab-like top that's currently being used every night. I'm not going to do that inset detail that Kevin Rodel and WhatTheChuck did. I'm wanting a bit more simple, less modern look, and I think it will be tucked in under the table top anyway (although it's a really nice touch).



 
#55 ·
He's Got Legs...

Today, I bit the bullet and tried out my 45 degree lock-miter bit to make the four-sided quarter-sawn white oak 4" x 4" legs. I outsmarted myself by trimming the edges at 45 degrees. Unbeknownst to me, the router bit needs all the meat it can grab to make the "tongues". As a result, I have very little "lock" in my lock-miter. I have just enough to register the corner, but I've lost about half of my glue surface. Sigh… The good news is that the remaining half should be more than strong enough once it's glued together. This concerns me a bit because that's a lot of wood to take out in one pass with a large diameter bit. You have to take it out in one pass because you can't mess with the horizontal/vertical alignment once it's setup. This means the bit would have to take square stock and make it 45 degrees, plus and minus the tongue & groove parts. I had enough problem pushing it through safely with the featherboard and router bit spinning.

The large diameter bit is rather scary to use. I dialed my router speed way down. I used a featherboard to help secure the work, which allowed me to focus on downward pressure. I also found out that there's a small shoulder of the edge left, which means the outfeed side of the table can be flush with the infeed side. I was worried because my test pieces had a bit of the edge removed, which caused the work to rock as I passed it across the router table. BTW, my router table is an extension of my table saw, so I can use my Biesemeyer fence with an MDF adapter to act as a relatively accurate (and space-saving) router table. The blade guard is a bit in the way, but I'm willing to deal with the inconvenience.

BTW, I used the following method to "center" the lock-miter bit. First, I set the height by passing two pieces of identical thickness running flat horizontally. When mated, yin-yang style, they should fit flush if the router bit is the right height. I had to make a couple of adjustments which is tough, since my router doesn't have a lift. The flip side is to adjust the fence depth. This is done the same way, with test pieces run vertically up against the fence. If the pieces fit flush, then your depth is correct. There are shortcuts to this method, using two parts, one part, labeling, etc. but the end result is two parts the same thickness as your final piece should fit flush both horizontally and vertically. Sorry if this is confusing in written format, but it's relatively obvious when you're actually doing it.

I routed the vertical side on one edge of every piece and the horizontal edge on the other so that there would be no possiblilty of me mucking it up. This also has the additional benefit of guaranteeing that the columns are square. I can't believe how much air there is inside the leg! That right there caused me to break even on the lock-miter bit. This also should make the mortises easier, since I don't have the extra 2-1/2" of meat to chisel through.

While sighting down the legs after they've been dry fit, they're not intersecting at the corners as perfectly as I'd like, but they are consistent down the length of the leg. I plan on easing the edges with a small radius round-over bit, which should cause the seam to disappear in the grain. I'm going to use sticks in the middle of each 4" face and wrap that rascal with stiff bungee cord to act as a clamp to force the lock-miter together. I'll probably do one leg at a time so I can use my limited number of C-clamps to assist the process.

The dry-fit leg is standing next to the new table top in the dining room and looks incredibly beefy. In fact, it's so beefy that I could probably address my missing tongue issue if needed. I wanted a 4" x 4" leg to balance the large breadboard ends. I think I've achieved my goal. Now if I can just glue these damn things up…



 
#68 ·
My Final Answer...

I took everyone's advice and went out into the shop this morning to fix the lock-miter. I ran a couple of test pieces of poplar through, both moving the fence forward and back (I kept the height the same to reduce variables). Ironically, although the two pieces of poplar fit together poorly, each one fit the previously routed oak very nice. Since I couldn't figure out how to make that work, I just glued the legs up as is. I know, I know…

Anyway, after sufficient time cooking, I scraped off the glue (I used a lot since I obviously didn't have to worry about hydraulic pressure), and chamfered the corner in true Arts & Crafts style. The joint mostly disappeared, and more importantly held together. I'll make another, slightly deeper pass when they're all done in case I need to run each leg face down the jointer because the clamps left dents (there was no way I could juggle pads along with four sides falling apart constantly).

I think if I had to do it over (and I probably will), I'd do the two horizontal edges on one board, and the two vertical edges on the others. This would greatly simplify the clamping pressure direction. Right now, I'm having to clamp in both directions (90 degrees from each other), to get the lock-miter to bite into each other. Being able to just press down would lock all four corners together at once. Once again, I outsmarted myself. The good news is that I think my lame first attempt will actually work out. The small gaps along the joint will disappear in the rather dark finish I'm using (unlike my Limbert table).

I know it looks kind of fugly from the end, but I set it on the floor and capped it with a piece of scrap and it looks like a real beefy table leg that's quartersawn on all four sides. Now I just need to figure how to cut them to length. I also thought that the hollow might be a great hidden compartment. Don't tell anyone…

 
#76 ·
Table Top Post Mortem

We've been using the new top on top of our old table until I can finish the base. Over the last few months, the top has warped a bit, and was obviously out of alignment with the breadboard ends. While watching an old New Yankee Workshop online, I realized one of the things I did to cause this. I selected the boards for their aesthetic value, trying to match the grain to make it look like one solid piece of wood 38" wide. I neglected to alternate the boards' growth rings, a basic woodworking rule that Norm has pounded into my brain over twenty years.

Considerably disappointed in myself, especially since my woodworking father-in-law was just visiting, I was shamed into installing table top alignment pins for the leaves. I built a small jig to drill the holes straight into the edges, at the same height, depth, and distance from the edge. This allowed the pins to line up nicely when I slid the table together. It also forced the top back into alignment with the ends. It's not as perfect as if I'd splined the pieced permanently together, like I accidentally started to do, but it's only 1/32" off here and there. If I ever have to refinish the top, I'll sand the whole thing flush.

I jokingly told Kim that I'm going to buy a ping pong kit for the new table. Not an overly interesting blog post, because I've had very little time in the shop recently, but I hope to make some progress soon. I'm trying to figure out how to cut apart my table legs and redo the lock miter joint without risking kickback. I may have to hand saw them apart. I'm also thinking about putting the blade at a 45 degree, with the fence right next to it and cutting the corners that way. I definitely don't want to put the fence on the other side of the 45 and push the legs past. The safety gear won't help much while cutting a 45. Thoughts?
 
#77 ·
Sometimes it is better to start over. I am just jumping in here without reading all of your blogs, so I might not know what I am talking about. I did look at #16 and cutting those legs wouldn't be worth it. If I was doing it I would raise the blade to cut through two, then lower the blade to cut through another and then the last one.

What is going on with the top? I have done lots of glue ups with different grain configurations and they haven't warped. I have used warp boards causing warp surfaces though, lol.
 
#82 ·
A Little Progress...

I finally had a day off, so I chopped up the messed up lock-mitered legs by setting the blade right up against the fence at a 45 degree angle. I was able to push the legs through with the help of a featherboard to be as safe as possible. I chopped a bit off each side, but I think the next version will be much better, even if they're up to 1/2" smaller on each face. I started to run the freshly liberated faces through the table saw to reestablish fresh mitered edges to prepare for a spline or a lock miter, but chickened out and worked on another project.

After I got to a stopping point on the other project, I thought I'd give my new BeadLock Pro 1/2" kit a try in preparation for the chairs. It was relatively straightforward, but the test pieces were a strong 32nd off. That may be good enough for a table, but if I'm going to use this for my Rodel chairs, I want a bit more accuracy. I'll give it a couple more tries to see if it was me. Once I figure it out, I'll post a Review.

Sorry, no pics this time. I'll post some pics when I figure out what the heck to do with the legs.
 
#85 ·
Getting Back on That Sawhorse... (or Table Legs Redux)

It's been months since I've been able to do any woodworking. I guess being busy in this economy is a good thing. I finally got a couple of days in the shop to address in-progress projects. The biggest was my mental block on the 4-sided quartersawn legs for the dining table. In a previous entry, I discussed how I botched the lock miter joint. It took me a while to get up the nerve to get back to work on them because if I biffed it again, they'd be too thin and I'd wasted $100 worth of wood.

A while ago, I chopped them back apart, then removing as little wood as possible, I table sawed them at 45°, jointed an edge to get a straight shot at the table saw fence, cleaned them up with a large chamfer bit on the router table, then cut spline slots into the miters on the table saw. Using some hardboard I had left over from the Rodel chair template, I fit the splines. It was tough getting them glued up, but the end result is almost perfect.

After the glue dried, I sanded the clamp marks and glue off, and ran the edges through the router table to ease the edges. The bonus is that the seams almost completely disappeared. With my new favorite dark antique finish, they should be completely invisible. I trimmed them to length, and will chamfer the bottoms.

While the legs were curing (2.5 hours each, remind me to buy more clamps), I made the spindles. I'm going for a modified Taliesin Desk by Rodel. This sort of reconciles my conflict with Schroeder's design. Once again drawn up in AutoCAD, here's where I'm heading:



I did a lot of layout to make sure the chairs fit comfortably underneath the sides and ends, because of the overhangs and the trestle design. Next is picking up some more wood for the aprons and the laminated stretchers. It felt really good to be covered in sawdust again.



 
#92 ·
Joinery Shortcuts

I was able to squeeze another good day in the shop around work. I ran off to buy some more oak, then got home and planed enough of it down to glue up the stretchers/aprons for the table ends. While the laminations were cooking, I decided to give the BeadLock Pro a whirl.

Having made integral tenons with chiseled mortises, and loose tenons with the router, I have to say this method is considerably easier and faster. First, I was able to cut off the parts to their finished length, without having to add anything for the tenons. There is less machining on the parts, so there's less opportunity to mess up $30 worth of oak and a few hours of work. The only power tool used is a drill with a 1/2" chuck, and the only setup is centering the jig onto the layout lines. The directions make this all seem a bit more complicated than it needs to be. Once you get the gist, it's just a centerline and a starting line. Everything else works itself out.

I've been struggling with the purist in me, but I have such limited time to woodwork, and I'm way behind schedule on this project. Once it's glued up, I'll be the only one who knows that I cheated. The first dry-fit lined up just as well as if I'd done it the hard way. I'm using the 1/2" set that does not come with the kit, plus I bought the router bit so I can make my own tenon stock.

When gluing up the stretchers/aprons, I allowed for the oversized spindles that will support the long trestle stretchers. That way I got one stretcher or apron and one large spindle out of each lamination. I still need to mortise the holes for the vertical spindles, and cut the arch out of the stretchers, but the ends are about ready. After that, the only things left are the trestle stretchers and the long aprons. If I hadn't had to go in and start prepping dinner for guests, I might've made a bit more progress and made it to a full dry-fit. I'm going to pre-finish all the parts prior to glue-up so that I can get a nice smooth finish without pooling at the intersections. My Stickley finish recipe is a bit more complicated, so hopefully that'll all go well.

 
#94 ·
Dry Fit!

I found another day off, so I immediately ran out into the shop before I could get distracted. I was able to finish the joinery on the base ends. As with everything else in life, the relative ease of the BeadLock Pro has disadvantages in repeatable accuracy. I don't know how or why, but I do eight mortises and they only come out within 1/16" of each other. This has caused a 1/8" difference between the mortises, pretty much ruining my reveal on the spindles. I'll figure out a way to remedy this, but it's a hassle. I still need to make the mortises for the stretchers, but other than finishing the parts, I'm almost ready for a glue up.

One thing I did figure out is that you need to glue the tenon stock into the ends of the aprons/stretchers to effect a dry fit (the spindles have old-fashioned integral tenons). This way the tenon stays put during assembly & disassembly. I'm thinking about refinishing the top, so that may affect what I do with the base.



 
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