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.

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.

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.

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.

I’m making one entire set of gears out of white oak and another out of walnut, so I can mix and match every other gear to hopefully give it some contrast. I’m thinking about making the dial ring out of one complete piece of mahogany, then laser engraving numerals into the clock face. We’ll see. Even though I’m still in the drafting phase, doing things like intersecting perpendicular bisectors have really taken me back to my drafting classes in college. The gears aren’t recommended to be finished, because it can gum up the works, so the look of the ply will be the finished look. I may ask Mr. Boyer if I can pre-finish the ply before cutting it out, thereby ensuring there is no finish on the mating teeth. Part of me feels like I’m cheating with this laser thing, so I may have to still make a clock by hand. The only reason I thought of the laser option was because I have to make some close friends a wedding present, so I thought I’d kill a couple of birds with one stone.

Kim said that we should make a bunch of these and sell them at the local craft store (she always uses “we” in the strangest situations, i.e. we should put new shocks on the pickup). That’s when I had to tell her that would be violating Mr. Boyer’s design, and I can only make them for family and friends, non-profit. I thought that the fact that this subject came up was very interesting because it’s been the topic of conversation here on LJ’s and Marc (TheWoodWhisperer) asked Darrell Peart the very same thing in his online interview.

The good news is that I seem to be able to draw the gears up (we’ll only truly know if the clock runs properly), but if this is a success, then I’ll be working on the celestial calendar gears this winter when work slows down. So, still no actual woodworking, but progress has been made. Hopefully, I can cut up some ply today.

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?

They’re all on different layers, centered at 0,0, so hopefully, my buddy will be able to cut out perfect shapes from 1/4” plywood, them ship them all back to me with a minimum of effort on either of our part. The 1/2” pieces will be two layers of perfectly cut out 1/4” gears. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Here are the hands:

I really like the look of this clock. It’s very gothic. If this project works out, I’ll be purchasing the celestial calendar plans. Here’s the hour wheel:

NOTE: None of the above images are to scale to protect Mr. Boyer’s design. Below is the escapement and pallet:

P.S. I have no idea if what I’ve drawn will end up working. I’m sure it’s very close, but not 100% accurate. I may very well just have to spray adhesive the plans to some plywood and do it old-school…

I may just have to bite the bullet and plunge back into the sofa table project without taking the class. I was going to wait, but his book is really good and there’s lots of online help with Greene & Greene details too. Luckily, I have plenty of mahogany to work with. I’ll get the top all put together with breadboard ends and start on the legs. After my near-disaster with the lock-miter bit on the dining table project, I should be much better suited to make the legs for this project. There are a couple of jigs to make for this project too. I also plan on making more G&G stuff in the future, so that’ll be a good investment. I’m not looking forward to working with the ebony again though. The sawdust kicked my butt. Sorry for the lack of progress in this update. I just needed to vent…

One thing I’ve noticed is that thewoodwhisperer’s table doesn’t have a lower shelf (probably to lighten up the look), but Darrell’s design does have one. I’m going to opt for the shelf as another place for books, knick-knacks, etc. I’m also going to do the tapered inset vs. the double cloud-lift profile at the bottom of the legs (which means another jig).

^ TheWoodWhisperer’s table

^ Darrell Peart’s table

A few weeks ago, I saw the wooden clock posted by btbam87. It really inspired me to do a little research into Clayton Boyer’s designs, in addition to other Googled wooden clock plans. Clayton’s designs were much more attractive and diverse than any others I’d found online. The elegance is what really caught my eye. I grew up with clocks, so I figured I could get used to the ticking sounds that most of these clocks emit. Clayton has a great sense of humor, and an interesting business model. In order to buy some of his more advanced plans, you must first submit a photo of an easier clock that you built. I think this is great, as it reduces the probability of a disgruntled first time clock maker floundering around with a celestial calendar. BTW, if I actually pull this off, guess what I’m ordering next…

Anyhoo, I ordered the Simplicity clock plans a few days ago, and they showed up in the mail in a manilla envelope. The package contains over 20 pages of instructions and templates for the gears. It’s pretty intimidating. He recommends making a copy and using the originals to spray adhesive onto the proper thickness baltic birch plywood to cut and sand the parts exactly to the line. Since these were all drawn in AutoCAD, I may extend the exercise and try to reproduce the design. He suggests not using the copies as the template, as some copiers might skew the image, throwing your gears out of round.

I think the only tool I’ll need to buy is a cheap 1” belt sander from Harbor Freight to sneak up on the lines. I’ve already got a scroll saw, but surprisingly he recommends using the band saw. I ran by Ashby Lumber and MacBeath’s yesterday to get an idea of what plywood is available. I’ll probably go with something contrasting and exotic because you’re not supposed to use finish on the gears, as it can gum up the works. I’ve still got a bunch of mahogany that I’ll probably use for the dial face and possibly the pendulum bob. I’ve also thought about inlaying a compass rose on the pendulum bob just to try it for the first time and to add some visual interest. Maybe not, as it’ll be moving constantly (hopefully).

I’m going to try and be extra careful about blogging during this process, as it’s rather time consuming and difficult looking. Hopefully, I can help someone else if they’re inspired by this project. Wish me luck! It was about time to start another project anyway…

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…

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…

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).

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.

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?

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!

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.

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…

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).

^ 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.