Thorsen Side by Side LJ / PW Challenge Karson #4: A jig I made for use in the Thorsen table

I wanted to show the jig that I used for making the Thorsen Greene & Greene table Aprons.

The plans in Popular Woodworking had a cutout on each of the aprons. Different patterns on the sides and the front and back.

I took the plans and printed them on my printer but each of the boxes were suppose to be 1” square and they were small. So I took the printout to Staples and had them copy them at 125% increase. I ended up with 1” squares. I then glued the paper on some ½” particle board and then went back and drew new lines 1/16” outside all of the original lines.

I then used a scroll saw and cut to my new drawn lines. I then sanded and filed smooth .
I glued some brass sheets on the jig using carpet tape. My plan was then to use carpet tape to hold the aprons in place. That was the theory, but the brass plate stuck to the apron tighter than to the jig. So i then glued some end blocks at the end of the apron length and screwed down hold-down clamps.

The jig was then supported upside down on two sawhorses so that the router bit would not hit anything as it exited the apron.

You might notice the cloud lifts on both edges of the jig. The cloud lift on the edge of the apron was cut as the cutouts were routed.

The other cloud lift was used as a pattern for the stretches for the shelf support. One jig for the lower cloud lift and the other jig for the upper cloud lift.

I used a 5/16” router bushing with a ¼” spiral carbide router bit. This was used in a plunge router and I probably plunged about ¼” deeper each time. Each cutout was done is its entirety before I went to the next cutout. The reason was when I tried to move the router I kept hitting the jig with the router bit that was spinning and I mared up the edge of the jig cutouts. So I finished each one before moving on.

The cloud lift portion for the stretchers were not cut with a router but on a bandsaw. But I used the jig for the pattern to draw the pencil lines.

I was able to mount 1 apron in each of the jigs and cut out the pattern. So two passes through were required to complete one table.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †