Starting a new project for my recently married cousin and his lovely bride, who just got their first house. Figured a nice table as a Christmas/House-Warming present would be we received, as they are young and just starting out in life.
I have the main panel/top pieces dimensioned to width, though not final length. The plan is to draw bore breadboard ends in walnut to frame the maple. Next step is making a few clamping caul sets to hold the panel flat while gluing. While I am working towards that, I'm trying to source some 12/4 walnut for the legs.
My thoughts on leg design are to use 12/4 walnut with a 2 aided taper and curly maple for the aprons. I think I am going to bridle joint the maple aprons through the legs and interlock the aprons with a bridle joint as well. All of that hinges on finding 12/4.
Starting a new project for my recently married cousin and his lovely bride, who just got their first house. Figured a nice table as a Christmas/House-Warming present would be we received, as they are young and just starting out in life.
I have the main panel/top pieces dimensioned to width, though not final length. The plan is to draw bore breadboard ends in walnut to frame the maple. Next step is making a few clamping caul sets to hold the panel flat while gluing. While I am working towards that, I'm trying to source some 12/4 walnut for the legs.
My thoughts on leg design are to use 12/4 walnut with a 2 aided taper and curly maple for the aprons. I think I am going to bridle joint the maple aprons through the legs and interlock the aprons with a bridle joint as well. All of that hinges on finding 12/4.
You might check some of the newel post and stair parts suppliers for 12/4 walnut if they are 12/4 square. The blanks are glued up but they are very nice. Otherwise, you can always make 12/4 by sandwiching a core with 3/4" or 1" walnut. I've used both methods for legs and been very happy with the results.
Starting a new project for my recently married cousin and his lovely bride, who just got their first house. Figured a nice table as a Christmas/House-Warming present would be we received, as they are young and just starting out in life.
I have the main panel/top pieces dimensioned to width, though not final length. The plan is to draw bore breadboard ends in walnut to frame the maple. Next step is making a few clamping caul sets to hold the panel flat while gluing. While I am working towards that, I'm trying to source some 12/4 walnut for the legs.
My thoughts on leg design are to use 12/4 walnut with a 2 aided taper and curly maple for the aprons. I think I am going to bridle joint the maple aprons through the legs and interlock the aprons with a bridle joint as well. All of that hinges on finding 12/4.
I managed to source some VERY rough cut material today, approximately 3 3/8Ă—3 1/2 and close to straight. Without a Jointer or a Planer at my disposal, I had to take it to a guy I know for blanking. I've bought a fair amount of material from him in the past so he will do it for a small fee. Should finish out around 3' square which will work for a nice taper.
After spending some time making a few pairs of clamp cauls, and struggling with putting a convex face on them using a block plane. I managed to get the main panel glued and clamped. The cauls helped to take some of the bow out of the walnut edges and the twist out of one of the pieces of maple. Wish they had done more because I have quite a bit of sanding to do to get everything flush. Joints came out nice and tight though.
Pulled the panel out of clamps yesterday after spending most of the day running around. Part of that time was spent picking up with stock which will become the legs. I had found a very rough piece of walnut, which I had a friend offer to clean up for me. When I stopped by to pick it up, he hadn't gotten to it yet but was willing to take care of it then. So we blanked the pieces to ~20" and started jointing 2 sides perpendicular so we could square it up on the planer. Think a jointer might need to find a spot in my cramped shop one of these days.
Ended up side tracked by a cleanup project in the shop. My dad gifted me with my great grandfathers belt sander; a 1952(?) Skil model 323. I spent some time cleaning it up including clearing out the dried up oil from the gearbox, fixing some slop in the tensioning wheel mount, and replacing a broken cord end with a new one. Went to put on a belt to test it out only to find that the 4Ă—24 belts are too small for this sander. After some research it appears this unit uses 4.5"x26" belts, which are not available locally. They are still available from a couple different abrasive manufacturers online however, so I ordered a selection of grits.
Thinking I could get that sander working and use it to sand the table top left me without either task complete. Started in on it with my old sander and got the joints cleaned up. Might still have a few minutes to spend on getting it flat once the belts come in, but at least it's cleaned up.
After considering my options on how to achieve the interlocking bridle joint with the aprons and legs, and realizing my 8" dado stack want going to have the depth necessary. I made up a quick tenoning jig from a scrap of plywood and some pieces of red oak. Ended up pretty decent and rode the fence fairly securely, not the smoothest but manageable.
Joints came out well with the single blade though I need to clean up the bottom of the cut with a chisel before assembly. Aprons fit well, some are a little looser than others but all acceptably secure.
After considering my options on how to achieve the interlocking bridle joint with the aprons and legs, and realizing my 8" dado stack want going to have the depth necessary. I made up a quick tenoning jig from a scrap of plywood and some pieces of red oak. Ended up pretty decent and rode the fence fairly securely, not the smoothest but manageable.
Joints came out well with the single blade though I need to clean up the bottom of the cut with a chisel before assembly. Aprons fit well, some are a little looser than others but all acceptably secure.
After a few days of analyzing how to cope with the cup in the table top panel that appeared after glue up. I arrived at the conclusion that my original plan of using a dado blade on the table saw wasn't going to work for machining the tongues. So I ordered a pattern bit from Whiteside machine to try and use a router and a known flat reference surface to machine the tongues after I clamped the panel flat. Worked pretty well, tongues are straight but not as uniform in thickness as I had hoped.
So after some measuring and cutting a test block, and quite a bit of fitting with a chisel and a sanding block, I managed to get one end dry fit. It still has to come off so I can drill the holes in the end, mark the locations of the holes, drill the offset holes in the tongue and install the drawbore dowels.
This is my first attempt at installing breadboard ends, and what a learning experience it has been. I should has been more careful when glueing and clamping the panel to get a straighter surface to work with, and never messed with sanding any of it until I had the panel complete. Would have saved a lot of time in the long run.
Guess I forgot to post this one, my progress last week on the table base. Using my shop made taper jig, I tapered the insides of all 4 legs and started cutting the cross laps in the aprons where they meet in the legs, everything went very well, aprons squared up nicely and fit the legs well. I'm happy with how sturdy everything ended up, almost no movement in any direction even in dry fit. I am waiting to glue it until I decide how I will slot the inside face of the apron for the table top buttons I have yet to make.
Spent today marking and drilling the ends this morning, and reinstalling the ends to mark the hole locations on the tongue. Then offsetting the holes and figuring out I didn't have a chisel small enough to simply cut off the nub between the outside holes. I ended up using a small fine tooth square file to clean up and create the notched holes for the outer dowels. I then put some glue on the center 3-4 inches of the tongue and installed the ends for the last time. First time trying to drawbore, was a little scared on the first one at how severe of and angle I could feel and worrying I was going to blow apart the ends. Worked out though, and was able to get them all in without any damage, as I installed each dowel I wiped a little glue around the dowel where it was sitting against the top before driving it in the last 1/4 inch. Then is used a flush cutting saw to cut them off on both the bottom and top. I feel like it went very well for my first time, and the gap against the shoulder is 1/64 or less.
Spent today marking and drilling the ends this morning, and reinstalling the ends to mark the hole locations on the tongue. Then offsetting the holes and figuring out I didn't have a chisel small enough to simply cut off the nub between the outside holes. I ended up using a small fine tooth square file to clean up and create the notched holes for the outer dowels. I then put some glue on the center 3-4 inches of the tongue and installed the ends for the last time. First time trying to drawbore, was a little scared on the first one at how severe of and angle I could feel and worrying I was going to blow apart the ends. Worked out though, and was able to get them all in without any damage, as I installed each dowel I wiped a little glue around the dowel where it was sitting against the top before driving it in the last 1/4 inch. Then is used a flush cutting saw to cut them off on both the bottom and top. I feel like it went very well for my first time, and the gap against the shoulder is 1/64 or less.
As this table is a gift for a young couple, I thought a rounded edge on the most exposed corners would be prudent; possible small ones in the future and all. So I used a 1/8 round over bit in my venerable PC 100 which did the job well but ackwardly at times. I wish I had a smaller unit for this kind of work and have been considering the purchase of a lighter one handed type router. After completing the machine work, I sanded everything to 400 grit, wet sanding the table top. I put one thin coat BLO on which will need to dry for 24-48 hrs, after which I will apply a 1# cut of dewaxed garnet shellac to bring out a common tone in both the maple and walnut and give it some additional depth. I'm not sure how many coats of shellac will be on this, I'll just go by color, once it's deepened to where it looks good I'll stop. The final finish will be a spray lacquer that my friend will apply to give this table the most natural looking protection possible.
As this table is a gift for a young couple, I thought a rounded edge on the most exposed corners would be prudent; possible small ones in the future and all. So I used a 1/8 round over bit in my venerable PC 100 which did the job well but ackwardly at times. I wish I had a smaller unit for this kind of work and have been considering the purchase of a lighter one handed type router. After completing the machine work, I sanded everything to 400 grit, wet sanding the table top. I put one thin coat BLO on which will need to dry for 24-48 hrs, after which I will apply a 1# cut of dewaxed garnet shellac to bring out a common tone in both the maple and walnut and give it some additional depth. I'm not sure how many coats of shellac will be on this, I'll just go by color, once it's deepened to where it looks good I'll stop. The final finish will be a spray lacquer that my friend will apply to give this table the most natural looking protection possible.
I coated this piece in a couple coats of 1# dewaxed garnet shellac, but I should have thinned them further for the top because I had streaking of patches that were coated more heavily than others, so I did a wash coat of straight alcohol and leveled the shellac to even it out. It worked, but then I had to deal with runs all over the edges and drips on the bottom lip. Next time I try that on a light colored wood I will build up with a less colored shellac and add the darker as a top coat for color once everything is even. After that I took it down to a friend and he sprayed 3 coats of post cat lacquer on it and buffed the top. It's perfect, and just in time, I am scheduled to take it over the mountains and deliver it to my cousin in 2 days. Hopefully, him and his bride like their housewarming/Christmas present as much as I do.
I coated this piece in a couple coats of 1# dewaxed garnet shellac, but I should have thinned them further for the top because I had streaking of patches that were coated more heavily than others, so I did a wash coat of straight alcohol and leveled the shellac to even it out. It worked, but then I had to deal with runs all over the edges and drips on the bottom lip. Next time I try that on a light colored wood I will build up with a less colored shellac and add the darker as a top coat for color once everything is even. After that I took it down to a friend and he sprayed 3 coats of post cat lacquer on it and buffed the top. It's perfect, and just in time, I am scheduled to take it over the mountains and deliver it to my cousin in 2 days. Hopefully, him and his bride like their housewarming/Christmas present as much as I do.
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