Project Information
I made a coffee table and two end table for my sister. They are made out of Cherry. The diamonds on the top are Cherry, Maple, and Chinese Elm. She wanted the tables to have this type of sides.
Here is a link to more picture of my project.
http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/FluffyButters/library/?sort=3&page=1
This is the jig I made to cut my diamonds with
I figured people would like to see how I cut all of those diamonds, so I have uploaded a couple pictures of the jig that I made to cut them with. I am also posting a video of me cutting some diamonds. In the video I am cutting a scrap of pine about 8 or 9" wide with a 24 tooth blade. When I cut the diamonds out of Cherry, Maple, and Chinese Elm I used an 80 tooth blade (Freud LU74R010). All of the edges looked like they were polished. I had to feed the hard wood at a slower rate since I was using a blade with lots of teeth. I made the jig out of ½" plywood. It has a piece of oak on the front and the back to keep it together since the plywood actually ends up getting cut in half. The back oak board has about 10" cut off the right side. This allows me to cut boards up to 12" wide. The only problem with my portable table saw, this jig, and wide boards is that not much of the sled is on the table when I started the cut or removed the cut strips. I feel that anything over 8" is really to wide to be cut safely. There is another piece of oak that is attached to the plywood at a set angle. There are two pieces of wood that attach to that piece of oak. One is doweled on and has two T-bolts through it. These T-bolts fit into a slot on another piece of oak which acts as stop. This allows the diamonds to be basically identical. The other piece has a feather board attached to it and helps keep downward pressure on the wood allowing me to make a straight cut. Plus, it helps keep my fingers out of harms way.
I would take a piece of wood between 8" and 10" wide. I would cut one end at 30 degrees on my miter saw. Then, I would measure 25 inches from that cut and cut it again. This made them easier to handle and depending on the size of diamond left almost no waste. I would then slide the board under the feather board and right up to the line where the blade would cut. I then take about a blade with off just to make sure that its going to be the angle that I want. After I trued it up I would slide it firmly against my stop. Then repeat many times. After I had a bunch of strips of wood, I would slide them under the feather board and just past the saw blade. I would true the strip up and then slide it firmly against the stop. I had to do this a lot, but it's worth it. I think that watching the video may explain things better.
If you have any more questions just ask. I will try to answer them.
Start
All laid out
Ready to be put together
End table bases glued up
Coffee table base glued up
Diamonds ready to be made into a top
Coffee table top all glued together
Using a router sled to remove the glue from the diamonds
One coat of General Finishes Satin Top Coat
Product delivered
Thanks for looking.
Here is a link to more picture of my project.
http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/FluffyButters/library/?sort=3&page=1
This is the jig I made to cut my diamonds with
I figured people would like to see how I cut all of those diamonds, so I have uploaded a couple pictures of the jig that I made to cut them with. I am also posting a video of me cutting some diamonds. In the video I am cutting a scrap of pine about 8 or 9" wide with a 24 tooth blade. When I cut the diamonds out of Cherry, Maple, and Chinese Elm I used an 80 tooth blade (Freud LU74R010). All of the edges looked like they were polished. I had to feed the hard wood at a slower rate since I was using a blade with lots of teeth. I made the jig out of ½" plywood. It has a piece of oak on the front and the back to keep it together since the plywood actually ends up getting cut in half. The back oak board has about 10" cut off the right side. This allows me to cut boards up to 12" wide. The only problem with my portable table saw, this jig, and wide boards is that not much of the sled is on the table when I started the cut or removed the cut strips. I feel that anything over 8" is really to wide to be cut safely. There is another piece of oak that is attached to the plywood at a set angle. There are two pieces of wood that attach to that piece of oak. One is doweled on and has two T-bolts through it. These T-bolts fit into a slot on another piece of oak which acts as stop. This allows the diamonds to be basically identical. The other piece has a feather board attached to it and helps keep downward pressure on the wood allowing me to make a straight cut. Plus, it helps keep my fingers out of harms way.
I would take a piece of wood between 8" and 10" wide. I would cut one end at 30 degrees on my miter saw. Then, I would measure 25 inches from that cut and cut it again. This made them easier to handle and depending on the size of diamond left almost no waste. I would then slide the board under the feather board and right up to the line where the blade would cut. I then take about a blade with off just to make sure that its going to be the angle that I want. After I trued it up I would slide it firmly against my stop. Then repeat many times. After I had a bunch of strips of wood, I would slide them under the feather board and just past the saw blade. I would true the strip up and then slide it firmly against the stop. I had to do this a lot, but it's worth it. I think that watching the video may explain things better.
If you have any more questions just ask. I will try to answer them.
Start
All laid out
Ready to be put together
End table bases glued up
Coffee table base glued up
Diamonds ready to be made into a top
Coffee table top all glued together
Using a router sled to remove the glue from the diamonds
One coat of General Finishes Satin Top Coat
Product delivered
Thanks for looking.