| Blog series by scopemonkey | updated 1057 days ago | 8 parts | 12268 reads | 31 comments total |
Part 1: Planer Sled Construction
I have been asked to build a large dining room table for a friend out of some very large pieces of VG fir. The wood has sentimental value for her and has been sitting in her barn for about a decade. We sat down and discussed various design options, and she has decided on a trestle style table using breadboard ends on the top. Sounded like a lot of fun to build, but I immediately ran into the first problem:(The Problem)! I only have a small 6” jointer. The boards are 9.5 inches wi...
Part 2: Small Jointer: No problem!
Well, despite 60 MPH wind gusts, downed trees, and frequent showers, we braved the elements and used the planer sled to mill the lumber for the table today. I must say, the sled worked like a charm. The wood came out as flat as I can tell with my straight edge and winding sticks. Final thickness is 1.25” thick. Now on to edge jointing and glue up. (Jointed and planed)! Looks pretty flat:(Edge view)! The proud table-owner-to-be:(Proud owner and shop apprentice)!
Part 3: Top progress
Unfortunately, the day job had me working all weekend, so I didn’t get much shop time. However, I was able to edge joint all the boards, cut the biscuit slots and glue it up. Today, my “apprentice” showed up and we were able to cut it to size, scrape the joint lines flush, and hand plane the ends flat. We then used a router and a simple jig to reference a fence off the ends to cut the tenons for the breadboards. I had one small lapse in concentration and forgot...
Part 4: Planing, Lots of planing.....
As the title implies, I finished planing the top flat and smooth. This is the first really big project for my vintage Stanley planes and they performed nicely. I did have some tear out with the #7, but my #4 really did smooth things out. I completed the tenons and mortises for the breadboards. We then attached the ends with walnut dowels for a contrasted look. I elongated the holes in the tenon with a palm router and it all came together nicely. > Now I just need to ...
Part 5: God & Nature conspiring against me...
Unfortunately, it has been a while since I did any meaningful work on the table. I was hoping to take the top to a friends workplace to use their widebelt sander, but a family tragedy occurred and I didn’t want to impose myself during their time of grief. My daytime job has me working weekends and it has been raining non-stop. Oh, so is life. Since the last update, I hand planed the ends flush to the top and hand sawed them flush to the edges, then routed a roundover profile aroun...
Part 6: Base Dry Fit
Ok, so it has been a while since I posted an entry. The top is finished and now stored letting the polyurethane cure a bit before I do the final rub out and wax. I have since turned my attention to the base. The hardest part was making the cross beam. I laminated a piece of walnut between two pieces of VG fir. Once the glue dried, I resawed it in half and cut the mortises for the pegs from the inside using my router and a jig cut at 5 degrees. I then re-glued the two halves together a...
Part 7: Almost there!
I’m about as good at blogging as I am at woodworking, so I haven’t been very good at keeping this going. I have spent the past few weeks working with a bit of vacation thrown in but have got back to work on the trestle table. I am at that stage of a project that I really want to be done with it, so I purposefully slow myself down so I don’t make stupid, rushed mistakes. I cut the curves on the feet, risers, beam, and support arms on the band saw and then did lots of san...
Part 8: Finished and Delivered!
The table is now resting proudly in the dining area of its owner, waiting for its first spaghetti sauce splatter. I finished the base with my usual round of General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and multiple topcoats of Arm-R-Seal, then rubbed out with wax and steel wool. I connected the top to the base with oversized holes, threaded inserts and 1/4-20 machine screws/lock washers. (Screw holes) (Inserts) As you can see in the pictures, I didn’t spend as much time working the undersi...
