Thread: table joints and tenon

Even though this is a small table the joints I used are commonly used in larger tables. I have cut these by hand - tenons, mortises and dovetails.

Nicely done, Geoff I admire hand work.

I might do it that way myself, if I owned a plane. But all the talk of #5's and #7's and 140's and 99's and 32's and Stanley's and Lie-Nielson's and what have you makes my head hurt.

I didn't particularly want to use screws so I set the shelf in rebates.

Originally Posted by Geoffexpat

I didn't particularly want to use screws so I set the shelf in rebates.

Oh, I'll cut the tenons and rebates and whatnot, just with my router or a dado blade in the TS. I don't like fasteners either except for rough work.

Now that is top quality work

G'day Geofexpat,

The detail there is craftsmanship and your joins beaut stuff.

Well done, I will now go hang up all my tools and never enter my shed again.

Geoffexpat

I look forward to seeing the finished item.

I lke the way you have dealt with the shelf, in particular

Cheers

Jeremy

Geoff
Beautifully detailed work - well done. In the second photo it looks like the shelf has a bevel on it but I can't see it in subsequent photos. Are my eyes deceiving me?
Cheers
Thornburn

Originally Posted by Thornburn

Geoff
In the second photo it looks like the shelf has a bevel on it but I can't see it in subsequent photos. Are my eyes deceiving me?
Cheers
Thornburn

G'day Thornburn,
The second photo is of the bottom of the shelf to show the way I overcame that bevel- basically removing it from the equation. What isn't very obvious is that there is a taper on the leg which meant that the notch in the shelf had to have a 2degree slope to the cuts.
I took the photos to remind myself how I had done the job and thought you blokes might be interested. Thanks for the comments.
Waldo- you don't think I posted any photos of my cockups do you? So don't hang those tools up ... just send them to me... I couldn't bear to think of them rusting away.
Bob - I know what you mean about all those model numbers so I just bought all that Mr Lie-Nielsen made, now my head doesn't hurt.

Geoffexpat:

I like the "locking dovetailing side panel tenon hooker thingie" you made there. That's ash right???? What are you thinking about for a finish. One of the pieces I'm building now is ash veneer. If that is ash(?) I know the veneer will respond to finish differently than the solid, but are you going natural or coloring???

Thanks..........Neil

G'day Neil,
It is North American ash and I was thinking of trying blond shellac and wax. I want to keep that pale colour-I'll try it on scrap pieces. Other option is to try a wax only finish. I am trying to avoid that prominent yellowing you can get but I think it may not be possible..Next thing is a posting to the finishing section of the blog.
That joint is in Ernest Joyce's "Encyclopedia of Furniture Making" Fig 243.
Good luck with yours.

A classic case of doing it the hard way,but good luck on choice of plane,I think the way one holds ones mouth also enters argument.

Here is the finished table. As previously stated it is for a telephone and goes against the wall.

And the table itself. Finished with blonde shellac and wax,