Thread: Coffee table, arts & crafts(or green & green) style

Originally Posted by Rattrap

Hi all,
Well with my cheval mirror just a whisker away from finished & the Deloraine craft fair coming up really fast i thought i'd jump in the deep end & try to get a coffee table finished for the fair.

Cheers, Ratty.

Hi Ratty,

If it's not too late, I'd make a design modification and put a 3mm flat on the lower rails that span across the leg stretchers.

Having a sharp point that close to the ground will give an easily damaged section that might last undamaged for a few months in a domestic setting, until the vacuum cleaner hits it.

Cheers,

eddie

Thanks Eddie, my thoughts exactly. I was planing on leaving around 2mm flat tip on all the beveled edges. When i knock up a sketchbook model though i keep it pretty simple & leave out a lot of the finer detail.
Had a good day in the shed today, got the ached stretchers just about completed.
Also cut the thru mortices in the legs using the router boss. The router boss made a big morticing job easy & acurate but it was slow going as blackwood is pretty tough & hard on tools. I lengthened the tenons on the outside faces by 1.5 mm on either end down to half depth, this will allow wedges to lock the tenon in tight.
I got the table top joined up at the community shed this week as well. The breadboard ends are joined to the table with dominoes. All the dominoes will be glued into the table top with the center pair also glued to the bread board ends. The rest of the dominoes are a dry fit into over-sized holes in the breadboard ends. Screws with elongated holes near the ends will keep the ends pulled in flush.
Tomorrow will hopefully see the domino slots cut into the aprons & legs & beveling of the thru tenon ends & the grid stretchers should get a good look in too.

The pics were taken using my mobile so sorry about the poor quality.

Cheers, Ratty.

Vey Nice job on those mortices and tennons Ratty!!

Thanks Artme, they went pretty smoothly which is a real blessing.
I cut the tenons on the table saw using a home made jig. I already had the jig from previous similar jobs but it had seen better days & was no longer square, very important with long tenons as these. So i had to spend a bit of time squaring up the jig.
Today i marked up the legs & the aprons for the dominoes then onto the breadboard ends.
I needed 3 elongated holes for the screws that will put up the breadboard ends snug, front rear & middle. The holes needed to be big enough to allow a screw counter sunk 45mm into the 70mm wide breadboard ends. The RB handled this no problem with a 9.5mm spiral upcut bit. In the same plane as the screw holes i cut a 3mm deep trench that will take the rectangular ebony plugs. A little bit of squaring up the corners & they were done. The ends were then beveled at 45deg, after that the dominoes were glued into the top & the breadboard ends dry fitted back on ensuring the dominoes dry in the correct position.
Tomorrow its off the community shed to domino up the legs & aprons.
Once again more mobile phone shots sorry.

Cheers, Ratty.

Good progress there mate! Looks like everything is machining well without any tearout.

Very nice. great choice of timber.

Thanks guys. Tho the purpleheart is really heavy & dense as...well me, it actually machines up just fine which was a little surprising. I was expecting it to be a bitch to machine up.

Quick update, The frame & top are just about finished & ready for final glueup all bar a final sanding & finish applied. I plan on sanding the frame to 400grid prior to glueup. The draw runners are assembled tho not yet fitted & the draw pieces are cut a little over size awaiting the mounting of the runners & then final assembly. Lots of little fiddly jobs to do now but i'm definitely on the home stretch.

Lookin good Ratty

Coming along nicely

What finish do you plan on using? My experience with purpleheart is that it turns brown once the finish is applied, but then goes back to purple over time.

I'd love to know how to keep purpleheart purple after finishing.

Andy

I tried a few different finish types on the cutoff piece from the striped top.
I tried the Maloof mix (boiled linseed, tung oil, polly) - it seamed to 'muddy' the colour of the timber.
Tried straight boiled linseed oil - it also tended to 'muddy' the colours
Shellac - came up quite nice & the purple tended to stay.
hard blonde shellac - the same as regular shellac, couldn't really tell any difference between the 2 except that it went on much thicker so developed a hard shine quite early. Normally i would cut the hard blonde shellac back 50% with metho.
Sprayed Lacquer - Came up very similar to shellac, also didn't loose any of the purple colour. Sprayed 3 coats of a 50/50 mix.
I'm leaning towards the lacquer, mostly because of its ease of application.

I tried to take some pics of the finish trial but just didn't show up at all well.
Andy, how long did it take for the purpleheart to go brown after the finish was applied & how long did it take for the purple to come back?
I applied my trial finishes almost a week ago & so far the rich purple colour is still showing thru well.

I'm not completely sold on the striped timber top of the coffee table, i had a picture in my mind of what i hoped it would come up like but it just hasn't met my imaginings. I'm kind of leaning towards re-doing the striped portion of the top with an all purpleheart top. This wouldn't be too hard as the breadboard ends are still only dry fitted.
I'm thinking now that a straight purpleheart top with a fine inlay about 50mm inset from the edge - a pale timber like huon pine, might look better. Perhaps a dual inlay of redgum & huon pine, side by side, each 1-2mm wide might come up quite nice.

I'd very much appreciate some opinions.

Cheers, Ratty.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

Andy, how long did it take for the purpleheart to go brown after the finish was applied.

It went brown straight away. I was making a chopping board and used mineral oil as the finish. The end grain is still brown, but the long grain on the sides of the board is a little bit lighter than it was when I first applied the finish. It probably took a few months to go purple (long grain). The board is about 12 months old now.

I think it depends on how much light is exposed and what sort of finish is used.
Here is a thread on this topic.
https://www.woodworkforums.com.au/f69...e-brown-52160/


Andy

Cheers Andy, an interesting read.
When first milled my PH was very pale so i put it in the sun for the day before i tested the finishes. Hopefully it will hold its colour.

Pic update time.
Well all of the major construction is finished, spent most of yesterday just doing the finishing sanding. I have yet to make up the pull knob for the draw, might attack that this morning. Going to try routing the handle. The top is now glued up & i finished sanding it to 400g last night. All the rich purple has gone so i plan to give the top a couple of days in sunlight before the finish is applied. The grid stretchers went in last night too. All in all its coming along very well, not long now & it'll be ready for a spray finish

Cheers, Ratty.