Thread: Pair of Jarrah bedside tables

Coming together very nicely indeed. I like the little detail wedges in the stretcher tenons a small detail but a nice one.
Regards rod.

Originally Posted by Rod Gilbert

..... I like the little detail wedges in the stretcher tenons a small detail but a nice one....

Rod, I just did that on a whim with the first table. Apparently it was a detail son liked because he specifically mentioned it when asking if it were possible to have a replacement. As I recall, I used RRG for the drawer front on the original because I was literally making it from scraps and didn't have enough Jarrah, but he also liked that feature, so it too is included on vers. 1.1 & 1.2. Highly figured RRG wouldn't normally be my first choice fot chopping socketed D/Ts in, but with much care & keeping the chisels very sharp, I managed to get them tolerable - just one tiny chip in a corner, but no-one will see it unless I point it out, & I'm not going to......

Cheers,

A very welcome visit from eldest daughter & new grandson meant very little shed-time over the last two weeks, but I managed to make a little progress at odd times. Things are back to normal, now and with a big push yesterday I got one table finished and there are just a few hours work left on #2.

With the frames completed I could check the drawer fronts & backs for fit. One drawer opening was a fraction deeper than the other. How such things happen, I will never know, since they were marked out together, and all parts were close enough to inter-changeable. But it does, and is the reason most of us make drawers to fit openings, not the other way round....

I think my drawer-making procedure is pretty standard. I start by sizing the pieces and cutting the grooves for the bottoms. There are any number of ways to make the groove, and a hand-tool enthusiast like myself should probably not use the table-saw, but it is just sooo quick, accurate, & convenient for this job!

Next, the tails are marked out by 'eye' using the method Frank Klausz described in a FWW article half a lifetime back. This consists of marking the two outside tails, leaving a half-pin's worth either side, then halve the space between and adding the centre pin slot, then halving the spaces between, & so-on: DR1.jpg

Tails are sawn, using my favourite little dovetailer & removing most of the waste with a small bowsaw: DR2.jpg With a wood like the Crow's Ash I used here, removing the remaining waste is very easy, just a couple of light taps on a sharp chisel.

To mark the tails on the pin boards, I first cut a small piece of wood that fits firmly in the groove: DR3.jpg which ensures alignment of the side & back: DR4.jpg while the pins are marked: DR5.jpg

I cut the pins in fits & starts, & didn't take any pics. The only difficulties were 1) chopping out the half-lapped recesses in the very wild River Red Gum of the fronts - I had to proceed very carefully, but thankfully, no disasters occurred, & I got a decent fit; and 2) seeing the lines in the dark wood! Again, a bit of chalk-dust helped greatly on end-grain.

After glue-up, the drawer-frame is cleaned up. A thick board clamped in the tail-vise makes a very convenient holder: DR6.jpg

Bottoms are planed, smoothed & sides bevelled to fit the grooves: DR7.jpg

And (after some slight adjustments of over-tight areas, it slides firmly into place: DR8.jpg

Stops are tacked onto the divider: Dr10.jpg and both drawers slid nicely into place: DR9.jpg

Almost finished.......

The end is in sight, but not before a good deal of sweat is expended on flattening & cleaning up the top & shelf pieces. I'd resawn a 38mm thick board unevenly to get the pieces, thinner for the shelf & thicker for the top. The thicker bits cupped a little, but the thinner pieces cupped a lot. No amount of dampening and weighing down would induce them to remain flat, so I had to plane off more than planned & they ended up a couple of mm thinner than I wanted, but still useable.

Nothing special about the flattening & smoothing, just a few more pauses to sharpen plane blades than I normally expect. Because I had to take off so much wood, I used a jack with a relatively short-radiused edge, and got a bit more pick-out on the curly-grained material than I bargained for. Eventually, after much work with two smoothers set for fine & finer cuts, all but a few of the rough patches had been eliminated. Jarrah isn't anywhere near as tough as some of our other hardwoods, but it does dull blades pretty quickly (I'm comparing with our nice Qld cabinet woods ). However, it scrapes well, so with smoothers plus hand-scraping, the boards eventually began to look more like I wanted: 1 planing top.jpg

Edges were treated with a simple round-over, in keeping with the 'modern' style. Again, I turned to burning a few electrons here, & used the router for the tops, but the shelves were too thin for a bearing-guided bit so they were done by hand. A minimal amount of hand sanding fixed the couple of stubborn areas even a scraper wouldn't resolve, then the tops were screwed on to the cleats/kickers: 2 attaching top.jpg

Shelves are also screwed in place, after much care selecting screws of just the right length, so they would get a decent grip, but not appear through the top.

And that, essentially, is that: 3 Done.jpg

Although I hadn't quite finished the second table, I couldn't resist slapping the first coat of oil on the completed one last night, just to see how it looked: 4 oiled.jpg

Here are the original & the new tables "side by side". I think they'll do as a substitute, though note the new table is (deliberately) a little narrower than the original: 5 Cf.jpg

OK, next project will be the kitchen, but I won't be wasting time taking pics of that, just getting the job out of the way so I can get back to much more interesting stuff.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

...OK, next project will be the kitchen...

Heard that before

Looks great! Impressive how well you managed to duplicate it. I like the more narrow (and is it a bit taller?) footprint.

I like the trick of putting the piece in the drawer bottom groove. Also, the trick of using the clamped board as a surface for planing down dovetails is a great idea. Definitely gonna have to "borrow" those moves.

Excited to see the pair!

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

Heard that before ....

Indeed you have, Luke. Been procrastinating for a whole year, now, and it hasn't made itself, so I guess I just have to accept that I've got to do it!

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

......Impressive how well you managed to duplicate it. I like the more narrow (and is it a bit taller?) footprint......

Muscle memory...
Actually, it wasn't very difficult, in the event. Having the full-frontal pic., & knowing the legs had to be about 35mm square made it pretty simple to get a scale & check the dimensions on the sketch for the first table. As I mentioned, I'd deviated from the sketch quite a bit, as I often do.

And yep, your eagle eye is spot on, the new tables are a bit taller and narrower, but deeper, so the top is the same surface area, or a bit more. I reckon the new proportions look a bit better, too.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

.....Excited to see the pair!...

You'll have to wait a week or so. I put the first coat of oil on the second one tonight, & the way they've slurped up the first coats, I think they'll need a couple more, at least. Once I'm satisfied with the fill, I'll let them dry hard & give them a good rub down with steel-wool & wax. After that, I'll get the obligatory 'job complete' pic....

Cheers,

Nice bedside tables and as usual with your builds I pick up a few tips to file away. It has also reminded me to get the finger out as I built a bed nearly 5 years back and so far no matching side tables.
Regards
John

Here you go, Luke, done & dusted: Finished.jpg

Now I just have to get them to Melbourne in time for the wedding....
Cheers,

Very nice pair of side tables simple clean lines well executed you're son and daughter in law will be very pleased I am sure to receive such a fine pair of bedsides.
Regards Rod.

Ian great WiP with the story to go with it. I can imagine the shock son must have had when discovering the original had grown legs which gave it ability to disappear I recall a Palm Beach resident going through something similar while moving not just one item but almost 1/3rd household when it was sitting on the verg. Some thing our movers must have been aware of when packing the truck as they requested one of us be outside at all times. Yes we almost had goods taken even tho i was sitting there.

I have a stash of Jarrah which has been looking to be made into bedside tables but with series of draws it will make them darn heavy. I like your design more.

Ian the Rebate plane handle/knob at front is that perm in place?

Thanks yep thats something I might do draw slides upside down/wrong way round. Usually when I am getting tired, distracted, hurrying/get it done.

Could you not have altered using the rebate plane or similar? I like the save tho.

Nice to see now the matched pair.

One day maybe who ever lifted the original puts it out on the side walk or son & DiL become friends with and discover the thief red handed

Awesome work, and an awesome gift!

Have fun at the wedding, and send me a pic of the new kitchen.

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by wheelinround

...... I have a stash of Jarrah which has been looking to be made into bedside tables but with series of draws it will make them darn heavy. I like your design more....

Ray, you nailed it, even though I kept the dimensions light-on (legs 38mm square, side rails about 16mm thick, etc.), they are pretty solid little things, so if I'd made them into full cupboards like our own (cedar) bed tables, they'd be a two man lift! Of course, weight can be an advantage in small tables if you don't need to move them very often - harder to accidentally knock over..

Originally Posted by wheelinround

...Ian the Rebate plane handle/knob at front is that perm in place?....

Nope, they are screwed in from behind the drawer front - on 75mm centres, so if someone someday wished to change them for bought handles, the holes will match..

Originally Posted by wheelinround

that's something I might do draw slides upside down/wrong way round. Usually when I am getting tired, distracted, hurrying/get it done.

Could you not have altered using the rebate plane or similar?

Believe me, I spent a minute or two trying to figure out an easier save, but I quickly decided planing them level wasn't an option. The rear tenons were offset as much as possible keep the maximum amount of wood below the mortise, for strength. To get them level with the divider, I would've had to plane away so much wood, the rear of the runners would have been just 1/4" thick - I didn't think that was a very good idea. In the end, replacing them was the only viable solution. I could've pulled the frame apart, since it was glued with hot hide-glue, but that seemed like a pretty drastic move, so extending the back mortises as a circular rebate was the easiest and probably most satisfactory way to go. I even considered doing the same to the 'good' one, so they'd match and it would look deliberate, but fortunately, sanity intervened. Let some future woodie figure out what happened...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Ray, you nailed it, even though I kept the dimensions light-on (legs 38mm square, side rails about 16mm thick, etc.), they are pretty solid little things, so if I'd made them into full cupboards like our own (cedar) bed tables, they'd be a two man lift! Of course, weight can be an advantage in small tables if you don't need to move them very often - harder to accidentally knock over..



Nope, they are screwed in from behind the drawer front - on 75mm centres, so if someone someday wished to change them for bought handles, the holes will match..



Believe me, I spent a minute or two trying to figure out an easier save, but I quickly decided planing them level wasn't an option. The rear tenons were offset as much as possible keep the maximum amount of wood below the mortise, for strength. To get them level with the divider, I would've had to plane away so much wood, the rear of the runners would have been just 1/4" thick - I didn't think that was a very good idea. In the end, replacing them was the only viable solution. I could've pulled the frame apart, since it was glued with hot hide-glue, but that seemed like a pretty drastic move, so extending the back mortises as a circular rebate was the easiest and probably most satisfactory way to go. I even considered doing the same to the 'good' one, so they'd match and it would look deliberate, but fortunately, sanity intervened. Let some future woodie figure out what happened...

Cheers,

Thanks Ian yeh moving these old stair treads about isn't one's idea of fun I'll be glad when they are off the shelf and I start making them..........somewhere in the future.

Ian you misunderstood The plane boss the plane it has a knobby is it mounted I undsertadn why you've done it after using mine.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

......Ian you misunderstood The plane boss the plane it has a knobby is it mounted I undsertadn why you've done it after using mine.

Sorry, Ray, I completely missed your point, alright!

OK, the knob is mounted using a screw that goes into the blade-retaining screw-hole, so it's easily added or removed. I saw one in a pic of an old Woden plane in this thread and thought it a great idea, so I made one for myself & posted it there (post #26). I probably should've started a separate thread 'cos it's got a bit buried where it is; took me several goes to find it, even though I knew vaguely where it was.

After I'd seen the knob on the Woden, I went out & checked the thread in the blade bed of my old Stanly 78, & discovered it is close enough to standard 3/16 Whitworth/NC. That makes it easy - you can buy long 3/16" bolts at most hardware stores. I could've just used a bolt with a counter-sunk head, but being me I made up a stud and brass dome-nut so it would look the part.

It's such a good addition to the 78 I've almost forgotten what it was like without it. It wouldn't do much for you if you use your plane mostly for cutting rebates - most people put their left hand on the fence or fence arm to hold the plane against the work, but I use my 78 mostly for cleaning up tenon cheeks, and the knob makes it so much better for that task. I find it much easier, now, to keep the pressure even at the start & finish of the cut so the cheek remains flat.

Occasionally, I use the plane as a bullnose because it's the only plane I have with that capability (am getting around to making a small bullnose, but because it's such an occasional-use tool for me, it's taking a while ). Having to take the handle off to convert isn't a big deal, because you have to demount the blade & move the retaining screw to the forward position, so it's a screwdriver & several minutes worth of your time to set up either way....

Cheers,