Mitre-jointed jarrah table

[Rocker]

Here are some pictures of a table (Photo 1) I made with unusual joinery - all the joints are mitred. The design was originally published in FW #27, and reprinted in the FW book 'Tables and Desks'. The author of the original article cut the mortices for the floating tenons that reinforce the leg/apron joints by a tricky and hazardous technique on the router table, and he cut the grooves for the splines that he used to reinforce the mitre joint between the leg halves by an even more hazardous technique involving a 45-degree sloping fence on the router table. The difficulty of these procedures deterred me from building the table until I realised that the mortices could easily be cut on my morticing jig (Photos 2 and 3), and the splines in the legs could be replaced with biscuits.

Each L-shaped leg of the table consists of two halves mitred together. The stock for the legs and aprons was trimmed to length on a crosscut sled, and the profile was marked on each piece using a mylar template. The mitres should have all been cut on my mitre sled (Photo 4) before bandsawing the profiles. I didn't do this, so I had to use my Kreg mitre gauge to cut some of the mitres instead.

Rocker

Continued in next post

[Wood Borer]

Well done Rocker.

[MajorPanic]

Great stuff Rocker!! http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif

Is the table for anything special?

Your mortice jig has really come into it own!

[Rocker]

After the profiles of the leg halves and aprons were bandsawn, leg halves were glued to each end of the aprons (Photo 5). The mitres on the leg edges were then cut on the table saw using a sacrificial MDF fence (Photo 6). The inner edges of the leg/apron assemblies were then faired and rounded over, before the two pairs of leg/apron assembles were glued up (Photo 7) to form two matching L-shaped assemblies. Note that the sub-assembly in the foreground of Photo 7 is only dry-assembled with biscuits to the L-shaped assembly that is being glued. It serves to facilitate the clampling.

In photo 8 the two L-shaped leg-apron sub-assemblies are being glued to each other to complete the table's frame, using a Veritas 4-way speed clamp.

Rocker

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[RufflyRustic]

Beautiful table Rocker! Love the progress shots.
Thanks
RufflyRustic

[Rocker]

Photos 9 and 10 show the completed leg joints. Unfortunately, I did not have sufficient matching stock to make the top (Photo 11) larger. It would then have been in better proportion to the legs, which are a bit too stout for the size of the table. I glued up the top using Techniglue epoxy, in order to to avoid getting the ribbed glue-lines that often occur on table tops, if you use PVA glue, owing to its tendency to creep.

The entire table is made from 20 mm thick stock. It is surprisingly quick and easy to make, if you have the jigs to cut the mitres and the mortices.

I finished the table with three coats of a 40-40-20 mixture of danish oil, gloss polyurethane and mineral turps, rubbed in with fine wet/dry sandpaper, and polished it with a coat of EEE wax.

Rocker

[shaunburgess]

Well done, one of the best pieces of furniture i have seen on this site.

For me, if i could build a table that well i could retire happy, knowing my ambition was fullfilled.

[zenwood]

Very nice piece of work.

[AlexS]

Very nice table - I like the unusual legs. Great work.

[adrian]

A nice elegant table and well done.
If you are worried about the thickness of the top you can always edge-band it with a thicker piece of timber to give the appearance of a thicker top. You could even use a different timber to contrast the banding rather than trying to blend it.
I've seen people do that on TV woodworking shows when they use a thin sheet of expensive ply.

[Rocker]

Is the table for anything special?



Major,

In answer to your query, I was tempted to launch into a discourse on the meaning of life, the universe, ... and everything; but I made the table mainly just to attempt a new challenge, and to use up my remaining stock of jarrah. The table will probably end up with one of my nieces in England, where jarrah is as rare as hen's teeth.

Adrian,

I was not concerned about the thickness of the top, but by its small area. I would have liked to have made the aprons longer and the top longer and wider, so that the legs would seem more slender in relation to the top. I could not make the legs more slender than they are, since that would mean using thinner stock, which would have made the joinery too weak.

Rocker

[Jill]

Well done, Rocker! Love the progress shots, too & your jigs! A very professional finish, too!

Thanks for sharing,

Jill

[outback]

Nice table. Too hard to tell from the pics, but from what I can see, it all seems in proportion. Legs don't look too heavy.




But I still hate mitres.

[adrian]

Nice table. Too hard to tell from the pics, but from what I can see, it all seems in proportion. Legs don't look too heavy.

My opinion also. I can't see anything wrong with the proportions.
I've seen similar hall tables on the Antiques Roadshow and they look pretty much the same.

[Graham Sands]

Very professional work, I also like the cut of your jig.

[Harry72]

Great work as usual Rock, most of us here could learn much from your skills.

[BobR]

Very nice work. Looks like a lot of time and patience.

[routermaniac]

mighty fine Mr Rocker, mighty fine! I am very impressed with your mitres...

I must admit I have personally given up on mitres until I get myself a table saw, just not pleased with the results Im getting with the Triton.

[Simomatra]

Great table nice work. Hope I can aspire to somtimg like that soon

Liked the photo's and the jig

Keep up the good work

Sam

[Gibbo]

Umm,.... WOW! Awesome work Rocker! Fantastic skills to get those joints so precise.

[jacko]

Rocker, a great design, beautifully executed. Liked seeing the construction detail, that Veritas 4 way clamp seems to come into its own on jobs like that one! Especially liked the table saw set-up with the sacrificial fence and sawing the mitre on the top face, great "out of the box thinking.
jacko

[Peter36]

A very nice table Rocker and a very informative post .:) Can your jig be used horizontally to enable mortises to be cut in long aprons and so avoid having to set up step ladders . Or may'be a saw pit might be the go .:D

Peter

[Rocker]

Peter,

No, my jig can't be used horizontally; however, I have used it successfully to cut mortices in the end-grain of long rails by clamping the rail vertically in a vice, clamping the jig to the top of the rail, and then standing on my workbench to rout the mortice. By this method, it is quite easy to rout mortices in the end-grain of rails up to about 2.2 m long. Mortices in longer rails could be routed by the same method, but standing on a tall step ladder instead of the workbench.

Rocker

[DPB]

Peter,

No, my jig can't be used horizontally; however, I have used it successfully to cut mortices in the end-grain of long rails by clamping the rail vertically in a vice, clamping the jig to the top of the rail, and then standing on my workbench to rout the mortice. By this method, it is quite easy to rout mortices in the end-grain of rails up to about 2.2 m long. Mortices in longer rails could be routed by the same method, but standing on a tall step ladder instead of the workbench.

RockerOr you could take the whole thing outside and stand on your roof.:D

As usual, inspiring work, Rocker.:)