Thread: Hard as hell Aussie hardwood!

Good work Col. Can't give you a greenie.

Dan

Excellent table!! I've had the same experience with Japanesse saws. I have one that I save and use just for dovetails and more delicate work. I can't affoard to replaces the blades that much.

Nice table, Col. If I didn't know you to be an inveterate Dark-sider, I would ask why you didn't trim the ends of your table with the carbide-tipped blade of your table-saw, using a crosscut sled. But then I already know the answer; Dark-siders are gluttons for punishment; and you probably have eschewed buying a table-saw so that you can enjoy more of it

Rocker

Col, nice work. I really like your table. "Simple" but elegant and makes the wood beauty speak loudly. What's the finish? What are the dimensions on the uprights and side rails? Look like about 50mm x 75 mm?

Richard

and it won't be negatively affected by the addition of a 42 inch plasma

Originally Posted by DanP

Good work Col. Can't give you a greenie.

Dan

But I can. Very nice, clean lines. Well done!

Thanks for the kind comments (and the greenies!).

Rocker - you're right, of course, but it's even more shamefully Darkside than you think. Not only do I have a bench-mounted saw (it's actually a Triton :eek: ) but it was set up and ready. In other words, I could very easily have used it to trim the table. I could also have used a hand-held circular saw with a saw guide that I put together a little while ago. So the handsaw thing was pure vanity.

Richard - the finish is several thin coats of UBeaut White Shellac. I find it really easy to apply and it's also repairable without too much hassle. I sanded the finish lightly to 600 grit and then waxed it with UBeaut Trad Wax (all as per Neil's book ). The end frames are made from 30 mm x 80 mm sections, hand planed. The two shelves and the top are from various widths between 100 mm to 140 mm x 19 mm thick, hand-planed to edge-join then biscuited and glued. The top was routed all round to chamfer the edge and then edge-trimmed with shop-made mouldings. There was a bit of fiddling around with files and rasps to finish off the mitred corners. (Some electrons were burned in making the table but mostly it was Darkside work ).

Steve - a 42 inch plasma, eh? We'd get one immediately of course (yeah, right! ) but it would mean hanging the picture higher up the wall (see the second photo attached)

Col
(heading to Carba-Tec to get a new saw blade).

Col

Nice table!

Is that the timber you got from Vic? If so, that's a good job of thicknessing. If not, then what happened to those boards?

As much as I like my Japanese saws, both for the smoothness of the cut and the ease of use, I have almost completely changed over to Western saws on hardwood because of the breakage of teeth issue. I reserve the Japanese saws for softwoods.

Rocker, there is an intimate relationship with masochism, pride, pain and craftsmanship that only us Neanderthals know. Did I mention pain. You don't know what you are missing out on!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek

No - it's not the timber Vic gave me. Those boards are still awaiting transformation into a different table (watch this space!).

The TV table timber came from some stuff I've had for a while. Some of it was originally old floorboards and some old roof timbers (I think) that I bought from a recycling yard on Gnangara Road. I don't have any photos of what it looked like originally but it was pretty rough - believe me! And I did thickness some of it using hand planes, too. A splintery experience.

The sawtooth breakage thing is a pain. I had a look at the video on the Taunton site that shows how to sharpen the teeth of a dovetail saw. It's an excellent instructional piece and - since I have three old panel saws that need sharpening- I reckon I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get on with it.

And talking about pain and craftsmanship (although the latter is not a word I would normally apply to my efforts) - I had three days working on the table this week. Of those, two were very enjoyable because things seemed to just go well - broken saw teeth notwithstanding. But in between those two days I had about 6 hours of workshop hell when nothing went right: stuff-ups in measurement, ill-fitting components (I threw away approximately three lineal metres of shop-routed mouldings that resembled spirally-oriented boomerangs), badly-prepared attempted glue-ups: the whole miserable gamut of cock-ups. I kept bashing on but I'd have been better off giving it away and sitting indoors in the air-con. Did I mention it was that day we had with high-30s temperatures and high humidity?

And we do this for a hobby?

Col

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Rocker, there is an intimate relationship with masochism, pride, pain and craftsmanship that only us Neanderthals know. Did I mention pain. You don't know what you are missing out on!

Derek

Derek,

Even we we Light-siders know that intimate relationship between pain and craftsmanship. Much of the time I was making my grandfather clock, my finger was bandaged from its encounter with my table-saw. However, although my experience was salutory, in that it has instilled a renewed respect for what a sawblade can do to a finger in an instant, I don't intend to renew the repeat the experience

Rocker

Nice work captain. I like the table.

Why didn't you use a router to square the top?

Nice Table Col

The greenie is only a virtual one I'm afraid - usual reason

Cheers!

Good one Col.

Al

Good stuff Col