Thread: Major and Rockers' hall table reborn! My WIP

Got quite a bit done over the Xmas break, so to proceed.........


Next step was to start jointing the boards for the top. Here I am still possessed of the dark side, (or not possessed of a jointer!!!). Boards are grain matched, and the first 2 "book-folded" and clamped for jointing with my home made 'No 5'. At 1800mm long, by 50mm wide, it is more than a satisfying diversion........... it's exercise!! (pics 6, 7 & 8).
The table design has the front apron curved to the same radius as the top. Having considered laminating and bandsawing solid timber (wasteful) and steam bending, (too much to teach myself) I reverted to the designers' original method of strip lamination.

So in the meantime, I have been preparing the former for this operation. Major had advised me to get the former as accurate as possible, so I proceeded as follows:

18mm mdf was sawn into 5 off 1220mm x 200mm. (Pic 9). This time I was a little more clever, and press-ganged No. 1 son to help with manhandling the sheet. Cutting was done using a cutting board, and circular saw. Pieces were then trimmed to width using ripfence and table saw. Since there was still some small variation, I selected the narrowest bit to start with. The table top template was then used to transfer the curve to this piece. (Pic 10). The curve was cut on the bandsaw, leaving ~1mm on the outside of the curve. (Pic 11). The 2 pieces were then re-assembled, with an 8mm gap, ensuring that everything remained "in square", and screwed to 3 braces. (Pic 12)The Top template was then screwed down to this, on the original marked line. (Pic 13) Using a 10mm template follower, and 10mm router bit, the "channel" between the parts was then routed out parallel and true. (Pic 14)

Watch this space........!

Using the male half of this first piece, the remaining 4 pieces were marked off (Pic 15), and cut on the bandsaw, numbering the matching halves, until all 5 had been cut. (Pic 16).

Starting with the original as layer 1, the next 2 layers of the male and female formers were glued on top, using a square to ensure the outside margins remained true. (Pic 17). This left layers 2 & 3 slightly overhanging.(Pic 18). A 2" flush trim bit in the new Ryobi served to match to the original profile. (Pic 19). The male counterpart was similarly trued. This process was repeated with the final 2 layers of 5, (Pic 20), yielding a fair and true former, with high accuracy. Pics 21 &
22)

tooroo

Alastair,

I gotta say it's looking good, the form looks to be very well constructed!

You could of saved a bit of time by using a router/trimmer on your beam compass to cut a sheet of 3mm MDF to give you both the inside & outside arcs at the same time.

Just a matter then of attaching the 3mm MDF to the material for your first layer of your form material. Each successive layer can then be trimmed with the flush trim cutter until the desired thickness is achieved. This would be the MAX height that your table saw can cut.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the table done in Red Cedar!!

Are you going to use any contrasting timber stringing?

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the comments and the PM.

At the moment I am debating whether to contrast light, (Poplar), or dark ( Imbuia). I might have to trial on a scrap piece before I decide.

regards,

If you want to go light you might want to think of Fig or Silver Ash, both are easy to work & Fig is being cut down everywhere.

In the meantime, The table top had been glued up. No photos here, because the camera decided to auto-destruct the memory card. I can
still see the pics on the camera, but cannot download to my PC.

The main template was used to mark out the top, and the outline was bandsawn, leaving generous margin for error, and extra at ends,
to avoid snipe in the final thicknessing. (Pic 23). To remove the slight bow still in the top, it was mounted on a sled,and
"shimmed" up with newspaper padding, and then run through the thicknesser to bring the lower surface to true. (Pic 24). The top was
then turned over and run down to final thickness. As luck would have it, I reached the final 20mm thickness just as a final "fair"
pass through the thicknesser was achieved.
In the same session, the laminations for the curved front apron were cut, using my 'jerry built' resaw fence on the bandsaw. (Pic 25). A board the right length, (ie lots too long to allow for errors and snipe!) was ripped to slightly over width. After jointing by handplane it was run through the thicknesser for trueing, both in thickness (~25mm) and width (~80mm).
After each veneer was sawn off, the remaining board was run through the thicknesser to retrue it. (Pic 26). I had to use a false
platen, as the thickness was below the minimum for the machine. Each veneer was then thicknessed to 5mm using the same jig. (Pic
27). As can be seen, it all worked out, right on the desired 20mm thickness.(Pic 28).
Sometimes I get lucky......!

More to come, watch this space.

How's it going Alastair? Everything OK

Originally Posted by MajorPanic

How's it going Alastair? Everything OK

Hi MP

Been on holidays, back 1 day then away til 21st.

Some progress, but no time to post.

More when I get back.

Regards

Well, back from holidays, and time to post progress in early Jan.

Before glueing up the laminations, the curved bottom for the front apron was marked on the inside of the inside veneer. I used the same method as Rocker, flexing a thin ally extrusion to match with the required measurements. (Pic29). Rocker had suggested Urea- formaldehyde or epoxy for the lamination, but I went for Cascamite, from my old boat building days. (Pic 30). This is a waterproof crosslinking caseinate based adhesive, in powder form. Mixed with water it has an open time of ~20 min, and a clamping time of 8 hours. The glue sets very rigid, and resistant to creep, but you have to work fast. As it happened, I had an argument with No. 1 son, so lost my assistant, and had to do the glue-up on my own. The lack of hands meant that I narrowly missed disaster, and only just made it.
The clamping surfaces of the former were lined with packing tape, and plastic sheet laid on the bench. Glue was spread on one side of each joint, and the veneers stacked. They were then put between the formers, lined up central, and with each other, and the assembly squeezed together by hand while one clamp applied in the centre. The rest of the clamps were added, and the whole assembly tightened. (Pic 31). In addition, the protruding ends were clamped. (Pic 32).

In the rush, I missed the fact that the laminations had fanned slightly under clamping, but fortunately not unrecoverably.

After that, it was time for a rest and a bevvy.

The joys of being back at work, with a new computer to be tamed, and a new "prairie dog warren" office has meant that while the project has been progressing, the posting has not. Herewith the next small installment:

While the front apron was clamped and waiting, the next operation was to start on the legs. As I was working with 25mmm boards, these had to be laminated to give the required 34mm. I was also assailed with doubts regarding the dimensions and form of the legs, (sorry Mark and David!) and was flirting with both a larger cross-section, and a turned profile. (You can't keep a woodturner down!). I thus decided to aim at 40mm square, to leave my options open. Boards were ripped to 45mm, Run through the thicknesser, and hand jointed until straight. These were glued up in pairs, using my usual aliphatic 'yellow' PVA. (Pic 33), and then adjacent faces jointed straight and square using handplane.

The leg blanks were then run through the thicknesser, down to 40mm square. In the mean time, to resolve my dilemma, I cut a couple of radiata blanks from some scrap, and machined one to 40mm square, and the 2nd to 34mm. I then designed and turned an elegant profile on the larger, while reproducing the original tapered leg on the smaller. I then balanced the top on these, and called in the jury.(Pic 34). The rest of the family were adamant that the original was better. In spite of trying to convince them that with my vote, the turned leg was was the winner by a majority of one, I finally had to bow to the inevitable. I did however lengthen the legs by 2", to fit in with the rest of thefurniture in the room. The 4 blanks were then run down to 34mm, and it was time to machine up the aprons and M&T's for the frame.

I elected to go for a traditional mortice and tenon apron frame, rather than the loose tenons used by Rocker. Using a conventional 8mm bit in the small router, mortices were routed 15mm and 20mm deep in the legs for the side and front/back aprons respectively,(Pics 35, 36), using my simple morticing jig. (Pic 37). After routing,(Pic 38), mortices were squared off using my dovetailing chisel. A similar mortice was routed in some scrap, to use for setting up the tenons.

Until next time............

I love the casual placement of the home made wooden plane...

I'll plead guilty for the photo in post#2 above, but by now, I seem to be using it all the time, and in the last post it just happened to be ".........put down plane pick up camera; snap.................."

Well that's my story anyway!

While the project has been progressing well, the posting has fallen behind. I will try to catch up!

The next job was to fix the glueing errors on the bowed apron. The inside lamination with the curve was retained, and the bottom trued up to this by planing. The minimum width was then scribed all the way round, and planed to the line.(pic 39). Fortunately I had left enough oversize in the laminations that I could still meet the minimum width. Once this was complete, it was on to the fun job of cutting the tenons on the curved front apron. As the original former had been carefully prepared to be square, back in went the apron, to be squared up, and cut to length. (pic 40). The square end of the former was used as reference for setting out the tenons, (pic 41), which were then hand cut with my gents' saw, according to Rockers drawing. (Pic 42). Thereafter a mdf template was used to mark the top profiles, which were cut out on the bandsaw. (Pic 43). As it turned out, my homemade lathe mounted drum sander, (Pic 44), which dated from an earlier project was exactly the right size to finish-sand the profile, saving me from a finicky routing and sanding job. (Pic 45).

Onward to the tenons!

Using the previously routed scrap mortice, the 'table saw' was set up for machining the tenons on the straight aprons.(Pics 46, 47). Shoulders were cut first, and the tenons then "nibbled" away on 3 sides. The previously mentioned template was used to mark and cut top profiles, which were drum sanded as before. The tenons were then cut to width, before fitting to the mortices using a shoulder plane. I then cut out the curve on the bottom of the front apron on the bandsaw, staying just clear of the line. This had to be done carefully, to avoid rocking the curved piece on the bandsaw table.(Pic 48). The front apron was then clamped to the bench, and the curve faired to the line with the trusty spokeshave. (Pic 49).

The taper on the legs was next. The starting point near the mortice was squared off, and the 20mm square end marked, and the taper marked off on both sides. After several false starts as to which side was to be tapered, I decided to mark on the side to be cut, to avoid confusion. (Pic 50). This occasioned the need for some lateral thinking, since each first cut removed the line for the second cut. This was overcome by re-attaching each offcut carefully with hotmelt glue, to allow the second cuts.(Pic 51). The tapers were cut on the bandsaw, and then jointed to the marked lines by hand. Chamfers were added to the top and bottom of the legs, using the disc sander freehand, working to a 45o line scribed on the table.

Once the frame was complete, an initial dry assembly was done to check. An immediate problem was apparent. The tops of the aprons weren't level!. After much soul searching, the error showed up. Machining the tenons for the straight aprons had given (by default) a bottom shoulder on the mortice of 6mm. The curved apron tenons had been hand cut to the drawing giving a bottom shoulder of 8mm! A quick re-machine, and addition of a patch to the upper shoulders, fixed the problem, and a repeat trial assembly showed that we were looking good.(Pics 52, 53).