Thread: How to make a slab dining table with limited Powertools???

Hi Gordo,
You say you have an assortment of hand tools. You'd be safer using a hand plane to square up your table legs...my own experience of hand-held electric planers is that they can remove a lot of material very quickly. For the M&Ts I'd go with the router. A 1/2" straight bit of up to 60 mm should be easy to get hold of and, working from both sides of the timber, you should be able to make a through mortise in 4" square legs. The router will also do a pretty good job of flattening the table top...a quick google search will find how to do this.
Hope this helps.

George

4x4 hardwood and a hand plane is not my idea of a fun sunday and i've only got small hand plane. I think i'll have a crack at electric planing them and worst case, pay someone to run them through a thicknesser. Or i might just take off the bulk of the rough sawn and leave the saw circular marks on them. I quite like this style.

Damn I miss having dad's tool collection at my disposal, drop saw, thicknesser, belt sander etc etc etc.

I'll check out th mortise and tenon with a router on the net.

Cheers

I'm probably going to regret typing this, but i'm contemplating buying a 200 buck Ozito slide drop saw to saw all the posts and rails. 200 bucks, warranty, and i simply can't afford a $1500 makita that I eventually want.

Any pros/cons worth mentioning?

Gordo
FWIW, given the tools you have and the dimension of the top, I suggest you pay someone (if necessary) to dimension the legs and rails for you and have the top finished by someone with a wide belt sander or a stroke sander

then you will just need to cut the parts to length and do the joinery, whih you have the tools for

keeping the top flat will be a challenge with either a floor sander or belt sander

G'day,

Whilst I agree with Ian I would reckon you'd get better value from a $350 thicknesser for the posts and rails. Besides you will have done it yourself then and have it for the next project!

As for the top - depends on what you want to do. It needs to be thicknessed. I've seen plans for a sanding thicknesser made from melamine chipboard, bit of high pressure poly pipe and a motor on the net, might mean a bit of engineering but achievable. A 38mm slab doesn't really give you a lot of scope to mess around too much though and a floor sander and such runs a big risk of an uneven thickness. So it's build your own or get it professionally done. The former if you want to do more or the latter if not.

FWIW

Jamie

I need to keep the cost down for this project and would like to do it all myself. Even if it means re doing some of the work later i.e. milling and re sanding the top.

I will however ring around to see what it will cost to thickness the rails etc and if low enough will probably do that. I should have got dad to thicknss them for me before i picked them up, spewing now that i didn't. I'll also check out some cheap thicknesers.

Not sure what to do with the top. it's got a groove in it from where to canadian top saw was slighlty out of line that will be a bugger to fix, but i might just try to transition it over a 300mm width and then and it up.

More questions than answers at the moment......

Gordo
is the groove in the top on both sides ?
if not can you turn the top over so the grrove will be on the underside and not noticable?

I really caution you against planning to redo the top at a later date -- how likely is it that the redo never happens?

have you worked out the cost of taking/sending the timber back to dad and running it through his tools?

Originally Posted by ian

Gordo
is the groove in the top on both sides ?
if not can you turn the top over so the grrove will be on the underside and not noticable?

I really caution you against planning to redo the top at a later date -- how likely is it that the redo never happens?

have you worked out the cost of taking/sending the timber back to dad and running it through his tools?

He's too far down the coast to make it worthwhile. I'd buy/hire/pay someone before i could find the time to drive down and use his thicknesser. I found a number for a local guy who does thicknessing work so I'll give him a call today and get a quote. 2nd option is a thicknesser from ebay etc. 3rd option is a new one from bunnings. 4th option is my electric plane.

I had another look at the slab last night, the groove is both sides but not as deep on the top. I'm leaving the natural edge on and it's at about 30 degrees so there is a predetermined top and bottom of the slab.

as for redoing it later on, it'll never happen, it's just a BS way for me to justify not spending a heap of money on it now. I'll get is as near to perfect as i can and then sand top to see how it looks.

and correction, the slab is 45mm, not 38mm, and it's damn heavy!!

Gordo

when it comes to flattening the top and getting out that groove, Derek Cohen's web site Furniture will give you some good tips.
Although derek is working with hand planes, the principle is the same with power tools.
if you're careful, you'll be able to do most of the grunt work with your electric plane.
However, unless your electric plane has a long sole (something like 500+mm), you'll need help or #7 or #8 hand plane to finish flattening the top.

FWIW

Electric hand planers can be monsters in the hands of someone inexperienced - take off more material than you ever thought possible so caution there.

A number 7 or 8 hand plane is a wonderful tool but again needs to be sharp, true and you'll still need to take time, be patient and probably need a cabinet scraper and a bit of sanding to get a good job particularly if there is any curly grain. Hmmm not good advice for someone who hates sanding I fear.

Pro option if expediency is the driver, sweat and cursing perhaps if you are that way inclined. Patience and a good straight edge will get you the results if you want to do it that way.

Jamie

Originally Posted by ian

Gordo

when it comes to flattening the top and getting out that groove, Derek Cohen's web site Furniture will give you some good tips.
Although derek is working with hand planes, the principle is the same with power tools.
if you're careful, you'll be able to do most of the grunt work with your electric plane.
However, unless your electric plane has a long sole (something like 500+mm), you'll need help or #7 or #8 hand plane to finish flattening the top.

Thanks, i'll check out Derek's website. I don't own a big handplane and from what i saw at bunnings yesterday they will set me back a couple hundred bucks. Again it's a matter of priority of purchases.

On another note i dropped the posts and rails of at a wood machinist this morning so will have nice, uniform, square, planed posts and rails to start my project with this afternoon. in teh end it was a resonably easy decision. $400 for a cheap thicknesser vs $66-$120 for someone else to do it vs me stuffing the 4' widths with my electric plane.

Originally Posted by Gordo78

Thanks, i'll check out Derek's website. I don't own a big handplane and from what i saw at bunnings yesterday they will set me back a couple hundred bucks. Again it's a matter of priority of purchases.

On another note i dropped the posts and rails of at a wood machinist this morning so will have nice, uniform, square, planed posts and rails to start my project with this afternoon. in teh end it was a resonably easy decision. $400 for a cheap thicknesser vs $66-$120 for someone else to do it vs me stuffing the 4' widths with my electric plane.

Took them 2+ hours = $132. ouch, should have bought a thicknesser.

Hi Gordo

To me, $132 for straight and square legs and rails sounds like money well spent

re purchasing a long a plane from Bunnings -- don't waste your money
you will do far better talking to Jim Davey Jim Davey - Planes and Sharpening - About Me - Contact Details about a plane setup ready to go. Jim posts here regularly

Originally Posted by ian

Hi Gordo

To me, $132 for straight and square legs and rails sounds like money well spent

re purchasing a long a plane from Bunnings -- don't waste your money
you will do far better talking to Jim Davey Jim Davey - Planes and Sharpening - About Me - Contact Details about a plane setup ready to go. Jim posts here regularly

It is except for when with a bit of pre planning, i could have thicknessed them when i picked them up for nothing.

Cheers for the bunnings advice, i had no intention of buying it just happened to be beside the router bit wall i was looking at for ideas.