Thread: Bedside table in New Guinea Rosewood

Very nice result.
Well done
Tom

Moving right along, I decided to make the under shelf as slats rather than planking it with solid pieces as I thought it would look clunky or too heavy, and I needed the dovetailing practice so did it that way.
BST3.jpg

I don't know whether it was just me being clumsy or if it's something to do with NGR but I found it to be really prone to tear out and also to chipping and several times during the build I had to fill areas of tear out and glue back pieces that had chipped off corners. It just seemed really easy to damage this stuff.
BST4.jpg

Luckily it repaired well and by the time I got past this stage I was alert to this issue.

On to the top which was fairly straightforward.
BST5.jpg

Then it occurred to me I should do something to strengthen the corners, so I got out my rip Dozuki and cut slots in those corners and after a quick clean up with chisels fitted Jarrah fillets to keep it all solidly together.BST6.jpg

The top isn't yet fixed to the frame as to my eye I still had to make some sort of drawer to balance out the look of the piece.

That's a really good job.
I had a similar experience with NG Rosewood and tearout.
I think it might be that the oil in the timber may dull the blade. Really sharp blades help, but the timber seems to throw up little kinks in the grain from time to time.
Anyway, you should be pleased with this table
Tom

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

That's a really good job.
I had a similar experience with NG Rosewood and tearout.
I think it might be that the oil in the timber may dull the blade. Really sharp blades help, but the timber seems to throw up little kinks in the grain from time to time.
Anyway, you should be pleased with this table
Tom

More like the silica SG. Use to find same thing in turning NGR

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

Right about this time I realised I had a bit of a problem, in that I had nowhere solid to mount the drawer runners. This is what happens when you make things up as you go along, so I had to install a packing piece inside the frame on the inside of the side stretchers which would have been a whole lot easier if I hadn't already glued the frame together. I was trying to minimise the use of fasteners and maximise my joinery practice so I cut slots in the legs to hold either end of these pieces and glued them in place. Plenty of awkward chisel practice in that.
DSCN0071.jpg

Then on to making the drawer, which went well enough until I tried to fit it. Because of the way you have to sort of shimmy the Euro slides around as you put the drawer into the carcass the back of that drawer wouldn't clear the little wood strap that I'd installed at the front of the frame directly under the top as I had become worried about movement in the frame (note the initial lack of any top front stretcher in the second picture of the first post).

Bugger! So I had to cut a bevel in the rear of the drawer to get it to fit.
DSCN0072.jpg

There was some interesting figure in the front of the drawer and I wasn't quite sure how best to use it. I toyed with the idea of centering it in line with the drawer pull but went with this instead.
BST7.jpg

About this time I asked a question about the appropriate finish for NGR in the Finishing section of this forum and got several helpful answers. I was looking for something natural looking and went with the Danish Oil, mainly because I could get it from the local M10 store. Happy with that, I think it looks good.

Then it was just a matter of turning up a knob for the drawer and here I made what I feel was a major design/aesthetic mistake. It doesn't look too bad from this angle......
BST8.jpg
but wait until you see it from the front!
BST9.jpg

Oh dear, that knob looks like a clown nose! Once my eye saw that the Jarrah corner fillets in the top became eyes (or eyebrows), the area between the drawer and the shelf became a wide open mouth, and the drawer slats became teeth! At one point I almost went with the joke and installed a Jarrah moustache below the drawer to complete the illusion.

To my eyes there are two issues here, firstly the knob is way too big for the size of the drawer, secondly I turned that knob as a spindle so the front face of it is end grain and was always going to look darker when finished. I should have made it smaller and turned it with the grain running across the axis of the lathe. Inexperience on my part!

I am the king of no/poor planning, so I think you had relatively few problems compared to what I can get into.

One question - will the panel inside the mitered frame for the top expand and contract and did you plan for that?

Originally Posted by ChEgrad

I am the king of no/poor planning, so I think you had relatively few problems compared to what I can get into.

One question - will the panel inside the mitered frame for the top expand and contract and did you plan for that?

Don't really know mate, I'm just counting on the inlays on the corners to hold it all together. Whether that works....well I'll just have to wait and see. With my limited woodworking experience I don't even know how to plan for that. The top as a whole is held to the frame by fittings that will allow for movement, that's about as clever as I got.

I finished it in summer and it's now cold and wet and so far no issues that I can see.

Originally Posted by Biggus

Don't really know mate, I'm just counting on the inlays on the corners to hold it all together. Whether that works....well I'll just have to wait and see. With my limited woodworking experience I don't even know how to plan for that. The top as a whole is held to the frame by fittings that will allow for movement, that's about as clever as I got.

I finished it in summer and it's now cold and wet and so far no issues that I can see.

I think you'll get away with trapping the wood inside your outer frame because the piece isn't too big. Try it on something larger and you'd find the joins opening up sooner or later.

Here's a pic of a small side table I made about 5 years ago.
IMG_2544.jpg

mick

Originally Posted by Glider

I think you'll get away with trapping the wood inside your outer frame because the piece isn't too big. Try it on something larger and you'd find the joins opening up sooner or later.

Here's a pic of a small side table I made about 5 years ago.
IMG_2544.jpg

mick

So how does one deal with this in something bigger, like a full size table top? Or is it something to be avoided at that scale?

Originally Posted by Biggus

So how does one deal with this in something bigger, like a full size table top? Or is it something to be avoided at that scale?

Rather than solid timber, I have used good quality plywood, either marine or aircraft grade. There are any number of veneered plywood types available off the shelf from specialty suppliers. Here are a couple of pics of my wardrobe which uses Curly Maple ply for the panels and Rock Maple for the frames.

Wardrobe #1.jpg Wardrobe #2.jpg

mick

Great build, thanks for sharing Biggus,

My two cents - wood expands mostly laterally, i.e. across the grain. For table tops breadboards are often used at the ends to keep the panel flat. The tennoned end of the table which fits into the breadboard mortice is cut shorter than the mortice, and can be glued only in the centre area to allow the whole table to expand. There may there be a small ledge between the side of the table and the breadboard at different times of the year.

For a fully enclosed table like yours, a similar approach could be taken with the end parts of the frame. For the side parts (where the grain of the panel is the same direction as the frame), a tongue and groove joint could be made which would allow the panel to expand slightly. However there would be a small gap which may open/close.

For a small project which uses acclimated wood, is well sealed and lives inside where the humidity doesn't change so much, all these effects are minimised.

Also, given that humidity is generally higher in summer, when you finished your project, the wood was probably at its larger size. So if these effects ended up causing any problems I would think the panel would want to shrink and pull away from the frame (maybe leaving a small gap on one side) rather than expand and blow out the frame or cup.

I really like how the grain on the drawer front stands out. I think a small drawer pull made from the same Jarrah as the corners would look really nice.

Originally Posted by Biggus

So how does one deal with this in something bigger, like a full size table top? Or is it something to be avoided at that scale?

I made a kitchen table about 20 years ago and it has held together, no cracks, and its half in the sun every day. I was figured there was a high chance the table top would crack and dont claim to have any great knowledge in this area. Probably more than a bit of luck involved. My table is made from macrocarpa pine and although it wasnt kiln dried it had been racked for a number of years. Glued the main part of the table up and let it sit for some weeks to equilibrate then glued the edge around the outside. Finished it with 2 pack estapol thinking that this would provide a barrier to limit moisture movement into and out of the wood. Top of the table is about 30 mm thick and the edge is about 50 mm.
I suspect that using a forgiving timber is the secret, I wouldnt like to try this with blackwood.