First panel glue-up; jarrah top coffee table

**Corgan** · 8th January 2012, 06:14 PM

Hi guys,

i usually hang out in the metalwork forum as my hobby has historically consisted of more welding than woodwork.

however over the past month or so i've been getting more into the woodwork side of things, and over the break i've done a few little solid table tops (to date all of my furniture has just had slatted tops screwed into a frame)

this latest piece is a small coffee table, with a glued up solid jarrah top on a stainless frame. the screw holes are slotted across the grain to allow the top to expand.

The jarrah was salvaged out of decking offcuts from my last big outdoor table.

not having access to a jointer, thicknesser or router table, i made use of a handheld router and intricate straight edge system to trim up the scrap and make the edges parallel.

it was plenty of bother and i think i will invest in a thicknesser/jointer soon. the setup consisted of a common fence between the router and the workpiece, using washers to bring the workpiece out after each run with the router. this way the router is always running off the same straight edge as the piece of wood is held against. once i have one straight edge on the wood, that edge is placed on the common fence and is replicated on the opposite edge perfectly parallel to the first.

like i said, plenty of bother mucking about with washers and clamps but it worked anyway. the glue up went fine, left it clamped for 2 hours and then sized it up and started sanding.

sanded 120, 240, 320, 400, 600 then 1200 and started finishing with danish oil

i put about 6 or 7 coats on till i got the level of sheen i wanted and just finished it with a bit of furniture wax.

all in all i think it went well for a first project. i can imagine how much easier it will be with a jointer/thicknesser especially gluing up bigger panels. i have a bunch of random australian hardwood slats, some spotted gum some ironbark and a few unknowns in there and i'd like to make a solid top out of these mixed species for the next piece.

please let me know know what you think and feel free to point out any errors in my technique, as i said this is my first panel glue up

cheers
corgan

**pjt** · 8th January 2012, 06:58 PM

Based on the pics it looks good to me, one of the big things with a wide panel is allowing for movement which you have done, the design is clean and simple with an interesting contrast between timber and s.steel.

By way of further learning down the track a correctly handplaned edge will give a superior joint, also I would give your joins a little longer to dry (overnight) before further finishing as the moisture in the glue (PVA etc) can be absorbed into the timber which then swells and if you clean up the join too soon the timber then as it dries will shrink leaving depressions albeit small, of cousre by how much depends on glue and timber species.

On a less positive note... I now have an annoying "you can be a winner" website popup thingy I can't close until I shutdown that came from the pic hosting site

but it's no biggy, I hope. Perhaps I am just jioning the ranks of the Grumpy Old Men!!!!

Pete

PS It might interest a few of us to see a few pics of your router fence gadget, attach them here on this forum tho

**Corgan** · 8th January 2012, 07:12 PM

thanks for the comments- sorry about the pic hosting, i wasn't sure if i could attach them to the forum (guess i didn't really look into it, just did what ive always done)

i'll take some quick pics of the router fence but trust me it's not a fun activity, at least not if you need to remove a substantial amount of timber :P

i do have a very small handplane, but i'm pretty hopeless at using it. what i did with these boards were to check the joint and use a wide chisel to gently shape 2 mating edges at a time, and did it until the joint was slightly open in the middle and closed at the ends as i've read here and in other articles

the router with straight bit did a pretty good job of prepping the boards for joining anyway and the fit up seemed very good from the start

cheers
corgan

**artme** · 8th January 2012, 07:32 PM

I like it!

Have to agree with

regards design and execution.

**Sawdust Maker** · 8th January 2012, 08:15 PM

V nice table

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