Thread: WIP Bedside Tables

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

I've had parts spread out over the bench, a trolley, the table saw and outfeed table. Amateur hour, you get the picture. I can't count the number of times I wished I had a clear bench or layout table.

Is there no space for a table in front of your bench ? That makes things harder. I couldn't work without one .

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Actually I think I'm pretty lucky more hasn't gone wrong. What could possibly go wrong constructing two cabinets at the same time, all cut from a single 250x50x2800 plank plus a few offcuts?

Aside from making up some of the drawer framing as I went along I've had to do most of the straightening and thicknessing by hand and pretty much all parts have ended up 'unique' dimensions. One of the side panels had to be glued up from stock 2/3 the thickness of the rest. Pretty much everything has had to be measured from reality and marked from the face side.

That sounds good . Not always a fast fun way to build but making like that does produce a piece with a much more interesting character. You only get to see it if the piece is up on the bench again and your looking into it closely . It can be a fascinating thing to see.
Rob

I think I'll be able to live with the patch. It is hardly noticeable from the side and the glue line across the front face is fairly minimal. I'm guessing from trialling with a wet down spray of meths it might even blend in a bit more after it is oiled.

sidePatch.jpg
frontPatch1.jpg frontPatch2.jpg

Yes Rob, space is a premium here as I'm working in a large single car garage. We will be downsizing to a slightly smaller home later this year which will have a smaller workshop space again. These bedsides are ultimately destined for the new and improved guest bedroom.

Case together with tapered legs, patched leg on right. I tossed up whether to diminish the leg at the same slope as the single drawer lamp table or to taper to the same foot dimension. I decided to use the same foot dimension. I think the effect might have been lost diminishing less over a shorter length.

case.jpg

I ran into a problem working on the tops that had been glued up some time ago. A crack was opening up in the surface of one and just got worse whatever I tried, planing, scraping or sanding. I didn't want to just flip the top as the back of the boards have quite a bit of sapwood showing. Rather than ripping it apart and glue up again I decided to try to patch it.


flip.jpg

It was impossible to find a plug to match the grain really well but I think the patch worked out relatively OK. Wetting it down highlights the edges but I'm guessing they might not be as obvious when oiled.



The table that already has 2 glued up legs can have a patched top as well. The Fuzzette is a Quilter and appreciates patchwork and will probably place a small quilted runner over it anyway.

Table tops sized and beveled.
tops.jpg

Franklin,

For future reference ... one way of repairing cracks, splits and knots (etc) that PJT (Pete) showed me is to take some sawdust and separate out the fines. Pack the fines into the fault and then drip CA glue onto the dust. Sometimes, I stain the dust first.

Another way I have been using for years is to fill the fault with epoxy. Did this in the week past to fill knot holes in veneers. On that occasion, I mixed the epoxy with some stained sawdust. If the crack is too fine for the epoxy to seep into, mix in a little meths which acts as a thinner (used to use this method to thin epoxy to paint balsa model aircraft to improve their robustness). Be careful, you don't need a lot of meths.

Have fun!

Thanks John I'll keep that option in mind for next time. At the moment, in the raw, the patch looks fine. The in house consultant actually asked where it was patched! I hope it remains low key after a finish is applied.

The drawer fronts were cut from a nice board. Planing was an entirely new experience. No knots, no reversing or dipping grain. So THIS is what working with select grade is like rather than the rest of the reject grade stuff I've been battling. I could get to like it.

The board was 100mm wide and I need 90mm wide fronts so there was room for a bit of grain straightening.

drawerFront1.jpg drawerFront2.jpg

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Planing was an entirely new experience. No knots, no reversing or dipping grain. So THIS is what working with select grade is like rather than the rest of the reject grade stuff I've been battling.

You obviously haven't been using the right plane. I love the style of these cabinets Fuzzie, they're looking great.

Originally Posted by aldav

You obviously haven't been using the right plane.

You're probably right but I've got too many planes already. Too many chisels as well. I've only ever bought one new, a number of years ago, and that turned out to be a mongrel, a Stanley Sweetheart (the rebirthed line) low angle jack that I've only just recently managed to fettle into working shape. It actually did quite well shooting the sides of these drawer fronts though.

Drawers made and had a first round of fitting. I need to turn some pulls now, but that will have to wait until the men's shed reopens to get access to a lathe.

drawers.jpg raw.jpg

I finally got back to the men's shed when they reopened the week before last and turned some drawer pulls. I had a bit of trouble remembering how to turn and caught a few divots along the way but when I got the finished pulls home they looked too big so I went back this week and turned a couple more slightly smaller ones that look better to me.

Here's the finished project with 2 coats of Danish oil and one wax.

finished.jpg