I built a prototype for this table last fall - it turned out well enough to avoid the firewood pile but it took forever to finish it. I'm now making progress on this one, which is cherry and padauk. The joinery on this table is somewhat unusual and has been fun, but challenging. This is my third pass on getting the right fit on the stretchers (and not making any bone-headed mistakes).
Here the underside of the top showing how the four short stretchers join to the top. Those sliding dovetails are still tough for me to get the perfect fit (and I've done it 4 times now).
The long stretchers then interlock to the short ones (can never remember the proper name for this joint):
With that done, I was ready for the edge treatments. The ends have a slight curve to them, which I roughed out at the bandsaw:
The edges on the sides and ends have a rounded profile to them. I roughed out the sides on the table saw. The ends were more challenging. Since they are already curved, the table saw was out. I was worried about getting too much blow-out on the router table, and since the "wrong side" was up, I could not see a line to cut to on the bandsaw. I went with the bandsaw option, cutting by eye at about a 30 degree angle and was very conservative, leaving a plenty to clean up at the workbench.
Here I'm almost done cleaning up the end profile. Because of the rabbet for the glass at the end, the profile changes gradually from the outside corner, where it is more pronounced to the inside corner. I still haven't thought of any way to do that with power tools...not even a router. This was a job for handwork. My new low-angle jack plane was truly a joy to use for this. It did take me nearly an hour to profile all four ends, though.
By comparison, the long edge was easy. Still used the low-angle jack, but I switched blades for a traditional angle. Again, this plane is a joy to use. Try to ignore my embarassingly cheap tail vice :>
Except for a very slight round-over of the top edges, the two tops sections are done. Here they are fitted:
and another from the end:
Next step is to finish the stretchers. They need a nice curve on the ends and 4 of them need a slot on the inside to hold a panel that makes a closed box under the glass in the center of the table. Hopefully this time I'll cut the slot on the correct side of the stretchers! :BangHead:
Then I can move on to the legs. After using that Veritas plane on the top, I'm going to be loathing my el-cheapo spokeshave on the leg profiles. But perhaps with practice, I'll do better than I did on the prototype. The legs have continuously-increasing curve as you go down the leg. It seemed like I could only use the spokeshave effectively on a few inches of the leg at a time and then needed to re-adjust the blade setting for the next 2-inch section. I suppose I could use my OSS. Ugh.
This padauk is fun stuff to work with, but it is a lot softer than I expected. Heavy, though.
Chris
Here the underside of the top showing how the four short stretchers join to the top. Those sliding dovetails are still tough for me to get the perfect fit (and I've done it 4 times now).
The long stretchers then interlock to the short ones (can never remember the proper name for this joint):
With that done, I was ready for the edge treatments. The ends have a slight curve to them, which I roughed out at the bandsaw:
The edges on the sides and ends have a rounded profile to them. I roughed out the sides on the table saw. The ends were more challenging. Since they are already curved, the table saw was out. I was worried about getting too much blow-out on the router table, and since the "wrong side" was up, I could not see a line to cut to on the bandsaw. I went with the bandsaw option, cutting by eye at about a 30 degree angle and was very conservative, leaving a plenty to clean up at the workbench.
Here I'm almost done cleaning up the end profile. Because of the rabbet for the glass at the end, the profile changes gradually from the outside corner, where it is more pronounced to the inside corner. I still haven't thought of any way to do that with power tools...not even a router. This was a job for handwork. My new low-angle jack plane was truly a joy to use for this. It did take me nearly an hour to profile all four ends, though.
By comparison, the long edge was easy. Still used the low-angle jack, but I switched blades for a traditional angle. Again, this plane is a joy to use. Try to ignore my embarassingly cheap tail vice :>
Except for a very slight round-over of the top edges, the two tops sections are done. Here they are fitted:
and another from the end:
Next step is to finish the stretchers. They need a nice curve on the ends and 4 of them need a slot on the inside to hold a panel that makes a closed box under the glass in the center of the table. Hopefully this time I'll cut the slot on the correct side of the stretchers! :BangHead:
Then I can move on to the legs. After using that Veritas plane on the top, I'm going to be loathing my el-cheapo spokeshave on the leg profiles. But perhaps with practice, I'll do better than I did on the prototype. The legs have continuously-increasing curve as you go down the leg. It seemed like I could only use the spokeshave effectively on a few inches of the leg at a time and then needed to re-adjust the blade setting for the next 2-inch section. I suppose I could use my OSS. Ugh.
This padauk is fun stuff to work with, but it is a lot softer than I expected. Heavy, though.
Chris
