# Ash Coffee Table - Finished



## OPJ (8 Jun 2008)

I've been putting this off since late last year but with some time off work and a stack of timber that's been consuming space in my bedroom since October I decided to get on with it. My mum's "brief" was that it should be 900mm x 600mm in size with a lower shelf and made in ash to suit the rest of our living room furniture. Apart from that, I'm free to explore a little. :wink: English ash was the material of choice, with thanks to Interesting Timbers. 







After preparing and cutting to length of the timber for the four 45mm square legs and all upper and lower rails...






I marked out all the mortices for the leg and began cutting with a 5/16" Japanese chisel (about 8mm).






These mortices were then cleaned up with a mallet and various chisels. I'm not sure how clear it is from this photo but both sets of mortices are offset from one another... I've designed this so that the upper rails will finish 3mm short of the face or the legs while the lower rails are set back 6mm, allowing for a 3mm overhang from the shelf. :wink: 






Next job was to cut the tenons then to fit the mortices. These were done using my preferred method for 1" thick stuff; Steve Maskery's router table jig.






Haunches were then cut in to the upper rails on the bandsaw before routing 3/8" wide x 7mm deep grooves in to each rail to take the buttons that'll later be used to fix the top and shelf. I've noticed some people prefer on 6mm thick tenons, but I tend to stick with half and half...






After cutting the tenons to length and mitring the ends on my mitre saw, here you can see the finished results.






...I should make it clear that I ran in to a little trouble when routing the tenons on my table... When I built the jig I made the unfortunate mistake of placing a screw in line with where the cutter would be doing it's work, but behind the fence. It wasn't necessary for me to rout this far past the fence but something when 'bang' when I did and it made a mess of my 7/8" cutter (fortunately, I rarely use it anyway).






Here's the offending screw: :?






At this point, I wasn't sure if the walnut-idea was really going to work, but I have persevered and I later come to like it with the shelf in place.






After going through a couple of dry-runs I gave all components for the two ends of the frame work a good clean up and two coats of Osmo Polyx Oil, Clear Satin, which I was using for the first time. Must say that I'm very impressed with this finish all around.  






While I left the glue to set on the two ends I began working on the timber for the shelf. I dry assembly of _all_ frame components gave me the dimensions for this, taking in to account that I wanted it set-back 3mm from the outside face of the legs all round.

So, I cut some boards out and planed them all up, looking to make the shelf from five boards for stability, only to realise that I'd somehow gotten my maths wrong and was 45mm short!  I managed to get around this by adding two more boards to the pile and ripping a couple of others down to compensate (this did mean I could lose some of the straight-grain and utilise figuring). I ran all boards through the thicknesser at 21.5mm to ensure they were all of uniform thickness.











After the glue up with no.10 biscuits (I was out of 20's and mistakenly ordered another 100 10's! :roll I realised something had gone wrong somewhere and that there was a slight 'kink' or dip in the panel. It may be that I over-tightened the cramps... With a little planing and some random orbit sanding though, I was able to get most of it out and I've kept my fingers crossed that the screws might pull it down tight...  

After cross-cutting it to length with my circular saw jig...






And ripping it to width a router and flush-trimming bit...






I was ready to mark out and cut the notches on my bandsaw before final assembly of the frame. The shelf has to go in at the same time, otherwise, quite simply... It's not going to fit! :shock: :wink: 






I had to rush out and buy a few more sash cramps in order to get this done though; the 900mm cheap Record cramps have an actual capacity of _less than 900mm_. I'm quite fond of these Silverline ones though which cost a little bit extra. They seem like good value for money.






Before applying the cramps I stuck a few scraps of ply in place with some double-sided tape - there's a nice tip for you, next time you glue up!  






I did encounter some dents in the timber after planing the rail edges by hand before applying the oil. Turns out a small dead knot in my softwood vice jaws was to blame! :roll: I drop of water and a few minutes with an iron was all it took to clear this up though.  






While that was left to set then, I decided it would be a good idea to begin work on the top. Before that though, I got to work on improving my morticer fence (which you can see in another thread) as I was planning to accurately chop long mortices in to some breaboard ends. Meanwhile, the timber had been cut oversize and left to 'settle' in-stick with plenty of spare near by, just in case...






We've approached the point in this project of where I am not very proud of myself. I realised before planing this next batch of timber up that the knives on my machine had somehow shifted out of alignment. I made a half-a**ed attempt at re-setting thinking it would be okay to simply adjust the fence where necessary to compensate for any out-of-square cuts. To some extent, I was right in thinking like this... On the other, I am using a combined planer AND thicknessing machine - so, if the blades are out on the top then they're definitely not gonna be parallel to the thicknessing bed, are they!! :x 

After a couple of hours work then, I ended up with a pile of timber that wasn't perfectly square at the edges and they were also in fact very slightly tapered looking at the thickness of each board. This made for a reasonably difficult glue-up, even with no.20 biscuits, but at least I always prepare my timber at least 1mm wider than it needs to be.






After a couple of hours yesterday with my Veritas bevel-up smoothing plane going both straight and diagonally across the grain, followed by some time with my Metabo ROS, I managed to get a satisfactory level of flatness with a finish about 21mm thick. Although, it felt like I'd removed an awful lot more than 1mm by the time I was done in that sweltering heat! :shock: :wink: 

I prepared the breaboards from straight-grained stuff to a finished thickness of 22.5mm, meaning I'd have excess to plane off once the boards were fitted. With my new morticing jig complete, I could safely chop out the 5/16" wide mortices for the three tenons and two haunches which you'll see in a moment...






To cut the tenons on the end of the breadboards, I have intended to use the parallel fence with my router - but, unfortunately, with the wooden fence extension fitted, the bars were 15mm short of being clamped, so I had to use an alternative method with a straightedge. This didn't go quite as according to plane and it left me with a bit of work to do with a shoulder plane to tidy up after.






Continuing my use of hand tools for the weekend then, I cut these out using a tenon and coping saw. Needless to say, they are indeed a bit wonky - but who's gonna see them! :wink:  






After fitting the breadboards I was able to mark out for the dowel which I will use to draw-bore the joint for a tight fit. I used sash cramps to pull the joint up tight, relieved the pressure and then marked a holes through the breadboards using a 1/2" forstner bit. Then, it was a case of moving the centre points back 1mm toward the shoulder lines and elongating the two outside holes.






Last thing I managed to do today then was to "turn" some 1/2" diameter dowels from American Black Walnut using a 1/4" round-over cutter in my router table. The finises result isn't quite perfect but the fit is very good.






I suffered some problems with tearout as I was hand-planing the top (yes, I got a bit carried away... :shock: ) and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a way to get over this, without removing more material? Can I steam out with water and an iron?






My apologies for making this first post so bleedin' long - it's my own fault for not starting something and coming back to it sooner! :roll: 

Thanks for looking anyway, I hope you enjoy it. :?


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## LarryS. (8 Jun 2008)

looks great so far olly, keen to see how it progresses

paul


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## PowerTool (8 Jun 2008)

Interesting post,project is looking good,and thanks for all the photos.  

Andrew


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## Paul Chapman (8 Jun 2008)

OPJ":3p0k5qg4 said:


> I suffered some problems with tearout as I was hand-planing the top (yes, I got a bit carried away... :shock: ) and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a way to get over this, without removing more material? Can I steam out with water and an iron?



That's looking good, Olly, and the pictures are great. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about tear-out, other than filling or patching (which you probably don't want to do) because wood has been removed. For the future, the best ways to avoid tear-out are:

1. Use a very sharp, finely set blade and a very close mouth on your plane;

2. Increase the effective pitch of the blade by honing a back bevel; or

3. Using a scraper (card scraper, #80 style scraper or scraper plane).

Which method works best depends on the particular piece of wood - they all work with varying degrees of success, with the scraper being probably the most foolproof method. It's worth practicing on odd pieces of wood in order to learn the techniques for when you come up against these situations.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## mr (9 Jun 2008)

Looking good Olly - regards that tearout the only thing I've found that will really address that is a card scraper or a no 80 style (depending on how deep it is). You may be able to blend it in with the rest of the top - otherwise is a filler job I suspect. 

I always have a problem with tearout in ash for some reason. It seems very susceptible to it. 

Cheers Mike


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## Philly (9 Jun 2008)

Lovely job, Olly!
Look forward to seeing it come together.
Philly


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## seanybaby (9 Jun 2008)

Looking good Olly  Like your tip about double sided tape :wink:


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## OPJ (9 Jun 2008)

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.  

Paul, you're right, I want to avoid using filler at all costs! :shock: I do own a set of Veritas cabinet scrapers and also one of their holding jigs but I don't think I've quite got the hang of working a burr on the edge... I seem to end up with one burr on each edge, instead of two! :?

I'll have another go with the burnisher and play with some scrap pieces later but I'm reluctant to remove too much timber as I intend to rout some 1/8" grooves (no more than 2mm deep) for a simple walnut inlay. :wink: 

I need to glue the breadboards on later today though - I assume I only need to glue the central dowel in place to allow the top to expand and contract?


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## wizer (9 Jun 2008)

Tricky that Ash. I also had lots of tearout problems. Indeed I got round it with scrapers. But it's not easy. Lots of work. Oh and getting the burr is simple when you know how, just persevere. It's a light bulb moment. You want a small burr. A Big one will just break.

Looking good so far. I'm starting to miss my workshop.


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## Anonymous (9 Jun 2008)

That's looking very promising Olly - not sure I understand about that screw incident, do you mean you left it on the router table, or that is came loose?

I think the Ash and Walnut will work very well


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## OPJ (9 Jun 2008)

Tony, to secure the fence on the jig I put a screw in a place that was going to be too close to the cutter. I should have realised it was going to happen sooner or later!  

I'll take a photograph of the underside of the jig as well, so you can see what I mean. When you see that, you'll also wonder why I felt it was necessary to feed the workpiece so far past the cutter anyway. :roll:


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## Paul Chapman (9 Jun 2008)

OPJ":2gas78vz said:


> Paul, you're right, I want to avoid using filler at all costs! :shock: I do own a set of Veritas cabinet scrapers and also one of their holding jigs but I don't think I've quite got the hang of working a burr on the edge... I seem to end up with one burr on each edge, instead of two! :?



I wouldn't worry too much about the tear-out, Olly. One of the nice things about using open-grained woods like Ash and Oak is that they can take everyday dings and knocks without it mattering too much - if anything they add to the character and lived-in feeling of the piece.

From your picture, the tear-out doesn't look too bad. I'd be inclined to just smooth off any sharp bits that might snag on a polishing cloth and leave it at that. If you do too much to it you might end up with a rather obvious hollow, which could look worse.

I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll post up some pictures later of how I go about sharpening a scraper - I'm sure you'll soon get the hang of it.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Tusses (9 Jun 2008)

sorry to state the obvious - but what is the other side like ?


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## Paul Chapman (9 Jun 2008)

Olly, here's how I sharpen a scraper - the Veritas #80 type (excellent and very easy to use)

Hone the edge to 45 degrees, getting it *really* sharp. Place the blade on a piece of MDF, bevel down and burnish the flat side with the burnisher dead flat on the blade - this work-hardens it






Turn the blade over and start burnishing the bevel. Start with the burnisher completely on the bevel and take about 6 strokes, then gradually angle the burnisher downwards to form the hook. Don't press too hard.






You should be able to feel the hook when you run your finger over the back of the blade. It feels similar to the burr you get when you hone a blade. You dont want too big a hook as it would be weak.

Put the blade back in the scraper with it on a level surface so that the blade is flush with the sole






Adjust the screw slightly to bow the blade






You should now get nice, silky shavings with no tear-out and the scraper will "sing" as it cuts






Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## CWatters (9 Jun 2008)

Could you design the inlay to cover the tear out?


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## woodbloke (9 Jun 2008)

Looking at the last pic, if it's tear-out it won't steam. This technique will only work where the fibres are bruised or depressed, if they're cut (as these appear to be) then steaming will have little or no effect...best to gently scrape the surface as Paul suggests - Rob


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## OPJ (10 Jun 2008)

Thanks very much for the photo's, Paul. I actually use what you would probably call a card scraper (?) but I can see how many of the techniques you've shown still apply. The points you make on not forming too large a hook and not pressing to hard; I think that's where I've mainly been going wrong as I usually find it starts cutting great but very quickly loses its edge.


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## Paul Chapman (10 Jun 2008)

There's a piece here by Bob Smalser about card scrapers which might be helpful http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8352

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## OPJ (10 Jun 2008)

Thanks again for your help Paul.  I found my thickest gauge card scraper today and gave that a good sharpening. As you'll see a bit later in this post, the tool is now performing much better. :wink: 

Tony, with regards to the screw incident, on the underside of the jig you can quite clearly see the sacrificial scrap of softwood to prevent spelching but behind that you can just see the length of oak fence. Inside one of those big scollops, there used to be a screw.... 

Tusses, you asked what the other side is like... And I wish you hadn't!  Tearout was much worse on this side and I also found that a couple of the boards were much darker, as you'll see in these first two photo's. The worst of it happened on the planer; I just couldn't avoid it. But, with one good face achieved, I was happy enough to use it this time.  






No amount of planing or scraping was gonna save this board without a considerable loss of thickness to the top! Actually, I think this next shot was down to my hand-work with a plane, rather than a machine... :? :shock: :wink: I should've photographed the end of the board where it _really_ went to pieces - most of which was lost with the tenons though. 






With all the dowels cut and everything ready to go I set about fixing the breadboards. After a bit of Googling and found it is important to ONLY glue the central tenon and dowel, to allow the rest of the top boards to expand and contract as necessary.






Although the draw-boring technique should require "no cramps", I did require an extra couple of helping hands to ensure the dowels went in straight and everything was okay. Yes, you can see I clearly drilled one hole in the wrong place...






But a 1/2" plug cutter and an offcut of ash from the same board came to the rescue. 






After ruining the blade for my cheap Irwin flush-cut pull saw a few months ago, I had to resort to other measures when it came to trimming the dowels as it seems neither Screfix or Toolstation sell replacement blades anymore...? :shock: A nice new hacksaw blade and some plastic to protect the sufrace worked well...






Before I took my cheap Record block plane and finished the dowels off flush with the surface.






Then I could break out my wonderful Veritas bevel-up smoothing plane - I couldn't possibly say a single bad word about this tool!  It made light work of trimming the breadboads flush with the rest of the top without even a hint of tearout. No problem planing straight over the dowels either, as I was quite impressed to find.






As I mentioned briefly at the start of this post, thanks to Paul Chapman's advice I've been getting the best out of my card scrapers! :wink:  






...But of course, I couldn't do any of the above until the glue had gone off! :roll: So, in the meantime, I spent most of the afternoon yesterday machining up a load of buttons from scrap timber...






Amongst all these odds and sods I did notice a couple of fairly large "bore holes" in the bark, though I doubt I have anything to worry about as the rest of the timber is clean.






I estimated that I'd need 28 buttons minimum, so I made those and a few more... And another batch for future projects after I took this photograph! :wink: After face and edging, I ripped all the timber down and ran it through the thicknesser to a finished size of 25mmx18mm. I squared up each end of each length on the bandsaw and then moved over to the pillar drill. After drilling both ends, I moved on to the router table to cut a 6mm long x 9.5mm notch or "bare-faced tenon" to sit in the 7mm deep grooves. Once this was done, I returned to the bandsaw and cut each end of at 36mm long using a short fence and it was time to start all over again.

In the past, I've tried working with a wider board and cutting them out individually after. I much prefer the single length, double-ended method as there's less sanding involved and you can use repetition stops on the pillar drill.






Back to the top then...

With everything nice and clean and a good sanding with my random orbit sander I was ready to start working on the inlay. Actually, I think it's what's more commonly referred to as "stringing"...?

Using a 1/8" cutter from Wealden and routing to a final depth of about 3mm in two passes, I use the side fence to first cut long grooves and then a couple of cramps and a straightedge to do the cross-grain housings, making sure that they were parallel to the inside edge of the breadboards as I will still need to clean up the outer edge. The grooves start 50mm in from all edges, which I think looks quite good.






Being vary weary of the fact that even the slightest knock or slip with the router could have an almost devastating effect on my work, I'm very pleased to say that this process went fine without any trouble whatsoever. All that's left to do is square and tidy up the corners a little.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my timber selection. I have a couple of 7ft lengths of walnut left over, some of which I was intending to use for the stringing. I gave the two boards a good looking over to find the most suitable grain (...), cut of a length at 760mm and began planing. It was at this point that I realised this timber wasn't up to the job of providing a contrast - just look at the amount of sapwood in this next photo! :shock: :x 






The rest of this same board is like it as well. Although it does seem to be darker on only one side, the grain's going all over the place. With the second length, the grain's even worse - a very small trace of sapwood but not fit for this task, I'm sorry to say.

So, I'm not entirely sure as to what my next move will be... I could run down to Yandles and have a rummage around for something dark, perhaps almost black, like wenge. Or, I could see if someone like Original Marquetry stock anything that will do the job - although, I quite fancy having a go at making my own. Then again, anything I do buy will have to be stacked and dried again anyway...  I'll have a sniff around the college on Thursday and see if there's anything going to waste that I can sneak out the back door... :-$ :wink:

Whatever path I choose to take next, I've learned a valuable lesson on buying American Black Walnut. I found it incredibly to spot the sapwood until I ran it over my planer. I'll have to take a block plane with me next time and make sure. One of my tutor's is very adamant that paying for a full-width board of walnut at a price that includes the sapwood is not acceptable.


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## Paul Chapman (10 Jun 2008)

That's looking good, Olly. Pleased to see that you got the scraper working well. I've only got into scrapers over the past year but wish I'd started using them years ago. So simple yet so effective.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## wizer (11 Jun 2008)

I don't know, these people who come on here posting about stuff they've actually done... What is the world coming too! :roll: :wink: 

Looking good mate. I found that very light passes on the p/t over come most of the tearout on Ash.


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## OPJ (11 Jun 2008)

Thanks WiZeR. I'm sure you'll be back in the workshop before you know it! :wink: 

To be certain I couldn't make use of either of the other two lengths of Walnut I have left over, I decided to run them both straight through the thicknesser in order to get a good look at the grain. Needless to say, I'm not very happy with the boards I picked up...

One side looks okay, although there's plenty of sapwood down the edges. The grain's not too bad and, from this face, it looks quite usable...







Oh dear! Turn the boards over and that lovely dark purple colour almost completely disappears! :shock: Not very good at all. I don't know what I'm going to do with most of this timber as I can barely use any length of it for anything else besides small boxes! :x 






I'll send an e-mail with these photo's to David Simmonds and see what he has to say. What would you guys do in this situation? I don't think this timber's going to be much use to me but have any of you had any success in using walnut like this?


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## Tusses (11 Jun 2008)

you could stain the inlay pieces before you glue them in ?


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## OPJ (11 Jun 2008)

I have thought about that... But won't the stain affect the glue from working properly? I'll also have to scrape it flush once the glue's gone off anyway, which would mean exposing the lighter timber again.


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## Philly (11 Jun 2008)

Olly
I had the same problem when making my "fluted table" - I ended up cutting 4mm "veneers" from a clear plank and gluing them onto my thicker stock.
Real depressing how sappy the ABW we get in the UK is.......  
Philly


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## OPJ (11 Jun 2008)

Thanks Philly, I've had a look a your Fluted Table (nicely done, by the way! :wink and I can see what you mean. If I don't find anything at college tomorrow then I might try gluing in double-thickness stuff or something... I can always rout it out again if it goes wrong.


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## bobscarle (11 Jun 2008)

Olly

The table's looking good! I do like the look of breadboard ends but have always been put off by the movement issue. Contrasting dowels really set it off.

I am not adverse to using sapwood in my projects so the walnut looks fine to me, although I appreciate it is not what you need.

Bob


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## OPJ (12 Jun 2008)

I got home from college to find I have an e-mail waiting for me from Interesting Timbers. David seems very understanding with regards to the problem of sapwood in walnut and he's happy for me to take the boards back and exchange them, provided they have similar sized stuff available in stock!  

Another big thumbs up to Interesting Timbers from me then! :wink: How many other companies would be prepared to do this, eight-months after buying the table??? Actually, I recall Devonwoody having a similar experience of outstanding after sales service from Yandles once.  

This still means I'll have to let the timber acclimatise, etc. but I do have future plans for the rest of that walnut anyway...! :wink: 


Bob, thank you for your comments.  I agree with what you are saying and, in a different situation (eg. table top), I could probably use the one good face that contains minimum sapwood. With the breadboard ends, I did consider leaving them intentionally proud (too late now!) and even thought about using walnut instead of ash. :shock:


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## OPJ (25 Jun 2008)

About time for an update, I think!  Went back to Interesting Timbers yesterday and exchanged the walnut for some 1 1/2" stuff as they didn't have any 1". David Simmonds was again more than helpful and he even allowed me to scrape away at the surface with my block plane. :wink: 

With some decent walnut amongst my stock, I began working on the inlay material. I started by ripping off a 2" width, which would incidentally remove a slight waney-edge at the same time. After preparing a face and edge on the planer, I ripped off about 8mm on the bandsaw and then repeated the process so I had some spare. When it came to thicknessing, I used the MDF "false bed" trick, held in place with a couple of cramps (I couldn't be bothered to try and find my drill and all that...!)






With a bit of care then, I was able to plane this stuff down to a size that would fit snuggly in the pre-cut grooves. Then I took the 1 1/2" wide strips and ran them through the bandsaw to give me plenty of 6mm wide strips (5mm would've been plenty but the guides on my bandsaw were interfering with the fence :roll.

You can see in this photo's how there is still quite a variation in this new lump of walnut. Then again, I did choose to rip off a section from outer edge of the board, where the sapwood was _going to be_...  :wink: Forutunately, I cut plenty of spare. I still ran both lengths of walnut through the thicknesser just to be sure - and they both look fine for future use.  






If I attempt something like this again, I'll look for a different approach to mitring the ends of the inlay stringing. I honestly thought any saw I have would be too coarse to cut through this, but that didn't mean that doing it with a chisel was necessarily a better solution... Anyway, what's done is done now, I'll have a look at it again tomorrow! :?  











Until I got my hands on some more walnut, I wasn't really able to do much else on this except to keep working on removing the tearout from the top and, it is going quite well with the scraper. I did give my army of buttons a coat of Danish Oil so I could at least fix the shelf...











And I even had a go at mixing up some filler (sawdust and PVA) to see how it might fill any outstanding 'scars' left by the tearout.






I'm glad I only tried this on the underside, where it won't be seen, as some of it went horribly dark once the glue had dried. Even after scraping, this is how it looks. At least I didn't touch the top surface, eh! :wink: 






I also noticed the main panel has shrunk already, leaving the breadboards exposed by about 1mm. I'll try and leave it for a few days longer while the sun's out like this, in hope of minimising any further issues of shrinkage once it's indoors.

Nearly there then! But I think this is one project I'll be sorry to see completed, if you know what I mean.


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## LarryS. (25 Jun 2008)

looking good olly the ash and walnut looks like a good mix

whats the 'false bed' trick on the p/t ? I want to create some fairly thin stock so am wondering how it helps


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## OPJ (26 Jun 2008)

Thanks Paul.

If you try and wind up the thicknessing bed as high as it will go (for minimum depth of cut) you'll probably find, as I did, that the table comes in to contact with the anti-kickback fingers and stops at 4mm, meaning you cannot thickness anything less than 4mm.

Even if you could raise the table higher, there becomes an increased chance that the rotating cutter block and its knives will come in to contact with the cast iron surface of your bed - not a good thing on any account!!  

If the knives were to come in to contact with the MDF then, no damage would be done and you can easily and safely thickness very thin stuff. David Charlesworth, in a recent article for F&C, stated that it's better to use a piece of timber that's been through the thicknesser already, rather than a sheet of MDF or ply, since it should perfectly match the positioning of the knives horizontally (and, therefore, give a perfectly parallel cut).

Whatever you choose to use, you can clamp it in place to the front extension or, even better, fix a timber 'stop' to the front end on the underside, so that this rests against the edge of the bed and stops the false bed from being pulled through the machine with the rollers.

Don't forget to add 19mm (measure it!) when setting the depth of cut. And don't even think about running thin stuff like this over the surfacing tables - very dangerous indeed!


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## OPJ (30 Jun 2008)

Once the glue had dried on the inlay strips it was simply a case of planing them close to being flush with the surface and finishing it all off with a card scraper. You don't want to risk sanding something like this as you'll run the risk of 'contaminating' the lovely light ash with big, dark splodges of walnut dust. :? Lovely curly shavings...!  






After two coats of Osmo Satin Polyx Oil the top was ready to be fixed in place, again using buttons. I knew I "panic bought" that tiny Metabo driver at Christmas for a good reason! :wink: 






Now then. Before I show you some shots of the finished piece, I want to show you what our existing coffee table looks like. It's made of cheap pine with some kind of "ugly brown" laminate on all outside faces - no, I can assure you, I didn't make this one!! :roll: :lol: 






Here she is!






I don't think the first photo' does it justice, so here's a slightly better shot of one of the breadboards. 8) 






Mum seems really happy with it - as am I, considering some of the struggles I initially had when machining the boards for the top. I don't it's clear in the photo's but there's still a small amount of tearout in places, which will bother me subconsciously... :roll: But I like how I've managed to get a good contrast between the legs and rails, and top and breadboards, even though all boards are of the same species!  So, I've learned a bit more about timber selection and sorting through what you've got.

Maybe it would have been better to find some more ash with contrasting grain and use that for the lower rails as well? My other thoughts were that I set the shelf a little too high off the floor but, looking at it now, it looks good to me.  

I'm very happy with how this has turned out and, at the same time, I'm open to all forms of feedback. :wink: 

Thank you for following this thread.


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## wizer (30 Jun 2008)

Excellent Result Olly. I really like the inlay, not sure I'd have the bottle to do that. Enjoyed following this along, gave me some good ideas too. Don't get down about the tearout, blame it on the species.


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## woodbloke (30 Jun 2008)

Olly - nice job, well proportioned. Not sure for me, that the inlay on the top works, but I like the breadboard detailing. The lower rail I think as well would have looked better in ash rather than ABW...certainly a vast improvement on the existing table. The bay or wait to 05 Nov? :lol: - Rob


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## OPJ (30 Jun 2008)

Thanks for your comments guys.  

Rob, the inlaying was something I was very keen to try as I don't have any up-and-coming projects where I'd be able to add a feature like that. I think it's one of those situations where I should perhaps step back a bit and ask myself 'where do I want the focal point to be on the top?'. Maybe it is a little OTT with the breadboards and figuring in the ash, but I'm pleased it went well. :wink: 

As for the old one, it's actually going to our neighbour! :shock: She's already got one coffee table and I regularly supply her with firewood, so I don't know what she intends to do with that old thing... :roll: Perhaps, in time, she'll see the light and I'll be designing a new table for her as well!


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## woodbloke (30 Jun 2008)

OPJ":3rvim1r3 said:


> Rob, the inlaying was something I was very keen to try as I don't have any up-and-coming projects where I'd be able to add a feature like that. I think it's one of those situations where I should perhaps step back a bit and ask myself 'where do I want the focal point to be on the top?'. Maybe it is a little OTT with the breadboards and figuring in the ash, but I'm pleased it went well. :wink:



I can understand you wanting to have a go at that technique and it's quite rewarding to do, but I think on this project it clashes with the round breadboard detailing...too much happening on one surface maybe? I might have been inclined to do a rectangular inlay on each of the main rails underneath the top. For me though, and this is a personal view, inlay doesn't work on well proportioned furniture of this type with clean, un-fussy lines, I think I would have just left it with the round breadboard detailing to give a little bit of visual contrast to the strong grain configuration of the ash.
I think it's right that you should feel well chuffed with this one, it is a good piece, but as I always maintain, it's the detailing ('specially handles and pulls) that make or mar a project and 'more' generally is not as good as 'less'
It's quite possible to sand a dark and light wood together. I use a *very* strong shop vac nozzle immediately in front of the sanding block so that as soon as dust is created it gets sucked away, in other words you use the sanding block in one hand and the nozzle in the other and move both together over the wood...try it, it does work - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (30 Jun 2008)

Nice result, Olly =D> No wonder your Mum is pleased with it.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## motownmartin (30 Jun 2008)

Hi Olly, its turned quite a good looking little coffee table, shame about the tearout, have you not thought about trying to fill it with something.


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## Paul Chapman (1 Jul 2008)

motownmartin":39fe59lw said:


> shame about the tearout, have you not thought about trying to fill it with something.



I think the problem with trying to fill it is that, as Ash is a fairly open grained wood, you would either need to fill the whole top or leave it as it is. If you tried to fill just the tear-out, you would end up with those patches super-smooth and the rest of the top open grained, which would probably look worse than leaving it as it is.

I don't think the tear-out looks too bad and would be inclined to leave it as it is.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Jake (1 Jul 2008)

I like the table a lot - if I ignore the breadboard ends*. 

(*I'd ignore the caveat to my opinion, though, as I really don't like breadboards in general, and that's just a personal thing).

Neat work, I like the inlay (which I normally don't go for much).


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