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Thanks for the nice comments. They're much appreciated. Buoyed with my achievements so far, I decided to start having a look at the boards for the top. I carefully calculated the lengths I needed, taking into account the fact that there will be a couple of bread board ends taking up some of...

I've been making some progress on this, so it's time for an update. (The photo quality is better if you click on them.) As noted in the previous post, I wanted some pieces running from the front to rear aprons. These would incorporate the drawer runners and, in due course, the mechanism...

I did make one small modification before I used it, which was to move the stop onto the end of the jig with screws running in from the back into the end grain of the jig. It wouldn't have been a problem with the legs I was making, but the stop is somewhat sacrificial and you wouldn't want to...

Tapering jigs are pretty easy to make. I put this one together for the desk I'm making. It has a hinge on the end. You put the work piece on the angled side, backed up against the rear stop and run the jig and work piece through the saw with the other side of the jig up against the fence...

I think the next task is to put in cross-pieces between the front and back aprons. They will be the full height of the apron as I want to put drawer runners at the bottom and the "deckchair" supports for the tilting top at the top along with buttons to hold the side parts of the table top. The...

I've made a bit more progress over the last week. I finished the mortise and tenons on the second side and also on the rear apron which got me to here: I then decided to tackle the front apron. I've changed the design so that there will now be a single, central drawer. I started by...

I've just bought a spare blade for re-sawing. It'll make an ideal birthday present for my daughter...

That's a useful way of visualising things. Thanks. I've just got myself a scraper and I love using it. I had a bash at sharpening it and it went OK although I'm finding I need to hold it at a lower angle to get it to cut - i.e. in your picture I would need to have the scraper leaning over a...

I enjoy buying tools second hand but I rarely feel like I've got a bargain! I did buy a very tatty no.4 for a good price which came up a treat and works very well, but as soon as you get into anything a bit more specialist the prices go up a lot. For example, I've been looking for a router...

Bird boxes are good. We've put some wifi cameras in three large boxes in our garden. A pair of tawny owls have set up home in one of them. Two eggs have been laid and we're looking forward to seeing if the hatch. It should be around Easter time. It's fun to see the comings and goings - mice...

Thanks. I'm definitely coming round to Andy's idea as well. I think it's a neat way of having a larger overlap which will certainly look much better. I'll now complete making the other side and if that goes well I will do the rear apron as well. That will use the same M&T joints. When I get...

Thanks Andy. That's another good option to consider. To support the work, my plan was to put a couple of brass threaded inserts in the front edge so that a lip could be attached with some brass thumb screws. When not in use, the lip could be removed and stored under the tilting section, or in...

I've been having second (and third) thoughts about the size of the top. Second thought was that I had designed the top to be too deep so I decided to shorten the side aprons accordingly. I'm now worried I've overdone it, but in the course of mulling that over I decided to get a second opinion...

Thanks for the thoughts so far. I thought I would start some of the work as I think that will help me visualise things as I go forward. I thought I would start with some of the simpler joinery - the legs and side aprons. I made the tapered legs with a tapering jig I cobbled together for my...

I like the solitaire board. My dad has made a few of those. He made this one for me, even making the wooden balls. He made the balls on his metalwork lathe. You spin a dowel in the chuck of the lathe and then come in at 90 degrees with a spinning hole saw. Seeing the set up stationary I...

Here's my next question. Sorry it's a bit rambling, but hopefully it explains the issue. Grateful for any views or other ideas. Background The "mechanism" for holding up the centre panel is going to be a bit like a deckchair! There would be some notched rails running front to back attached...

I'm trying to picture this Mike. Would the 20x20 strip be only under the "unsupported" side of the end tables (e.g under the right hand side of the left table), with buttons on the other three sides? Would that be screwed (not glued) to the top from underneath with elongated holes to allow...

Thanks Mike. I will greatly appreciate your advice on this. It's almost certainly too ambitious for me but I'm hoping if I take it slowly I won't get too frustrated and, as they say, nothing ventured nothing gained! I was indeed thinking of running the grain from right to left. The plan was...

I'm thinking about moving on from workbench, stool, assorted dovetail boxes to something a bit more ambitious - an art desk/painting table for my daughter. She's 12 and quite into her painting at the moment and I think she's rather good. I had intended to make some kind of box for her to store...

Camera angle! I was pleased to get the sides straight...