First table

[bobscarle]

Hello all. Thought I might show my first real project. Not sure it is up to the standard of many of you but here goes.

I wanted to make a small occasional table for the lounge to put coffee cups, etc on. I had made various other bit and pieces, bookshelves, childs desk, mostly out of pine. This time I had some alder and some cherry available to me.

I glued up 4 pieces of cherry to make the shelf.

Then cut the board into a circle using the router.

The legs were rough cut from alder using the jigsaw (I hate using that tool) following marking out from a template cut from 6mm ply.

Then routed to the proper profile with a flush trimming bit.

The legs were paired up, glued together and sanded smooth.

First dry test fit......It works!!!

The top is another glue up of several pieces of cherry

And again cut into a circle using the router.

There it is. The top is fixed to the legs using little blocks of alder, screws but no glue, which should allow for some movement.

The finish is simply several coats of clear satin varnish.

So there it is. An occasional table. Not perfect by any means but not a bad start and the wife loves it!

Bob

 

[Waka]

Bob

Can't see the pic's.

 

[dedee]

Bob
It looks pretty good to me

the wife loves it!

and she is the only one that really counts.

I can see the pics


Andy

 

[Mcluma]

really nice piece of work

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Bob

Well done. The finish looks really light.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Waka]

Bob

Got the pic's now, looks really nice. Is that a special adaptor for the fence for making the circles or something you made up, becasue its very effective.

 

[bobscarle]

Thanks for the responses. I am pleased with the table and I like to think that others, more skillful than me, like it too.

Neil. The finish on the last picture looks a little blotchy. I simply used 2 coats of clear satin varnish. You are right, it is light, but I like the fact that the wood retains its natural colour but has a little sheen.

Waka. The shelf was cut using my old Black and Decker router. This has a plate that replaces one fixed to the bottom of the parallel fence. I screwed a small screw through one of the holes. The top was cut using my Bosch router which was supplied with a small pin which is secured to the fence with a wing nut. This, IMHO, is not as secure as the B&D but worked well. Both of these adapters were supplied with the routers.

 

[syntec4]

Nice work Bob. Well done.

regards
lee.

 

[CYC]

Well done, this is a really nice table.
I think a light stain would have not taken away the grain and may have highlighted the curves some more.

I like it all the same

 

[PowerTool]

Very nice (and very practical) piece of furniture

And enjoyed the work-in-progress picture as well.

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Nice job there Bob - you do not do yourself justice, I would be very proud of that table.

Passed the mopst important test too :wink:

 

[humanfish]

Thats very nice
I particulary like the shape of the legs up to the table top, very nice looking
great

 

[gwaithcoed]

Hi bob
Very nice table, love the WIP pics. Be proud of it, I would.

Well done.

Alan.

 

[Bean]

Nice one Bob if it passes the LOML test then you cannot have done anything wrong.

Bean

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Nice work Bob.
I have never seen Alder in furniture before looks very similar colour to the cherry. but straighter grain.
A farmer once told me that Alder likes growing near river banks as the roots can tolerate being immersed in water and also holds the banking during floods

 

[WoodPecker]

Bob,

It's a nice table, you seem to have done a great job joining the top and shelf, how did you prepare the timber for joining?

Re:

The finish on the last picture looks a little blotchy. I simply used 2 coats of clear satin varnish. You are right, it is light, but I like the fact that the wood retains its natural colour but has a little sheen.

You should try out some danish oil on an offcut of the cherry or alder to see what it's like, you'll be impressed. It brings out the natural colour of the wood much better than varnish, it also had the advantage that you can put down hot cups of coffee on it without fear of leaving an unsightly ring which happens on a varnished finish. You will get a nice even sheen on the finish as well. I never varnish finished pieces any more, and you'll find this is the case with a lot of the other members.

 

[bobscarle]

Adrian

Thanks for the comments. The pieces of Cherry used for the top and shelf were bought rough sawn at about 80mm wide and 30mm thick. I have a 150mm planner/thicknesser which I used to plane 1 face and both edges. The remaining face was planned using my new Charnwood thicknesser. It took a little work to get the joins tight but I got there in the end. The boards are glued together then clamped.

I made a CD/DVD case for my daughter from Alder some weeks ago and used varnish on that. I will post a picture if I can get into her bedroom! The finish looked good so I stayed with it. I have used danish Oil before, mostly on Pine, and as you say it does give a really nice finish.

It looks like my next project will be a small cutlery box probably made from Iroko so I will use danish Oil to finish that. I may even post some pictures if it looks good.

Bob