L/D workshop dining table

[MikeG.]

Excellent Doug, You are doing some lovely work here during the lockdown. I like the key cupboard, but I'm really looking forward to the table and chair build. Do you have a drawing?

 

[marcros]

How thick will the finished top be, Doug?

 

[Doug B]

Excellent Doug, You are doing some lovely work here during the lockdown. I like the key cupboard, but I'm really looking forward to the table and chair build. Do you have a drawing?

I have instructions Mike but no drawing :shock: :lol:
The good lady wife has shown me photos of exactly the style of table she wants & the dimensions she wants it making, every detail has been covered believe me :?
Though to be fair she has done a lot of research more so on the chairs than the table as that is a very simple design.
She is currently finalising the chair design which has included reading the appropriate chapter in Joyce, when done I’m planning on making a prototype in larch.

How thick will the finished top be, Doug?

The top will be 32mm thick Marcros which might seem a big reduction from 44mm but with the amount of movement in the boards whilst acclimatising I went down to 35mm Just to get them all flat & the same thickness.

 

[Doug B]

Whilst the Ash for the table is settling I’d a few other jobs to do one of which involved cutting some dowel & another chopping board on the little bandsaw which was in desperate need of a new blade so first up I made a new one.

The blade is from a roll of 3tpi HSS blade with quite a good set on it which makes it ideal for tight curves, here it is ready to go on the Elu.

Another thing I needed to do was hone the blade on my No8, it doesn’t get anywhere near as much use as it used to but I will need it for shooting the edges of the boards that will make up the table top.

The blade is about as big as I can get in the Veritas jig but another reason for getting the No8 nice & sharpe was to clamp it in the vice to plane up the short pieces of quadrant I’d cut from the dowel

This was going to be used to repair a wheel from an old model gun carriage the pieces I needed were only 50mm long but needed an 8 degree slope on the ends so I cut these rather carefully at the chopsaw

This is what had arrived so I needed 12 matching spokes.

I managed to get the spokes all made & cut but need to clean up the hub on the lathe & before I got chance to do that I needed to get a chopping board made & oiled for the Mother in Law as she had seen the one I’d made recently & had put in a request for one & I know better than to keep her waiting :? :lol:

It’s the one on the left I took the opportunity whilst oiling it to give the original one another coat of oil.

Hopefully the GLW can take this out of the way when she makes her weekly food drop to her parents.

G

 

[Doug B]

I cleaned up the little hub from the wheel at the lathe first thing yesterday

After which I spent oh so long fitting fiddly spokes into the old hub & wheel I wasn't sorry to see it finished & given a coat of finish to match it to the other

Finally I could get round to the table, I planed all the components to finished size & starting with the legs cut them to length at the table saw.

My tapering jig isn’t the most sophisticated a couple of pieces of 25mm MDF with a hinge & stop block at one end & a scrap of wood screwed to the other ends to give the desired angle but it works.

The frame is dominoed together to mark their positions rather than pencil on the Ash I masking tape & mark on that using a ruler & depth stop so all the dominos are in the same positions

I’m using 100mm long 12 mm dominos which I mitred on the ends where they meet in the legs

After 5 minutes of dominoing the frame was ready to dry assemble

I want to round over a few edges at the router table & cut slots for the buttons that hold the top on but after that it’ll be time for a glue up

G

 

[Doug B]

Progress on the table, before gluing the frame I ran the legs & underside of the rails across the router table to give a small pencil round on the edges

A few domino slots plunged on the inside of the rails for the buttons that will hold the top on then the frame was glued up, after which a fine sanding & here’s the frame ready for oiling.

Next up was joining the boards that will make the top, when making up panels I like to hand plane the mating edges so this was a job for my No8

To aid alignment & reinforce the joints I added 140x12 dominos

Although there are only two joints I wasn’t in a rush so decided to do each join separately so first the initial glue up

Then the second

I was pleased I’d opted to glue it up this way as it became a fairly substantial weight when I finally got all 3 boards together.

 

[Doug B]

Started the day taking the table top out of the clamps, cutting it to length then routing a pencil round on the top & bottom edges all the way round.

After a couple of hours of cleaning up the top & frame both got a coat of Osmo raw.
Next up was to make some buttons to hold the top to the frame, I needed 8 so planed up a couple of pieces of timber big enough to yield 4 buttons each, onto the ends of these I cut a rebate.

Four holes with counter sinks were drilled in each piece at the pillar drill

These were then cut lengthwise at the bandsaw & then halved at the chopsaw.

After which the cut edges were planed

Finally for today a quick test fit

I want to give the top & frame another coat of Osmo polyx satin before I fix the two together hopefully I’ll manage that tomorrow.

 

[Inspector]

Nice bunch of jigs and fixtures.
I picked up one of the LV shooting board fences with the intention of putting it on a sled. Figured it might make nice mitres and other angled cuts with better control than the mitre gauges that come with the saw. If it doesn't work out I can always use it as intended. :wink:

Pete

 

[Doug B]

Sounds a good idea Pete, it’ll be interesting to know how you get on.

 

[Doug B]

Its been a slow day today so far after de-nibbling the table & applying another coat of oil I’ve been reading the forum & was inspired by this post combination-square-advice-please-t122567.html

I was given a Bacho combination square a good while ago & to be honest it was awful, in truth I’ve only ever used it as a depth gauge so after reading the thread I dug it out of the drawer it had been consigned to & offered it up to an inspection grade engineering square.

The camera does lie slightly as the light was a more pronounced taper but it was difficult holding the 2 squares up to the light & taking a photo but still I think it shows how bad it was.

The only file I could find that would fit in the slot was a little diamond file

It removed the material remarkably quickly as you’d expect & in no time at all the square was bang on

So thanks to a little forum inspiration I now have a perfectly functional combination square. =D>

 

[Doug B]

Finally got the table finished today, the top screwed to the frame via the buttons

Prior to assembly it has had a coat of Osmo polyx oil Raw followed by a coat of Osmo polyx oil original satin & finally buffed with Chestnuts Woodwax22

I’m really pleased with the ripple & grain pattern it the top it come out better than I’d hope, shame my phones camera doesn’t do it justice or show up the beautiful rippling.

That said senior management is pleased with it so that’s all that matters, just hope me dinners will taste better now

 

[MikeG.]

That looks lovely, Doug. Beautiful wood for the top. A simple classic look.

 

[Doug B]

Thanks Mike, I seem to remember you saying you liked Ash.

Not much workshop time the last two days what with chair reasearch, gardening & shopping which seems to be a major operation these days.
I did manage a little time in the workshop this afternoon & after a good clean up decided to have a bit of r&r at the lathe with an off cut from the table.

I don’t do much colouring but thought I’d try some spirit stain out as this seems popular these days, lacquered & burnished I don’t think it will be a keeper but it was good doing something different for a change.