boy this will be fun :lol: :lol: :roll:
paul, i have occasionally sat on a milking stool, doing what you are supposed too, and don't let anyone tell you they stay level :twisted:
of course that might be that one is too fat, and tilts the stool the wrong way :lol:
mike you are right about 4 legs the same length being the requisite for a flat and level table. it does not take account of the floor either :roll:
slim jim, your answer kind of provides the reason for asking the question.
in woodworking i would say it is almost impossible to ensure that your assembly will be flat just because you assemble on a flat table.
lets look at what i am thinking.
i have got the wood cut, so now is the time to finally confirm the joints,
four legs, and a table top, but in the middle of the legs, a kind of tansu.
also a shelf below the top, so the legs will not be fixed except by using an m/t joint, into the top, but more of that later.
so i am thinking about 4 mortices in each leg. so that is 16 places where you can get an error build up.
i am foolishly planning to try hand work for these joints, but then you do have a major possible error source. in principal, if you use closed mortices, then to ensure that they are all the same, you need to make them slightly over depth. then i am not 100 % sure that you cut them all in exactly the same place and way by hand, since however well you mark them out, you will hold the chisel differently slightly every time. so one will be just on the line, one just under etc.
tenons, you have the same problem with ensuring that all the shoulders are in line both vertically and horizontally. i have great respect for those who can hand saw to the line and not need a shoulder plane to fettle.
so i can see the reason for cutting at least the shoulders on a table saw with a jig, and there is also a reason for cutting the tongues on the saw, even a bandsaw. :roll: again i guess you tend to think about cutting the
tenons slightly short to ensure that even if you have mitred them, they do not touch even when they expand.
now according to what a lot of so called experts say, the eye can see a bookshelf that has bent even if it is only about 1/4 inch over a 24 inch unit. but i wonder whether for this table, which may only be 24 inches high, the eye level will make any difference, because you will tend to look down on it, therefore will you see what i am worried about except when you assemble it. :? :roll:
but surely when you layout and mark and then cut, you are aiming to try and provide a unit which is flat and square within perceptible limits.
i shall of course make and fit each end first, so should i cut the cross ways mortices before or after to try and minimise the potential error. :roll:
having cut the wood i must now finish the table, so maybe i am thinking too hard about the problem. :?
paul :wink:
