Shaker table advice

[TobyB]

I am making a small Shaker table pedestal table and need some advice. I've cut the three legs on the bandsaw and drum-sanded them smooth. I've joined two boards and cut a circular top on the bandsaw as well. I have turned the pedestal on the lathe.

I need to fit the legs to the base of the pedestal. I know this should be 3 dovetails, but not quite sure how to approach this. I think I can cut the tails on the legs with a dovetail saw and a chisel reasonably easily, and then pare the edges to fit the curve of the pedestal. But the sockets in the base of the pedestal are worrying me. I hope I can hold the work in a V-gutter I use with the pillar drill, and I can use the indexing on the lathe spindle to get the three 120-degree spacings. But do I use a saw and then chisel like doing blind dovetails?

Is this a familiar task to anyone - tips and tricks? Easy mistakes to be made?

 

[Aled Dafis]

Toby

You need to build a jig to run a router on. You could either build a jig to fit on your lathe, thus enabling you to use the indexing feature on the lathe, or just build a box to house your pedestal leg. You'll need to route a flat on the leg first, and then the dovetail groove.

Check out this website, they use the latter method to good effect.

http://www.doucetteandwolfefurniture.com/pedestal_table_work.html

Cheers

Aled

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Have a look at Roy Underhill making one using hand tools.
http://flash.unctv.org/woodwrightss/2900/wws2910.html


Pete

 

[TobyB]

Thanks for that Pete and Aled

The jig/router method looks good for mass production, but I wonder if it'd take longer making the jigs than it would doing it by hand. I don't have a big dovetail router bit either.

The Roy video was very helpful as to hand techniques, a marking gauge/template ... and a bit he didn't highlight - but I noticed - that chiseling out the waste when making the sockets it's easy to split the edge ... take care and small bites!

Thanks

 

[hanser]

Pete

Thanks for the link. He makes it look so easy =D>

 

[Eric The Viking]

IIRC, Steve Maskery covers the router method on one of his woodworking DVDs. but I can't remember which one. It didn't look as difficult as I thought it might, but then Steve's stuff always looks brilliantly simple the way he does it