I had intended to post part II of the Three Rivers series before posting about anything else, but it has been some time since I’ve posted about furniture and I’ve just finished this new piece so I thought I’d sneak this post in now.

We needed a table of just the right height to hold a fan in our bedroom window at home.  Although I am in the midst of a pretty big project just now I thought I’d check out a few of my scrap piles to see if there was anything there to inspire me.

And, while I was at it, maybe I’d check out the paint locker and see what was lurking in there.

Here’s what caught my eye:

A couple of pieces of MDF, some interesting walnut cut-offs and a nice green latex paint.

I glued up the MDF pieces into a block 1-1/2″ thick-

Cut the walnut cut-offs to a uniform length-

Then drew a pleasing curve to shape the legs.

I cut out the first leg, used it as a pattern to trace out the other two, cut them on the bandsaw and sanded the curved cut.

Next I created a guide for my router to cut out the mortises into the top that would hold the legs.

The legs were rounded over on the router table on the long straight face.

I used a variety of implements to draw out a pattern for the top, created a template for 1/2 of the top, transferred that shape onto the top, flipping over the template to get the other half so that the curves would be symmetrical and shaped the top.

I wanted to create an interesting joint detail where the legs met the top. I did some sketching and decided that the top should have its bottom edge rounded. This was done on the big shaper, a finger chewing machine if there ever was one.

I managed to get the top rounded with out loosing any fingers and proceeded to cut the mortises on the under side of the top using the jig I had created earlier.

I adjusted the fit of the legs into the mortises by carefully sanding down their final thickness.

You can start to see what this table will look like at this stage. I still need to square off the round corners left by the router bit in the mortises. I did this by hand using a sharp chisel.

Now I was able to see if the joint detail came out like I had hoped.

OK, this was what I wanted. A look as if the legs were cradling the top. This is reminiscent to me of the original tripod that held a bowl or tray from eons ago.

And here’s the table before finishing:

I painted the top, glued in the legs, rubbed on some of my special oil/ varnish mix and the table was complete.

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I have been building up the polyurethane finish to a point which I can then sand it flat.

At this point the table is ready for the final coats.

Although these shots don’t really show it there is a subtle wood grain showing through.

Here’s the table with two more coats to go.

Part 3 is here.

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I use sharp chisels with masking tape applied the areas that will ride along the face adjacent to the veneer being trimmed so that I only cut what needs to be trimmed. A sharp knife and guide board also comes in handy.

I then use a card scraper to flatten the veneers.

Once everything is as flat as possible without scraping through the veneer to the paper backing beneath I apply a black dye and start building up the layers of polyurethane finish.

This process will take some time and will require a few adjustments as it progresses. I’ve started with gloss polyurethane varnish to build up the base coats but will finish with a semi-gloss finish. It is important to keep the shop, or at least this area of it, as dust free as possible while the varnish dries.

Part 4 is here. Part 2 is here.

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into this:

And this is the lower part of the table. A top will be added to this. Then I will apply the veneers. In this case I am using maple veneers on a paper backing.

Each piece of veneer is  trimmed to prepare for the next piece  on the adjacent face.

I am using a very sharp, rather flat carving gouge to trim the veneer. One wrong move and… well it’s not worth thinking about at this stage.

I don’t use a vacuum bag to clamp  these veneers, primarily because I don’t have the set up. Instead I use just about every trick in the clamping book.

I am using weights, clamps (shop made and store bought) and long spring sticks that go up to the ceiling. I have a product known as kerf-board ontop of the veneer to help spread the clamping pressure. The most important thing is the glue I use. It is made for applying this particular kind of veneer, that is,  paper backed veneer. It is a water based contact cement that you set by applying hand pressure with something known as a veneer hammer. The glue needs to be “dry stacked”,  that is,  have some pressure applied,  for 24 hours after you use the veneer hammer, so that is what all of this in the above picture is about.

Just before writing this I just finished applying the final piece of veneer, the top piece, and will post the final finishing steps soon.

part 3 part 1

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I have been working on such a number of interesting projects. There’s one, really interesting one that has been mostly in the planning stages.  I’ll have to wait just a little longer before I can post about it. But, I’ve been busy in shop as well.

I’ve been working on a couple of tables for a long time client. Both of these are headed for my client’s Florida home. The first one is a very large coffee table. It measures 88″ by 55″. But the wild thing about it is that it is not flat. The top is wavy.

Todd cutting the table to size.

Here I am cutting of the end of the glued up butternut planks. The table was too big to run through my table saw and a sharp handsaw works just as well.

The planks had a natural curve to them so during glue up I took as much advantage of this as possible.

Carving the surface with disc grinder.

Here you can see some of the waviness. The table was so large and heavy that I had to plan my work to minimize how often I turned the piece over. I carved out the bottom face first then flipped it using a block and tackle.

I used a number of tools to shape the top.  Here are a few, ready at hand.

The final sanding was very tedious, but since this table was to be varnished with a gloss spar varnish it was very important. I spent a lot of time carefully sanding the top.

Careful sanding was a must.

The table is wrapped in blankets now and I haven’t taken any pictures of the final finish. I’ll try and get to that before the trucking company shows up.

Update: I found s few more images.

One of the base units being fit to the table top.

This and the next picture is of the table upside down as the two boxes that act as the base for the table are being fit to the wavy underside of the table top.

The 2 base boxes being fit.

The next project was another table with curves, for the same clients. That’ll be in the next post.

Update 2: I pulled back the blankets and took a picture of the finished table top.

I’m making a table out of butternut. Some components have to be glued up edge to edge before further work. In order to get the edges to match for a glue joint I run the edges over my jointer. A set of knives on the rotating cutter head cut the wood to create a smooth edge.

I was having some trouble getting the edges to match nicely and I wanted to get a pair glued up right away so I was tempted to forge ahead. Instead I stopped everything, unplugged the jointer and set about re-adjusting the knives.

The work piece is pushed from this end of the jointer with it’s face tight against the vertical fence. The fence should hold the piece so that the knives cut square to the face. That is if the knives are adjusted to be parallel to the in feed and out feed tables, the two surfaces on either side of the cutter head.

You can see the in feed table to the right in the image above, I’ve dropped it some to gain access to the screws that hold the cutter knives in the cutter head. The out feed table is on the left side of the image.

The adjustments are made as a fixture magnetically holds the knives just right.

Once the jointer was adjusted correctly I was able to cut the joints easily and they went together with a sweet, satisfying whisper of a “thwump” as the cushion of air escaped perfectly evenly.

Such a satisfying sound. The joints will be sound, the effort was worth it. The pieces go on to my glue up rack.

]]> http://fillingham.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/jointer/feed/ 1 Todd Fillingham dsc00590 dsc00589 dsc00592 dsc005911 dsc005932 dsc00595 sprunger http://fillingham.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/surf-board-table-iii-ix/ http://fillingham.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/surf-board-table-iii-ix/#comments Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:48:07 +0000 Todd Fillingham http://fillingham.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/surf-board-table-iii-ix/ ]]> The table has been delivered! Here are a few more shots I took before making the delivery. If you’re interested, check out my portfolio.

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I tried to get an image that shows how the black dye along with my oil finish brings out the grain in the ash wood used to make the base of the surfboard table. One of the reasons that I dye the wood is to accentuate the grain to create a fluid-like pattern under the top.

Going through my pictures for uploading to my new web site I’ve found several that I thought I’d post here every so often. This is a set of drawers I was fitting for the interior of a computer armoire commissioned for a home office. The joints are hand cut dovetails, the wood solid cherry.