Dknapp34 Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 First project journal here. I keep forgetting to take pics as I work, so I've never done one before, but I'm going to make a real effort to remember this time around. Wife said she wanted to buy a new table for our back patio. So I explained to her that it would be crazy to buy one, when I could built one for three times the cost and probably not be finished until next winter. For some reason, she agreed to let me do it. I usually just do a rough drawing on paper and then start cutting, figuring that it will all come together in the end. For this one, I figured I would try and do a little more planning, so I did a sketch up model first. Here's a view of the top: Here's a side view of the base: At first, I was planning on using ipe, but after doing the sketch up and figuring out how much material I would need, I got some a little bit of sticker shock. Also, my wife wanted something light that we could move it around if we needed to, and ipe weighs a ton so it wasn't really a good option. So with cheap and light being the criteria, I opted for cypress. I'm sure it will get a little dented up because it's pretty soft, but so be it. The top will be 5/4 and the base is laminated 8/4. Dimensions are 72"L x 37 1/4" W. All of the joinery will be M&T, including all of the narrow slats. I believe there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 126 M&Ts, so my router and dado stack will be getting a work out. One goal of this project is to master cutting M&Ts, so I figure by the end I will have that one checked off the list (unless I give up and buy a domino halfway though...). The stretcher will be connected to the legs with tusk tenons. I've always wanted to make something with one, but I haven't had the opportunity before. It's been a couple of months since I've had a big project, so I'm really excited about this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 Looks like a nice design, and you should be a M&T master when its over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted March 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 I'm a few days behind on journaling, so this one is to catch up. I picked up the cypress on Saturday and started working right away (not best practices, I know, but I've never been one for patience). Here are the 8/4 boards for the base cut roughly to size: As I mentioned in another post, my jointer has been crapping out on me when it's under load. I managed to get a few boards done by taking really light passes until it stalled, waiting until it started working again and repeating. Then I opened up the switch to take a look and discovered some pretty wonky wiring that, as some people here advised me, is potentially dangerous. So I figured it was best to give the jointer a rest and did the rest of the boards by hand. The goal is to have the legs be 3 1/2" thick, so I will be laminating two 8/4 pieces to get the right thickness. I planed each piece down to about 1 7/8 and I'll get everything to final thickness after laminating. My lunch box planer leaves some pretty bad snipe, so I cleaned that up by hand: All of the parts for the base milled up: Tonight's to-do list is just to get everything laminated so I can get the parts cut to length and milled to final thickness. Then on to the joinery. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialbyfire Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Some good looking wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 A lot of work to do by hand! Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Nice looking cypress. Do you find it difficult to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 If it's anything like the cypress I used recently it's just a little harder than basswood so if your blades are sharp it's easy to work. Dull blades or too fast a feed rate can tear the fibers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 11 hours ago, TIODS said: A lot of work to do by hand! Nice job! Thanks, but it was only partially by hand, so I can't take all the credit. I did get some boards done before I gave up on the jointer, and I used my lunch box planer, so I really only had to do one face and one edge for some of them. 9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Nice looking cypress. Do you find it difficult to work? It hand planes beautifully with a sharp blade, but it does seem to tear out pretty easily if the blade gets dull and there's some squirrely grain in some of the boards. I had one board that I got a bad tear out on because the grain did a 180 in the middle of the board and I wasn't paying close enough attention, so I didn't change planing directions. I probably let it go a little long between sharpening too. That said, I got very little to no tear out with my lunch box planer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Dknapp34 Posted April 6, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Got all of the pieces for the base laminated this past weekend: I had an electrician come and take a look at my jointer on Monday and he got it working again, so I was spared from having to mill the laminations to final size by hand. I made a jig for the mortises, which I cut with a router and then squared the corners with a chisel: After that, I was on to the tenons, which I cut on the TS with a miter gauge. The stock miter gauge on the sawstop is actually pretty decent, although the only thing I have to compare it to is the miter gauge on my old 1940s craftsman, which was garbage. It's a little too easy to unlock the angle when you push the gauge though the cut, but it you really toque it down and are careful not to twist it in the wrong direction, it's not too bad. It's pretty accurate though, once you get it dialed in. Did some finessing of the tenons with a rabbeting block plane: And voila: Perfect fit! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Very nice work! What rabbeting block plane is that? Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Sweet! Glad you got the jointer figured out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Very nice work! What rabbeting block plane is that? Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Thanks! It's the Veritas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Very nice fit on the joints! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Got some more work done on the base. First, I made an MDF template for the curves. It's a little hard to tell the different from the picture, but the right side is slightly beefier than the left. I polled the audience at home (my wife and in-laws, who are visiting) and the consensus was that the beefier version looked better given the thickness of the legs: Traced the curve on the legs, cut on the bandsaw and smoothed it out with my rasps: Still have some refining of the curves to do, but here's a view of one of the legs: I'm also going to cut a curve into the bottom, so there are two points of contact with the ground, one on each end. My thought was that this would help to keep the table stable, as my patio is not very level. Also, I think it would lighten up the look of the base, which will probably go better with the design for the top. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 This thing is looking great man! Really like your journaling skills as well! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenskye Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 This is looking really nice. The bigger curve was a great choice, but don't tell the wife and in-laws we agree with them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 This might be a stupid question, but am I right in assuming the outside edge of the mortise for the wedged through tenon on the stretcher should be angled to match the angle of the wedge? I've never done one of these joints before, so I'm kind of winging it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjk Posted April 9, 2016 Report Share Posted April 9, 2016 On 3/30/2016 at 6:32 PM, Dknapp34 said: So I explained to her that it would be crazy to buy one, when I could built one for three times the cost and probably not be finished until next winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Update time. Cut the curve on the bottom of the legs: Had an oh crap moment as I was moving one of the legs and dropped it. Cypress is pretty soft so, of course, it dented one of the corners of the vertical pieces, which would be really obvious when it's attached to the rest of the leg. Luckily I was able to mostly fix it by soaking the corner in water so the dent swelled out. You can still see a little dent, but it should be pretty much invisible once I put a round over on and sand everything: After that potential disaster was averted, I milled all of the 5/4 stock for the top and cut everything to size: I left the long side pieces for the top long. I figured the best method for putting the top together would be to first do sub-assemblies of the cross pieces and short slats, glue the sub-assemblies together, and then use that to mark the mortises for the long side pieces. Since I'm cutting a curve on the ends of the top, any extra length on the side pieces is going to get cut off anyway. Next up, 120 mortise and tenons... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Soaking the area in hot water and then applying a hot iron works very,well,on dents like that. I use my edgebanding iron but a household iron set for cotton works as well. A damp rag keeps the metal from marking the wood but I just sand off the marks after it dries overnight . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Great progress! Ditto what Steve said about the iron! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Just now catching up to this thread. Don't know how I missed it. I sure like the design and the joinery is very well done. I see that your question about the wedges has gone unanswered. I've only done two projects that included wedges and they were installed in straight kerfs. Not sure if that was right or not. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Just now catching up to this thread. Don't know how I missed it. I sure like the design and the joinery is very well done. I see that your question about the wedges has gone unanswered. I've only done two projects that included wedges and they were installed in straight kerfs. Not sure if that was right or not. Keep up the good work. My terminology was off. It's not a wedged tenon where you drive a wedge through a kerf in the end grain of the tenon. I think what I'm using is called a tusk tenon. I think the mortise in the part of the tenon that sticks out has to have the outside wall at an angle so that everything is drawn tight when you drive the wedge through. My thought was to drill out most of the waste and then use a jig to chisel the correct angle of the mortise wall. Never done one before though, so if anyone has tips I'd appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dknapp34 Posted April 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 Got some more work done over the last few days. I wanted to be able to make the mortises as quickly as possible with as little room for error as possible, so I made a jig that spanned the entire length of the cross pieces (in case you can't see it, it's the mdf thing buried in the pile of junk on my bench): Took quite a while to do them all and I have a sore back from bending over, but I got all of the mortises for the slats done: Next up, the tenons. I used a dado blade buried in an MDF sacrificial fence and the miter gauge with a scrap backer to prevent tearout. Here's the finished pile of slats (if you look closely you can see a couple that I forgot to flip over and had to go back and re-do...luckily I hadn't moved the fence or changed the blade height, so it was no big deal): Then I set everything up on my outfeed table to figure out which pieces should go where and marked each slat and cross-piece with letters and numbers so I know what goes where: Starting to look a little like a table. Next up, rounding over and fitting 120 tenons/wishing I had a domino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted April 27, 2016 Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 Wow does that make me appreciate my domino! Nice work! A lot of it but, nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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