bradpotts Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 I decided I wanted to put a project together for an art gallery. It needs to be done by November. This is probably going to be a slow journal because I am remodeling a house as well as doing commission work. That puts this as something to do when I am waiting on the other two. Here is the design. The two woods it will be made from is zebra and maple. First thing was to make the legs. Because the legs are going to be bent lamination they will lose some curve. As a result I am building the legs first so I know the angles of all the rest of the pieces. I resawed the legs. Then I made a jig so they would all be the same. you can see that there are two drill guides. Those are for the dowels when I glued the jig together. Once I had the jig made and the boards cut down, I put them in my veneer press. You can see that the bag is to big but it is what it is. I bought the bag from veneer supply and I use the Venturi from Infinity tools. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 (edited) Looks like great fun. Some things jump out at me while looking at the drawing: How is the design on the front apron to be executed? Painted? Inlaid? Relief carving? If time is short and you've got other irons in the fire, I'd vote for the former. How are you bending the legs? Neither zebra nor maple is particularly good at steam-bending, so I presume these are bent laminations? The legs hit the floor at the same spacing as they hit the top. Perhaps close this in a little bit to lighten the piece even further and suggest it "blooming" up from the floor. Have you ever done a tapered bent lamination a la David Marks? These legs could benefit from tapering down to the bottom. If you're jigging up to make bending forms and the like, doing a tapering sled for the planer/drum sander isn't that much more work. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but could you float the top such that it doesn't touch the top of the legs? I'm rarely a fan of floating tops, but this design seems to want it. This would also simplify joinery dramatically and give you the chance to do something more interesting with the top points of your curved legs. The top can be a little thicker. EDIT: Sorry. Didn't see that the project was already under way before posting. Edited August 2, 2016 by Bombarde16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 This will be a cool project to project to follow...I must admit I like the name of the table also. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 you do great work brad, I'm in on this one, that's going to be one beautiful piece 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 Very nice. I look forwarding to following your build. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 Looks like great fun. Some things jump out at me while looking at the drawing: How is the design on the front apron to be executed? Painted? Inlaid? Relief carving? If time is short and you've got other irons in the fire, I'd vote for the former. How are you bending the legs? Neither zebra nor maple is particularly good at steam-bending, so I presume these are bent laminations? The legs hit the floor at the same spacing as they hit the top. Perhaps close this in a little bit to lighten the piece even further and suggest it "blooming" up from the floor. Have you ever done a tapered bent lamination a la David Marks? These legs could benefit from tapering down to the bottom. If you're jigging up to make bending forms and the like, doing a tapering sled for the planer/drum sander isn't that much more work. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but could you float the top such that it doesn't touch the top of the legs? I'm rarely a fan of floating tops, but this design seems to want it. This would also simplify joinery dramatically and give you the chance to do something more interesting with the top points of your curved legs. The top can be a little thicker. EDIT: Sorry. Didn't see that the project was already under way before posting. The design on the front is going to be inlayed. I have thought about tapering the legs to give it a lighter feel. I am not really sure which way I am going to go. It will be an on the fly decision. It is hard to tell from the picture but the top is going to be floating. It would be nice to make the top thicker but it would put it to far out of the desired price range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 It's nice to see someone planning ahead by doing the legs first then fitting the rest of the parts to however the legs come out. I agree that pushing the feet in slightly may improve the stance & appearance. If the lower crosspiece is a shelf I would use glass to prevent a shadow under the piece. I would like to see a side view if you have one . Very nice design ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 2, 2016 Report Share Posted August 2, 2016 Seems like a really nice project, Brad. Ambitious, considering all the other irons in your fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 It's nice to see someone planning ahead by doing the legs first then fitting the rest of the parts to however the legs come out. I agree that pushing the feet in slightly may improve the stance & appearance. If the lower crosspiece is a shelf I would use glass to prevent a shadow under the piece. I would like to see a side view if you have one . Very nice design ! Sorry Steve no side view only in my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 5, 2016 Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 I understand that. Many times one front view is all I do and that is just a crude sketch. Eager to see your progress on this one ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted August 5, 2016 Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 Great design! Also, great name for it. I can never think of a cool name for a piece, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galturner Posted August 6, 2016 Report Share Posted August 6, 2016 I will be following this..the project looks spectacular... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bradpotts Posted August 15, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 I got a little bit done while waiting for clue to dry. I decided to taper the legs a little. I then made a full size mock up so I could get the angles right. That is all the progress for now. Here is the current project. It is a giant fake beam. I figured I might as well. Put in the other projects along the way since this one might take me a while. . This is my daughter trying to help. We are still working on the form and that she should probably cut with her dominate hand. She worked so hard but just couldn't cut through. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 15, 2016 Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 Tapered legs look very good ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 15, 2016 Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 What's with the giant fake beam? Are you planning to fake the end grain, too? If so, I want to see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 What's with the giant fake beam? Are you planning to fake the end grain, too? If so, I want to see! The giant fake beam is to cover up a drywall beam. It runs into two walls so there will not be any ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Well I haven't got any more work done on the table but I did get one of the commission jobs out of the way. Here is a picture of it. I made the brackets for it as well. It is just plywood that I used a locking miter to make the 90's. I used General Finises Java gel stain and finished it with spraying on water based poly. On a side note I tried to buy a membership deal but it gave me this message. There was an error processing the payment. Please try a different payment method or contact us for assistance. Not sure about that. I was hoping to have some more journal for the table but as I was installing the beam, he asked if I could do a kitchen of cabinets. I am still hopeful that this table will be finished by Nov though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elroy Skimms Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 What did you use for the "strap" hardware? I've been tinkering with a chest project and that's the sort of thing I was looking for. -E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 What did you use for the "strap" hardware? I've been tinkering with a chest project and that's the sort of thing I was looking for. -E I just got a 3" by 1/8" piece of metal from Lowes. I cut it and welded it together then painted that and the lag bolts black. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Looks good, Brad. What is a "membership deal"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted August 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Looks good, Brad. What is a "membership deal"? Where you can pay a couple bucks to help Marc and not see ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Where you can pay a couple bucks to help Marc and not see ads. Ahh LOL. Gotcha Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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