A pair of bedside tables or nightstands

[shaneymack]

Terry where are the pics? You give up on those dovetails?

[TerryMcK]

Normally journalling is way behind the actual build process. I'm way ahead in the build and there will be other things in the schedule I will document before that. The finished results of the dovetailing will be in a future post.

[TerryMcK]

Just noticed that I had actually posted a picture of the process but due to whatever issues we are having with the forum update the initial picture didn't appear. I'll try again to upload it

[shaneymack]

Normally journalling is way behind the actual build process. I'm way ahead in the build and there will be other things in the schedule I will document before that. The finished results of the dovetailing will be in a future post.

Guess we will have to be patient. I was looking forward to some nice handcut dovetail porn a la Terry.....

[mat60]

Great thread and work Terry....

[TerryMcK]

Thanks guys. I think we shall have to be patient until the forum glitches are fixed until I post more on this particular build - there is quite a good selection coming. Pictures are not posting properly at the moment. Marc has another thread related to forum updates and hopefully it'll be back to normally soon.

[TerryMcK]

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 6b - Beading Profile 
Somebody asked me the other day what am I using to produce the beading profile on the parts making up the tables. Well it's actually a beading router bit made by Trend whom, in the UK, make superb router bits to suit all pockets from hobby through trade to pro. I normally use cutters from the CraftPro trade range as they give great performance and are ideal for my work.

The specific one I chose is the CraftPro C140 3.2mm Corner Bead. If you use it as I have you just get a bead with a round over.

 

Bead profile. The other corner has a 1/4" round over

 If you turn the workpiece through another 90 degrees and take a second pass you get a pencil bead. A very useful bit if somewhat of a one trick (or two trick) pony. There is a little break out on the square corner when using a brittle wood like sapele but some 320g sandpaper breaks the edge.

As I don't have any molding planes the router will suffice.

[TerryMcK]

As mentioned earlier I decided to change the design of the tables mid way through the project. I had to cut some of the mortises by hand so here is a quick tutorial on how I normally cut mortises by hand.

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 6c - Cutting some of the mortises by hand
Cutting a mortise with a registered mortise chisel

When making mortises by hand there is one way which is supreme and that's using a registered mortise chisel (these are ground with parallel sides and are taller than they are wide to help keep them straight in the cut). I needed an 8mm or 5/16" chisel for this project as I had designed it that way. I bought a Narex chisel as I'd heard good reports about this brand. My existing mortise chisels are English made Crown brand made in Sheffield.

First of all if you have a mortise gauge use the chisel to set it's width and lock it off. You then only need to move the fence to set the position of the mortise.

Setting the mortise gauge width

Setting the mortise fence

Then mark the position with a knife to sever the across the grain and the mortise gauge to mark with the grain. The defined perimeter is then undercut slightly at the ends to create a knife wall.

Using a knife to mark cross grain

Marking the mortise

Mortise perimeter defined

Using the chisel position it around 3/32" from the end of the mortise within the perimeter. Make sure the bevel is facing away from the end of the mortise and lightly chop.

Initial mortise chisel chop

Move the chisel on about 1/8" and again lightly chop. Go all the way to the other end of the mortise stopping short by 3/32" or so and make sure to turn the chisel through 180 degrees before you reach the end (the bevel facing the other end of the mortise). 

Series of light chops

 

You can then break up the wood with a bench chisel turned at 90 degrees to the mortise chops and carefully remove the waste.

Breaking up the waste

Remove the waste with a narrow bench chisel

Using the chisel bevel down to clean up the mortise bottom

You will have gone down about 1/8" into the wood and then created a wall either side that you can then use to register the sides of the chisel against.

Proceed with chopping the mortise out using the same procedure as before but now as you get deeper you can chop harder and remove more in one pass.

Chopping to depth

Measuring the depth

Once you have got to depth you can then remove the ends with one or two vertical chops. This will leave vertical walls at the ends. Clean up the bottom with a regular bench chisel scraping out any waste (it doesn't have to be perfect), remembering not to lever waste out by leaning on the edge of the mortise. You can also use a swan neck mortise chisel to clean out the bottom if you desire.

Full depth

Chopping the other end

The end results I've found are more accurate than using a router and you don't end up with rounded ends that either need squaring off or the tenon needs its corners clipping off.

You can also cut mortises by hand when you've already part glued up the sub-assemblies as I had. This was not possible for me using either a router nor my dedicated mortiser to do this as I just couldn't hold the workpiece or register from the inside faces. The one disadvantage of cutting mortises by hand is that it is slower than cutting by machine but on small volumes might actually be quicker than having to set a machine up.

The Narex mortise chisel by the way is superb and as good as any of the others I have in my arsenal.

If you do want to cut mortises entirely using a machine then the moral of the story is to get the design right BEFORE you start cutting wood. I didn't!

[Coop]

Terry, I'm really liking this project. As usual, I enjoy the description of your build as well as watching a quality piece come together.

[Eric.]

The end results I've found are more accurate than using a router

Say wha?

[TerryMcK]

Say wha?

No run out

[Tom Cancelleri]

I love the detail of each post Terry. Looking good.

[Eric.]

No run out

What runout?

[TerryMcK]

What runout?

we don't all have coolaid green tools

[moonjam]

Thanks for posting each step Terry, it's fascinating and inspiring!

[shaneymack]

Terry you're project journals are the bomb diggity. Love your posts. Thanks for sharing.

[TerryMcK]

We've got a problem (Houston)

I was chopping some dovetails and Anna the shop cat decided I wasn't paying her enough attention...

[davewyo]

I get that same thing all the time:

http://

[Coop]

Terry, Are you out of the country again on some island, or are you still sharpening chisels?

Show us some progress ?

[TerryMcK]

Terry, Are you out of the country again on some island, or are you still sharpening chisels?

Show us some progress ?

LOL - I've been really busy at work in the last few days but updates are coming. Thanks for the reminder Ken

We're going to Italy in September - Venice, Lake Garda and then Verona. Might see some antiques that I can photograph.

[TerryMcK]

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 7 - Table glue-up 
All parts were sanded to 240 grit using a random orbit sander. Some of the beads had left a rough edge on the top part of the bead so they too were sanded smooth. After a sanity check to make sure everything fitted correctly and all the joints pulled tight I marked all the parts up (on the tenon faces), as I disassembled the dry fit, to ensure I got the right components in the correct place the right way around during the subsequent glue-up.

If you take care to do this before hand I find that glue-ups go far better and with no panic.
The glue used again was Titebond 2 Dark. All the tenons were coated with glue and the mortises were coated too. I also like to put a thin layer of glue on the shoulder faces and the corresponding long grain around the mortise.

The parts were all assembled and placed into parallel clamps. The whole assembly was then turned onto its feet, my new flat low assembly table being pressed into service. The parts are then all checked for squareness (especially the drawer aperture) and checked across corners. The glue-up is left to setup overnight.

 

5 clamps work well on this project
The side sub-assemblies had already been glued up in a previous procedure.

 

The low assembly table brings the project to the ideal level

[mat60]

Great thread and work Terry..Thanks

[..Kev]

Those are looking awesome Terry!

[TerryMcK]

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 8 - Repairing a stretcher 
Whilst glueing up I noticed there was some breakout at the shoulder end of one of the stretchers that would need repairing. As I was in the middle of the glueup this would have to wait until the glue had dried.

This is the view of the top of the shelf support stretcher where it meets the leg. You can see the missing wood which would be clearly seen when the piece was finished.

I inspected the problem and found that some of the wood had broken away on a previous operation and I just hadn't noticed it. Ordinarily I would have remade the part and trashed the flawed part - this time it meant I had to make running repairs.
I always keep cutoffs from a project until the project is complete for this reason. Any flaws can be repaired with pieces from the same tree and will not be that noticeable when finished.

There were several veneers that had been sliced from previous operations and I found one veneer around 1/16" thick which was ideal. The first thing I did was to square off one end. To do this I applied some blue tape to support the fibres whilst cross cutting on the table saw. I could have done it by hand with a hand saw and shooting board but the TS was handy. Then I measured the inside dimension between legs where the veneer was going to go. I applied some more blue tape to the veneer and struck a pencil line.

Cross cutting the supported end of the veneer on the table saw. I really must make a new crosscut sled!
I then cross cut the veneer on the TS close to the line. I then went through a process of sneaking up on the cut until it fitted perfectly between the legs.

After sneaking up on the cut the piece fit precisely between the legs.
Then I simply glued the veneer to the stretcher with some Titebond II Dark and held it in place with yet more blue tape. I should really buy shares in 3M and Scotch as I get through masses of blue tape. This was then left to cure overnight.

Blue tape clamping

The next day I removed the blue tape and used a block plane (the Stanley #130 is ideal for this type of work) and chisel plane to trim the overhang flush. It was then finished off by using sandpaper on a block to re-establish and blend the roundover.

Using the #130 to remove excess

Trimming with the chisel plane

The results were really good and the tearout was no longer seen. I still had a void to fill and did this with some sapele dust mixed into some CA glue. The filled void would be covered by the lower shelf and would not be seen on the final project.

The repaired stretcher shelf support now looks ok

A sliver of wood at the joint remains but can be removed with a scalpel.

So sometimes crap happens and you have to come up with a method of alleviating the problem. Keep all offcuts until you have finished the project.

Edited August 17, 2015 by TerryMcK

[davewyo]

Nice fix Terry. It would never have occured to me to put a slice of veneer along the entire length of the piece. I would have been trying to fill the tear out with a carefully whittled replacement chip. I like the option you chose and will keep it in mind for the future.

And once again...your project journals are a treasure trove of first class instruction.