Fox's Modern Table

[Eric.]

Just now, Denette said:

 

It's a wonky shop made MDF thing that rides on top of my fence. It's definitely not perfect, but it had been a while since I used it and I'd forgotten just how not perfect it is.

But you can still flip the part around and make two cuts, no?

[Denette]

But you can still flip the part around and make two cuts, no?

Yeah, but working with ¾" stock I figured that it might be better not to remove more than I had to. The thought of flipping did occur to me, but keeping a little more beef seemed like a good idea at the time.

[Coop]

Is that water or asphalt beyond your tree and bench? How long are the tenons?

[Eric.]

4 minutes ago, Denette said:

Yeah, but working with ¾" stock I figured that it might be better not to remove more than I had to. The thought of flipping did occur to me, but keeping a little more beef seemed like a good idea at the time.

I'm confused...can't you just nudge your fence slightly closer to the blade to create a skinnier bridle opening?

[Denette]

I'm confused...can't you just nudge your fence slightly closer to the blade to create a skinnier bridle opening?

That would've been the smart way to do it. I spent the whole day in a zoo of teenagers who were finished with their final exams after the first three hours, so my mind was about as sharp as a chisel that's been bashed into concrete all day. Not as sharp as I would have liked for it to have been while in the shop today.

 

In what may have been a bout of poor judgment from being worn out, my thinking went something like this: Lately I've been doing all my mortises with a router bit that is the perfect width, so I figured that the dado blade set to ¼" would be perfect - and if the tenon jig were more reliable, that might have been true. As it was, however, I had a tiny error. Since the bridle was already the proper ¼" thick, just off center a tad, I decided to just make my tenons a tiny fraction off center. Fortunately these are all small boards that won't break the bank if it ends up causing significant problems, but I really don't think it will be all that serious.

[Eric.]

Yeah it looks like you pulled it off.  But for future reference...I've made a habit of always centering my bridles and the tenons that fit into them.  It just reduces the amount of thinking that goes into it and makes for an easier joint, generally.  Especially when you have teenager zoo brain.

[Denette]

I got the leg sub-assemblies put together today. It feels good to get things moving.

 

I feel particularly clever for how I marked and cut the angled dado for the point where the crisscross, er, crisscrosses. I started by taking measurements from my SketchUp drawing file. From these I knew that the aprons, when centered and angled correctly, would have about 8.5" of distance between the edges of the shoulders of the tenons when measuring from the short side. If that seems like a random dimension, just stick with me.

 

I marked the centers of the aprons, one on top and one on bottom.

 

Then I drilled a ¼" hole on center, and put a little ¼" dowel in.

 

Boom. The only thing to do now is put it in a clamp and mark the appropriate angle with a scribing knife. And how do we know when the angle is correct? Measure the distance between the shoulders of the tenons on the short side.

 

Here they are after marking with a knife (and making the first cut off-center so I could correct the angle if necessary by looking at the line):

 

After that point, I just set my miter gauge up on the table saw, got the blade to just shy of half the thickness of the board, and dadoed away with my standard blade, since changing out the blade for just this one cut probably would've taken just as long as the multiple passes did. After lots of test fitting and sneaking up on the perfect depth for the second piece's dado, I think it turned out pretty darn well.

 

 

I also got the angles cut on the legs with my homemade taper jig. It went pretty well! I'll save the final analysis for when the sub assemblies are dry and sanded.

 

 

I'll finish up the sub assemblies this afternoon unless the baby decides to be born. I swear this kid is already just like me, putting things off until the last possible second. We are inducing on Tuesday if he doesn't come, it's past his due date. Come on, little dude. Haha.

[Eric.]

Clever!  Nice job man.

[Janello]

Excellent approach and precision results. Well done!

[Denette]

Thanks!

 

Though I may have just accidentally made a miniature Roubo-top coffee table by mistake. Lol. The resemblance is uncanny.

[Denette]

Oh, well, my last comment would make more sense with my goofy picture.

 

[Denette]

Today I have practiced making that mitered dovetail again, to reasonably decent results! This is my third practice joint, if you're counting.

 

I finally decided to bite the bullet and invest a few hours into making a proper shooting board. I had a 3' board of 8/4 oak from a project a couple summers ago, so I milled it square, then rabbeted a spot for some plywood, and - well, I have pictures.

 

 

The practice joints are getting very close to acceptable! The majority of the outside edge is dead on perfect, but the ends taper away, leaving a small but visible gap where the edges meet. This is likely due to one of two possibilities. First, it could be that the board bowed a bit when I clamped it on, which I could work around. The other possibility is that the shooting board is not perfect. This is entirely possible, and seems likeliest to me. I am unstudied in the methods of checking these sorts of things for accuracy. I cut it on my table saw, and it didn't go perfectly. Anyone have tips for checking a miter to be sure it's a true 45°?

 

Regardless, I'm at least smart enough to have made the shooting board large enough to support the full lengths of all the parts for this project.

 

I'm ALMOST there with this ridiculous joint.

[Alan G]

Looking Great! 

I'm impressed with your perseverance in making this joint. I would have said F-it a long time ago. Prob wouldn't have even attempted it in the first place! 

Make the most of this "free" time you have in the shop. It gonna end soon!

[Denette]

Is that water or asphalt beyond your tree and bench? How long are the tenons?

 

Totally missed seeing this until now! It's asphalt. Yay, suburbia! The tenons were about 2" long, give or take with the angle of the leg.

[davewyo]

I'm really late to the party but I think you could possibly cut the miter for your joint with an L fence on your table saw. You would have to temporarily attach a board to the dovetailed edge of your piece so it could run along the L fence.

[Denette]

Okay, progress update for today:

 

1. I cut the huge sliding dovetails for the vertical section in the center, and routed the grooves in the upper, middle and lower panels.

 

2. I murmured words under my breath that I would not like to repeat upon realizing that one of the dovetailed grooves was a half inch off from where it needed to be

 

3. I decided that the table could be ½" narrower along its width without suffering for it, so I adjusted accordingly and used my crosscut sled to get the top and bottom panels to final width

 

4. I wept and gnashed my teeth when I saw what the new width had revealed on an edge that would be visible after final assembly:

 

5. I decided to test-assemble the project so far - it's coming along!

 

6. I took pictures and decided to spare the project from any further torment today.

 

 

The sliding dovetails went reasonably well. The first two I cut were a tiny bit loose, but if I clamp and glue them for assembly then it will be totally fine. Those are the two grooves on the center panel. The final two grooves, in the upper and lower panels, were near perfect. If I were to need to rework those grooves I could always route it out and patch it, or glue thin strips of material to the sides of the sliding dovetail and then finesse it down to fit, but it's not a particularly serious problem. I'll make the call on whether or not to deal with that later on, based on how much it is bothering me.

 

I'm liking the general look and feel of this table. It's a little low and a little smaller in general than I care for, but it'll do, and my preference isn't universal.

 

I still can't believe I opened up that biscuit though.

 

Test assembly:

Sliding dovetails visible from the rear:

I did modify the dovetails from the original design so they are now 3/16" deep rather than a full ¼", which gives the center panel a more stout ⅜ of material between the two joints.

 

That's as far as it goes tonight. Any ideas on how to patch over that stupid biscuit? I'm thinking I'll route out a 1/4" slot right on top of it and then use the offcut as material for a small deadman to fill the slot. Not perfect, but it seems workable.

[SawDustB]

Any ideas on how to patch over that stupid biscuit? I'm thinking I'll route out a 1/4" slot right on top of it and then use the offcut as material for a small deadman to fill the slot. Not perfect, but it seems workable.

 

How about a racing stripe along the edge?

[Denette]

 

How about a racing stripe along the edge? In all seriousness, that's a tough one with it being in end grain. If you can get a decent grain match, I think your plan is reasonable, although I would think squaring the corners would make it less visible than a rounded​ recess. Are you doing an edge treatment at all? If so, sometimes you can strategically place the seam to hide it.

 

Fortunately I still have the offcut from this piece and can use it for as near a perfect grain match as possible. I wasn't planning on an edge treatment, but I'm all ears if you have a suggestion!

[SawDustB]

Fortunately I still have the offcut from this piece and can use it for as near a perfect grain match as possible. I wasn't planning on an edge treatment, but I'm all ears if you have a suggestion!

For this kind of piece, I think anything more than a light chamfer or round over will be too much. If you go with the chamfer, put the edge of your patch on the edge of the chamfer, and it will pretty much disappear. Harder to do that with a square edge because it'll show on the top.

[davewyo]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to try some edge banding.

[Alan G]

Glue back on the cut off. What do you have to lose?

[Tpt life]

Beautiful bench. 

[Denette]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to try some edge banding.

 

I'm going to do that as a plan B after trying to patch it. The problem is that it would be an awful lot of work since I have two more shelves that end in the same orientation, so one edge band becomes three.

 

Glue back on the cut off. What do you have to lose?

I am not sure if you are joking, but that is a really bad idea, if for no other reason than a glue line perpendicular to the grain.

 

Beautiful bench. 

Thanks!

[davewyo]

24 minutes ago, Denette said:

I'm going to do that as a plan B after trying to patch it. The problem is that it would be an awful lot of work since I have two more shelves that end in the same orientation, so one edge band becomes three.

I don't think it will take too long to do the three edges. Certainly less time than cutting in a patch.

[Denette]

I don't think it will take too long to do the three edges. Certainly less time than cutting in a patch.

Okay, that may be! But what about the small amount of end grain that would end up showing on the front? And much more importantly, what about wood movement? I've never done edge banding, if you can't tell.