Fox's Modern Table

[wtnhighlander]

Looks pretty darn good to me!

[Denette]

 

 

[Denette]

Today I disassembled the carcase and started sanding all the individual parts made this far. I got up to 120 before I had to call it a night, but plan on going to either 220 or 320 before applying finish to the pieces. As you may have seen from my last post, things are getting closer than ever!

 

I'm settling on an interesting comprise of a finish. I'm going to stick with the Moser 130° BLO coats, but rather than the admittedly weak wax, I'm going to topcoat it with several layers of wipe-on poly.

 

I tested the Moser finish this afternoon and, wow.

 

 

 

[Denette]

Decided to go through with it on attaching the base with sliding dovetails. Today I got the dovetail keys machined, the slots routed in the underside of the cabinet, and the first key glued into place.

 

I decided to revise my previous plan. Originally I was going to glue the dovetails into the legs before sliding it in all at once, but that would have left a hole behind the dovetail. It would've allowed the legs to come off later, but since I want to glue everything and have this piece be permanently together I decided instead to put the keys into the underside of the table - this allowed me to put a plug over the insertion slot. For all intents and purposes it looks like I milled an 8/4 base down to ¾" thick everywhere except for the dovetail keys.

 

 

The next magic trick will be figuring out how to route the sliding dovetail grooves into the legs. It's at quite a steep angle, and on a ¾" wide edge...

 

[Denette]

 

Well, there it is. The base is attached with all-wood joinery. I'm going to glue it into place after a little pre-finishing.

 

Now that I've proven to myself that I can do this joint I'm more open to strengthening it a bit with some hardware - perhaps a small bolt or screw up through the center. It is sturdy, but perhaps not perfect in its current state.

[davewyo]

That is really something.

I wonder about wood movement issues though.

[shaneymack]

Very cool !

 

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Denette]

That is really something.

I wonder about wood movement issues though.

Thanks!

 

I did consider wood movement. It's a bit of an unconventional solution, but there is a small margin of slop in the middle of the crisscross - about 1/4" if you measure based on the distance moved on the short side of the crisscross. The distance between the points of contact is about 9 inches. There would have to be some mighty movement indeed for it to cause real problems.

[SawDustB]

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

I did consider wood movement. It's a bit of an unconventional solution, but there is a small margin of slop in the middle of the crisscross - about 1/4" if you measure based on the distance moved on the short side of the crisscross. The distance between the points of contact is about 9 inches. There would have to be some mighty movement indeed for it to cause real problems.

 

 

 

Won't your slop disappear when you glue the two pieces of the cross together? Or is it just going to be held by virtue of all being attached to the bottom? It's certainly creative.

 

 

[Denette]

 

 

 

 

Won't your slop disappear when you glue the two pieces of the cross together? Or is it just going to be held by virtue of all being attached to the bottom? It's certainly creative.

 

 

 

 

 

That's the trick - I'm not gluing that joint. I may put a bolt up the center of it, but that would still allow for movement.

[wtnhighlander]

@denette, I think the nature of the criss-cross "aprons" will let them flex as the top expands and contracts. I bet you have no problems with it at all, even if you do glue in the keys.

[Denette]

@denette, I think the nature of the criss-cross "aprons" will let them flex as the top expands and contracts. I bet you have no problems with it at all, even if you do glue in the keys.

Good to hear someone think that!

 

I may have been unclear, though. I'm definitely gluing the dovetails. What I probably won't glue is the intersection between the two leg sub-assemblies.

[Denette]

Hey guys! Today's update is a little special - I put together a video of a test assembly and went into a lot of detail. I hope you enjoy it!

 

[lewisc]

On 2017-6-13 at 4:57 AM, Denette said:

 

Well, there it is. The base is attached with all-wood joinery. I'm going to glue it into place after a little pre-finishing.

What are you using to make the GIF?

[Denette]

What are you using to make the GIF?

It's an iOS app called "Video to GIF".

[wtnhighlander]

Pretty cool, Russel!

[wdwerker]

I'm with the " Highlander" ! I'm pretty damn sure the crisscross w the lap not glued and the dovetailed attachment points glued should be save from movement issues. Only time will tell .

I heartily applaud the efforts you have put into this piece. Another approach to those slight gaps is to make them all  the same width. Call it a "reveal" . Contrasted against your refined miter joint it should look pretty good .

[Denette]

Thanks for the kind words!  

Hey, @Eric.!  Earlier you said something along the lines of "If I were working on this project I'd spend more time on things that would be noticed later than on invisible joinery."  I respect that, and, having done my invisible joinery now, want to come back around to what you said.  Was there some specific part of the project you had in mind when you said there were other things you would focus on, or was it just a general observation on spending more time on things that will be appreciated?

[Eric.]

7 minutes ago, Denette said:

Thanks for the kind words!  

Hey, @Eric.!  Earlier you said something along the lines of "If I were working on this project I'd spend more time on things that would be noticed later than on invisible joinery."  I respect that, and, having done my invisible joinery now, want to come back around to what you said.  Was there some specific part of the project you had in mind when you said there were other things you would focus on, or was it just a general observation on spending more time on things that will be appreciated?

Yeah it was just a comment made in general.  Spending 3x time on surface prep - as boring as it is - would make a much more significant impact on the overall look of the piece than hidden joinery.  And if I were to spend a ton of time doing superfluous things before I reached that point, I might find myself rushing through that ever-important process to reach the finish line for exhaustion of patience.  It's something I have to fight myself on through every single project...slowing down through surface prep.  Absolutely critical, absolutely dreadful.  Hand planing makes it somewhat more tolerable than sanding.  Sanding...put a gun in mouth.

But hey, it's your project and your time, and everyone gets their rocks off in different ways.  If you dig experimentation with weird joinery, then keep on diggin' it.

I think your table is looking good in its moderately simple design...there are enough interesting features in the design that I think any additional ornamentation would only take away, rather than improve.  Spend some time noodling on and experimenting with different pull styles, and I'd be visually at peace with the project after that.

[Denette]

Did some prefinishing this morning. I sanded all the faces that will be showing to 320, and all hidden surfaces to 220, then heated some BLO to 130° and wiped it in, being very careful to avoid joints that will be glued. I waffled back and forth on whether to assemble first or finish first, but decided that my bad track record with sanding too much after assembly (digging into perpendicular edges with the outside edge of my ROS) meant I should give this whole prefinishing thing a shot.

 

I'm amazed at how much figure there is even in some of the non-figures boards. This cherry really comes alive with a good coat of finish!

 

 

The plan is to do the three coats of hot BLO in 24 hour intervals, sanding to 320 after coats 1 and 2, then assembling and letting it stay clamped for 24 hours.

 

At that point I'll start working on the drawers. It's tempting to jump straight to applying thin coats of wipe-on poly, but the slow cure time of BLO makes me want to save that step for as late in the game as possible. I may even let the whole piece sit for a week once It's all together before I apply the first coat of wipe-on poly. I know that won't be enough time for the BLO to cure completely, but it definitely can't hurt anything.

 

So my to-do list looks like this:

Wednesday: Sand to 320, BLO coat 1

Thursday: Sand to 320, BLO coat 2

Friday: Sand to 320, BLO coat 3

Saturday: Glueup time!

Sunday: Unclamp and start working on drawers

Monday: work on drawers

???: Finish drawers

1 week after ???: sand to 2000 grit and apply minwax wipe-on poly, wait for it to dry, repeat until satisfied

 

 

So it'll be a while yet, but it's coming along!

 

[Eric.]

Just for fun...

...you should use a big piece of scrap and finish it with only a few coats of wipe-on poly, and when the whole process is done, see if your human eye can detect any benefit of the long and drawn-out BLO process.  Dollars to donuts, the answer is no.  And I'll mail you a donut if you can prove otherwise.

[Denette]

Just for fun...

...you should use a big piece of scrap and finish it with only a few coats of wipe-on poly, and when the whole process is done, see if your human eye can detect any benefit of the long and drawn-out BLO process.  Dollars to donuts, the answer is no.  And I'll mail you a donut if you can prove otherwise.

You're on!

[wtnhighlander]

Russel, this project is looki g great!

 

I just had a thought regarding Eric's joinery comment.

 

If hidden joinery wasn't hidden, the domino wouldn't exist.

[Chet]

Russell, this is coming out great I can't wait to see the finished product.  Nice work.

I am kind of on Eric's side of the fence on this.  I think in the past there was some merit to the multi step multi ingredient finish process.  But I think the science of the finish industry has come a long way and most of the time you are going to get just as nice a finish with the simple one product finish process.  I know there are people that enjoy this step but I am not one of them, I like to keep the mickey mouse to a minimum. 

[Denette]

Russell, this is coming out great I can't wait to see the finished product.  Nice work.

I am kind of on Eric's side of the fence on this.  I think in the past there was some merit to the multi step multi ingredient finish process.  But I think the science of the finish industry has come a long way and most of the time you are going to get just as nice a finish with the simple one product finish process.  I know there are people that enjoy this step but I am not one of them, I like to keep the mickey mouse to a minimum. 

 

I tend to agree when it comes to finishing, and would have just stuck with something simple were it not for the fact that my wife's dad, who is a veteran woodworker and has a house full of beautiful projects, recommended the Moser finish to me. I've seen its results on some of his projects, and it really does look good. Maybe I am wasting my time, and maybe not, but it'll be a good learning experience either way. Worst case scenario is that I took a long time to do something I could have done more quickly, but I've got the time for that right now! My days currently consist of changing diapers, making dinners, watching Star Trek on Netflix with my wife, a little reading, and finishing up this project. Summertime: I hate the weather but love the pace.