Ishitani Kigumi Slab-Top Table

[gee-dub]

13 hours ago, Denette said:

The rotation direction is super important.  With a fence it becomes too important, as I learned today.

Your analysis is correct.  Glad you weren't hurt.  A temporary fence on the opposite side of the bit is a good solution.

 

[Eric.]

You'll dig this one, Russell.

 

 

[Pwk5017]

Yep, feeding the incorrect direction on a router table is something you will do once and only once in your life. Glad you got kissed by the router and not bit. I can see a small bit doing severe damage to a finger. I remember firing off a board about 5-10 mins after using my first router table a couple years ago. Scared the living hell out of me, but thankfully i had pushblocks in my hand. Performing incorrect actions is stupid, but ive found a pair of pushblocks will negate most stupidity. Of course, knowing how to correctly use a tool combined with pushblocks is a belt and suspenders approach.

 

Stupid question, but does anyone manufacture a reversible router motor? With most shapers, you can run them in reverse and safely do what you did without a problem. 

[Eric.]

30 minutes ago, Pwk5017 said:

Stupid question, but does anyone manufacture a reversible router motor? With most shapers, you can run them in reverse and safely do what you did without a problem. 

Wouldn't work with a router anyway because the bits only cut in one direction.  You have to flip the cutters over in a shaper when you reverse the spindle direction.

[Tpt life]

5 hours ago, Eric. said:

Wouldn't work with a router anyway because the bits only cut in one direction.  You have to flip the cutters over in a shaper when you reverse the spindle direction.

Except for that climb cut final kiss when using power feeders. I think this is often misunderstood as spindle direction change. I have never seen a spindle reversed, just power feeder direction for a final pass. Then again, I haven't seen it all. 

[Tom King]

Great job on the illustrations for the lesson!!    I need to hire you for some of that.  I have absolutely no idea how to do it.

So glad the flesh wound didn't require a trip to the ER!!

[Denette]

I got to connect the two tabletop slabs tonight, finally, after what feels like a month of work!  It feels like quite an accomplishment.

 

I finished routing the dovetail grooves in the horizontal trestle top pieces (using the correct feed direction this time!), sneaking up on the perfect fit for the sliding dovetail spline.  It fit well enough for joinery, though if I had it to do all over I would have cut a little shallower when I hogged out material on the table saw.  It left the bottom of the dovetail dado all rough.  Dovedo?  Dovetaildo?  Dadovetail?  Dadovetail. That works.

(Note the bandage in the above photo.  Lesson learned.)

I decided to do this dadovetail spline because I wanted to keep that extra ½" of material, but realized that it also has the added benefit of being more forgiving than most joinery.  If things don't work out, that spline is a small scrap and you can make another one.  I didn't have to, but it just occurred to me.

I flipped my tabletop slabs over and clamped them to my dead-flat Roubo workbench, and used the stretcher as a guide for how far from the center the dovetail grooves needed to be cut.  After a great deal of careful markup (and a little estimation since raw slabs don't exactly have much to offer in square surfaces to register from) I got my layout lines all in place.  

I used my trashtastic MDF circular saw guide as a router guide since it was straight and long enough, and plunged in with the dovetail bit still set to the same depth that it has been at for days.  I have not changed the bit at all on this project - it just makes things simpler.  It's harder on the bit to hog out the waste, but I figured that if I burned outa bit that had nibbled my finger, it would be no love lost.  It seemed to do fine, though.

The dovetail splines went in without a hitch.  The groove ended up a little overlong, but that will just allow room for expansion and contraction.  My design differs from Ishitani's in that his groove went off the edge and he put in a plug to cover it once the base was on.  My table will be assembled by first putting the dovetail splines into place, then installing the dovetail keys in the top slabs, thus avoiding the need to have a little cap on the end and ensuring that things are nice and squared up while I inlay the dovetail keys.

The first trestle piece just about worked me to death trying to get it on, so I knew something was amiss.  I removed it and discovered that the first groove went across what seems to be a slight variation in thickness in the slabs, so I grabbed my router plane, registered it on the top of the dovetail spline, trimmed the slab shoulders to an equal depth along the length, then sanded out the rough spots.  I still had to clobber it into place toward the end, so some more trimming is probably in the works next time I get into the shop.

 

Once I got both dovetail keys into the dadovetails, I slid the trestle top pieces on and flipped the whole glorious thing over.  It felt very rigid and stable, even without glue, which is the goal.

Grain preview with mineral spirits because I am a giddy goober:

And the last thing I did tonight was square up one edge with the circular saw, just to see what it would look like with a pretty, smooth edge.  I actually intend to take this edge in a total of two inches to get rid of some pretty problematic checking, so what I did tonight was, again, because I am a giddy goober who enjoys his time in the shop, haha.

So that about does it for tonight!  It's a major milestone for this project, to be certain.  Now I can do all the dovetail keys and get the top as finished as I want to before moving on to the base.  Theoretically I could just finish the top and put it on sawhorses in our kitchen.  I won't, but I could.  Somehow it's a good feeling knowing that.  

[Denette]

On 8/28/2017 at 8:46 AM, Eric. said:

You'll dig this one, Russell.

 

 

Yeah, that's a really good documentary!  I think I have seen bits of it before,  but never the whole thing.  Thanks!

[Eric.]

10 hours ago, Denette said:

The dovetail splines went in without a hitch.  The groove ended up a little overlong, but that will just allow room for expansion and contraction.  My design differs from Ishitani's in that his groove went off the edge and he put in a plug to cover it once the base was on.  My table will be assembled by first putting the dovetail splines into place, then installing the dovetail keys in the top slabs, thus avoiding the need to have a little cap on the end and ensuring that things are nice and squared up while I inlay the dovetail keys.

I thought exactly the same thing when I watched his video.  Your way is better.  More logical anyway.

[bushwacked]

this is looking great! 

Yes Ishitani is fun to watch ... some of those tools he uses are crazy 

[Denette]

Update! The legs are coming right along. While the dovetail spline fit is still too tight in places, the rest of the machining for the top pieces is complete. The vertical portions of the legs are laminated and the tenons have been cut on the maple. I also cut one edge of the table top straight and will return to do the opposite edge next time I'm in the shop.

 

My over-tight joinery is causing me a few problems on this project, mostly with bruising, chipping, or cracking the wood during test fits. After I take it apart from the current test fit I'll probably spend a good bit of time refining some of the sliding dovetails and tenons.

 

I discovered that my stretcher is a little short, so I'm either going to get a new board for that part or do a wedged tenon. Not much I can do to make a piece longer, so I'll shell out a few bucks.

 

Here are a few pics:

 

Complete disclosure, I'm starting to get short tempered with this thing. It's too big and my garage is too small, and it's just a pain to work with. It's all relatively simple, it's just huge.

[bleedinblue]

Tables are a pain just because of their size.  When I built ours last year, it seemed like every time I moved the top I dented it somewhere. 

[Denette]

Things are all squared up! I have to say, I'm very pleased with the look of the table without the live edges on the outside.

 

The top edge is square, but some live edge is still there if you look toward the underside of the top. I think it is a classy way to keep a touch of the rawness that people like in slabs without the random form factor and relative unusability of most live edge furniture.

 

The first topside key is in place too, and I'm very pleased!

I still haven't taken it back apart to refine the joinery just yet. That said, I really think refining the top edge makes the whole thing so, so much better.

 

[wtnhighlander]

Yep, straight edges look much better. And muuuuch more usable!

[RichardA]

When are you going to Oreo those feet?

[Coop]

Looks good so far bud. Love that top! 

[Denette]

When are you going to Oreo those feet?

It's coming soon. I plan on getting the maple part of the feet completely machined and joined onto the vertical leg, then gluing the cherry onto it. That will allow the cherry to be as tight as possible on the vertical part.

[Denette]

 

Just snuck in an hour before church this morning and got another topside dovetail key in.

 

 

[Eric.]

15 minutes ago, Denette said:

topside dovetail key in.

Dutchman.

Signed,

Your friendly neighborhood terminology Nazi

[Pwk5017]

Table top looks sweet. I'm a big fan of crotch grain, epoxy knots and all. What's the swatch of dark grain on the right hand slab? Is that epoxy or punky wood?

 

havent worked much with big slabs, but how well do pieces with the pith intact fare over time? Looking at the left hand slab. I've had big epoxy filled knots crack a bit through the seasons. I imagine the pith is even worse. 

[Denette]

Table top looks sweet. I'm a big fan of crotch grain, epoxy knots and all. What's the swatch of dark grain on the right hand slab? Is that epoxy or punky wood?

 

havent worked much with big slabs, but how well do pieces with the pith intact fare over time? Looking at the left hand slab. I've had big epoxy filled knots crack a bit through the seasons. I imagine the pith is even worse. 

That is a very good question, and I don't know the answer. I guess I'll find out! I plan on a few smaller dovetai--- er, dutchmen, along that pith line, hopefully it will prevent anything major.

[Eric.]

That dark area is mineral streak.  It's not good or bad...beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Chet]

3 hours ago, Eric. said:

Dutchman.

Signed,

Your friendly neighborhood terminology Nazi

Yes, yes and yes.  I never cared for any of the other names that have been to the Dutchman

[Denette]

 

Yes, yes and yes.  I never cared for any of the other names that have been to the Dutchman

 

 

 

I was under the impression that a Dutchman is purely cosmetic and a dovetail key is a specific shape and used to hold things together.

 

I also think we should call them Hollanders or Netherlandians. Just because I'm difficult.

 

 

[Denette]

 

 

 

6 Dutchmen are in place! I think the symmetry of the Dutchmen really helps balance the ends of the tabletop. I will still put a smattering of small Dutchmen in cracks I find troubling, but these 6 will be the most prominent. With the two Dutchmen already in place on the bottom, this brings the total up to 8. I'll probably have double that once I've tended to the remaining cracks, but the rest will be smaller - 1" or so in length.

 

Anyone have any guidelines on which cracks to put a Dutchman onto and which ones to epoxy and forget? I feel like I might be overdoing it if I put one on every check and crack, but I also want the table to last.