Dining room table - COMPLETE

[RichardA]

I really like that out flare of the legs, It's like you've added feet to the legs, and that is sharp.

[Chet]

51 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

the name is escaping me.

The slight cuved legs always makes me think Arts & Craft.

[Chestnut]

9 minutes ago, Chet said:

The slight cuved legs always makes me think Arts & Craft.

That's what i was thinking as well but i did some googling to make sure and mission and arts and crafts furniture looked the same. I probably just didn't look close enough.

[Chet]

I started work on the main part of the table top.  This part of the top will be around 38 inches wide 53 inches long and about 1 1/8 inches thick.  After I lined them up the best way for grain match, which can be a challenge with something like oak, I marked them with a triangle so I didn't mix them up which I have a real talant for.  Then starting at one side, I took them 2 by 2 and folded their face sides against each other and clamped them together on each end.

So in this orientation the two edges that will be together in the glue up are facing down.

Then I took them to the jointer and ran them across a couple of times.  This gives a near invisible glue line all buy itself.

After doing all the edges this way, I marked out for some dominos.  At this point they are just for alinement so I used some small ones to maximize the edge grain glue surface.

I then glued the top up in two sections.  I did this so that if needed I could run them through the drum sander, which I ended up doing, two times on each side.  Then I did the final glue up which was fairly uneventful because it was just the one center seam..

The clamps on top were really overkill the three on the bottom were plenty and even they were pretty light pressure.

After I took it out of the clamps, I sanded with some 80 and 120 for now and then set up to trim the two ends to size.  Because of the shear size of the top the best way to do this was with the track saw AND this cool piece of equipment.  Thanks again Paul!!!

This is a TSO Products Guide Rail Square.  This slides on to the bottom side of your track and then clamps in place to give you a nice 90 degree set up with no fusing around.  Just lay your track down on you mark with the guide against the edge and you are all set to go.  You can see that there are a couple of notches so if you like to use the clamps with your track you still can.  And when not in use it fits in the systainer with your saw.  A nice thing about TSO is you can by their stuff when you want it, no "one time tool" garbage.

Set to trim the first edge.

and the final cut to length.

65 1/8 inches corner to corner both ways.

I also laid my straight edge across the top in several places and there wasn't any signs of day light so I am super pleased with the way this all came out.

The one last thing I did was put this beast on edge so I could take some passes with my low angle jack to give it some nice clean edges.

 

[JosephThomas]

Look in good. Do you find those spring clamps hold the boards well enough for the jointer? I've used f-clamps before and I'm always paranoid about them being too loose...too scared to find out how much pressure is too little.

[wtnhighlander]

Looking great, Chet! That table top looks similarly sized to the one I just delivered. Take a tip from me and get more help than you think you need for delivery. I thought my my client was seriously going to have a heart attack while helping me carry the thing into his house.

[Chet]

1 hour ago, JosephThomas said:

Do you find those spring clamps hold the boards well enough for the jointer?

I was pushing the envelop with those because of the size of the lumber.  But with normal 4/4 stuff they do the job well.  F clamps probably would have been a better/safer way to go.

 

50 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

Take a tip from me and get more help than you think you need for delivery.

You are correct Ross.  I have a few things in my favor.  One, from the shop to the dining room is about 20 feet.  Two, It will go in, in two pieces, the base and then the top.  And three One of my son in laws and my sixteen year old grand son live next door and my other son in law is a block away.

[wdwerker]

RE drawing bows  I can see how both varieties could be useful. I just wish they were available in 8' or 10' lengths. The asymmetrical version is out of stock until September 2018.  I might try making a tapered wood strip and see how that works for me.

[Chet]

5 hours ago, wdwerker said:

I might try making a tapered wood strip and see how that works for me.

This could be an interesting thing to work out.  The ones I have are fiberglass and about an 1/8" thick.  The asymmetrical one starts at 1/8 and goes to almost a point on the other end.   getting wood to act the same way without snapping at the skinny end could be a challenge.

[wdwerker]

Big curves ! Start at an 1/8th go to 1/4 in 10 ft or so. Sounds like a job for the tracksaw and some 8/4 stock.

[Chet]

Today I went to work on building the glides that will pull open for the extension leaves on the table. One of the common ways of doing this is to use two lengths of wood with a sliding dovetails.   I read an article in Fine Woodworking where instead of this the author used heavy duty drawer slides so I decided to try this method.  I started out with to pieces 2 1/2 inches X 1 inch and 61 inches long and 4 pieces of the same dimension but 30 1/2 inches long.  The drawer glide takes up 3/4 if an inch in width so I needed to cut a channel in the matching pieces plus I wanted to allow an 1/8 of an inch between the two pieces so they wouldn't bind against each other when they were being open or closed.  So I dadoed a channel 5/16 of an inch deep in eachPiece of track material.

After that I laid out for some counter sunk holes that will be used for screws to eventually attach the glides to the under side of the table.  I then drill 3/8 inch diameter holes 2 inches deep.  A total of 5 on the long tracks and 2 on the ends of the short tracks.

Next I cut a 2 1/2 inch piece off each end of the long tracks and number and mark their orientation on them to be used latter.

After this I started mounting the glides in the longer tracks.  I shimmed on each side to center the glide in the track and then drill a pilot hole and then adding the screw, moved the shims down to the next location and repeated the process until all the glides were mounted in the longer tracks.  There are 2 glides in each long track, one at each end.

 

 

Next I attached the short track sections, one on each end of each large track.  To make sure that each section would be flat against the under side of the table I pulled the glide out just enough to access the first hole then I set the track next to it,  giving the glide a 2 1/2 inch set back from the end of the track.  

Then I clamped the whole setup with a spring clamp so nothing would move while I drilled and screwed it in place.  Then I released the clamp and pulled the track to expose the next hole and did the same thing, making sure everything stay flat against my bench.

After the second one I could just remove the whole track to put in a third screw.

Now I wanted to attach those 2 1/2 sections that I cut of the long tracks to the out side of the short tracks this way when everything is closed on the table you won't see the metal glide.  But to do this I had to allow for the 1/8 inch gap between the 2 tracks and also the channel on the inside of each track.  I took a piece of scrap that was 2 1/2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick and with my dado I made tongue on each edge of the board.

 Then cut it in to 2 1/2 inch pieces.  So these are the two pieces that will be glued to the outside of the short track ends, a three piece sandwich.

 

After the glue dried I laid out a 90 degree arc and cut it out on the  bandsaw...

... and cleaned it up on the oscillating spindle sander.

And this is what I ended up with for the end of the tracks.

By saving and numbering the end pieces I have a perfect grain match when closed.

 

Completed Extension glides.  Fun day.

 

 

 

[wtnhighlander]

Very slick design feature!

[wdwerker]

3/4" spaces means you went with the 200 lb capacity slides. Good choice !

[Chestnut]

That's good info for an expanding table. I might use that someday.

[Chet]

1 hour ago, wdwerker said:

3/4" spaces means you went with the 200 lb capacity slides. Good choice !

It was based on your recommendation, Thanks. certainly would go against your professional knowledge.

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

That's good info for an expanding table. I might use that someday.

Thanks Drew.

[chashint]

You sir, are a furniture building machine!

Thank you for posting your build.

[pkinneb]

Looking good Chet! Thanks for sharing I have a dinning room table on my list so very helpful info.

[Chet]

Next thing I did was attach the tracks to the bottom of the main section of the top.  I centered the two battens and then spaced the tracks off of these using a .020 shim on each side so as to not pinch the inside track as this is the one that will slide in and out.  It was a good thing that my outfit/assembly table was mobile because this project is really starting to tax my shop space.  I had to move the hand tool bench and also had to keep rolling the assembly table to different spots depending on what I was doing and what end of the table I was working on.

Then I attached the faux breadboard ends to the track ends.

Then with some help I flipped it over and marked where I want to locate the pins for the leaves. First I marked out the breadboard and top.

Then I put in the leaves and marked everything so all the pins will line up correctly.  Pencil lines are a little hard to see.

I used a self centering dowel jig and a 5/16 bit to drill the holes.  I used a blue tape flag to mark the correct depth.

The pins have small ribs on them and are pressure fit, they go in fairly easily with a small mallet. I used a non-mar mallet so i didn't accidentally flatten the tip of the pin.

You can see at the far end that when I laid out and drilled for the pins I still hadn't cut the leaves to their final size.  I wanted to make sure that if they shifted for any reason during the pin install I would still have enough to trim to size.

After all the pins were installed I put all the leaves in place.  Then I laid out the track for my track saw to trim everything to final size.  The edge of the main section was a  good reference  so I set the track so it just skimmed the edge of the main section.   I used the TSO fence guide at one end and then clamped the track from underneath at the other. and made the cut.

All done.

I have to do some sanding on the top parts and assemble the base and then on to finishing. but this was for the most part the end of construction.  stay tuned more to come.

 

 

[wdwerker]

Looking good ! 

Are you going to use any type of locking device to keep the joints closed ?

[Chet]

1 hour ago, wdwerker said:

Looking good ! 

Are you going to use any type of locking device to keep the joints closed ?

Yea probably.  I was hoping it would be okay with out but I think I am going to have to add them.  Don't want the turkey falling through the table on Thanksgiving. 

[wdwerker]

I have seen those window latches that an arm swings around then pulls back to tighten. 

https://www.doorcorner.com/oilrubrcamac.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=171383606173&gclid=CjwKCAjwk9HWBRApEiwA6mKWaYpftueCHKAv-MmBjzJWW2JTmqe1VUzxuIQawYO274FqjuunYc5w0RoCKSUQAvD_BwE 

Those are just an example. I'm sure you can find that style somewhere near you.

[Alan G]

Rockler has a few options.

http://www.rockler.com/hardware/project-hardware/table-hardware

[Chestnut]

Yep stealing that table extension idea for sure thanks. This looks great! I'm hopefully going to be building a trestle table soon. I want to go a slightly different style but it should all work the same. Have you thought about making a storage area under the table top for the extension leaves?

[Chet]

10 hours ago, wdwerker said:

I'm sure you can find that style somewhere near you.

Yea we have a good old fashion hardware store about I mile from the house that has a pretty good line of that type of stuff.

 

3 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Have you thought about making a storage area under the table top for the extension leaves?

Between the table legs is less then 20 inches so you couldn't store them side by side and storing them end to end the table isn't long enough.  Plus I am so used to seeing the present table leaves in my closet that I don't know how I would start the day if there wasn't table parts stored there. 

[Chestnut]

50 minutes ago, Chet said:

Yea we have a good old fashion hardware store about I mile from the house that has a pretty good line of that type of stuff.

 

Between the table legs is less then 20 inches so you couldn't store them side by side and storing them end to end the table isn't long enough.  Plus I am so used to seeing the present table leaves in my closet that I don't know how I would start the day if there wasn't table parts stored there. 

Stacked? I wouldn't want to disrupt your morning ritual that's just not nice. So i think you should continue keeping them in your closet.

Also in a more piratical thought if they are tucked up under the table the might be difficult to get out.