Popular Post Damon777 Posted September 24, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 I have been lurking here for a few months, and I am working on my first "fine" woodworking project. A pair of mission end tables. This project started earlier this summer with a call from a friend. He had someone contact him with some white oak to give away. It was either grab it or it was headed to the dumpster. We went and took a look and decided that we would save it. It's all rough sawn, and cut to 4' lengths as that was what this guy could store. But hey, free wood is free wood, right? Not having ever milled rough lumber before, I took a bunch over to my friend's place to get to rough size. We worked on the pile for a few weeks (off and on), and I got home with all of the parts I needed, jointed and planed to thickness. I will say that there was a pile of waste with these. the 4' length didn't help either, as only so many parts could come out of a board. I'm learning, and trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear at this point. I then ripped the top and shelf panel boards to width and proceeded to glue up the panels. (Note the Unisaw I restored this summer as well. I'll never go back to a contractor's saw after using a tuned cabinet saw). I need more clamps as well. From here I started working on the legs. There are through mortises on the legs as well as mortises in the insides to hold the "cross" rails. Since I don't have a mortiser, I decided to try to hog out the waste with a forstner bit and chisel to clean up. This was on a piece of scrap so I wouldn't ruin the good parts. It worked OK, but a pile of labor, and I wasn't the happiest with the end result. So, that lead me to build a jig for my trim router. (I don't own a plunge router yet, and I was taking shallow cuts.) This worked far better than the forstner technique. I squared up the holes with chisels. Tenons on the table saw for the side rails I changed the saw setup for the side cuts and tried a test fit. I little gap, but I am pretty happy with my first M&T joint. So I moved on to mortising the side rails and making the spindles. Since these mortises were hidden, I went a hair too long with the router for easier chisel work. I then dry-fit part of the assembly. I'm pretty happy with how these are coming out. The spindles are a hair short, so I may open up the lower thru mortises to move the bottom rails up a hair. If I do that, I am thinking about doing wedges in the tenons to close up the gap at the top and bottom of the mortise. This is as far as I am as of today. I am hoping to get some more done this week, but I do have limited time to work on this stuff. Thanks for taking a look! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted September 24, 2018 Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Looks like a great start Damon and welcome to the forum, your work shows that a person doesn’t need a shop full of tools to do fine work, but get the checkbook ready it’s quite a deep and fun hole to throw money at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted September 24, 2018 Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Excited to see how these go. So far it looks like my style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon777 Posted September 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 1 hour ago, treeslayer said: Looks like a great start Damon and welcome to the forum, your work shows that a person doesn’t need a shop full of tools to do fine work, but get the checkbook ready it’s quite a deep and fun hole to throw money at. I assure you I have a shop full of tools. Either they didn't get used on this project, are in need of restoration, or I don't have them yet. (jointer). I'm just learning how to use them effectively now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted September 24, 2018 Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Great stuff!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan G Posted September 24, 2018 Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Looks great! Welcome to the forum!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon777 Posted September 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Thank you guys. I do appreciate it considering the company I am in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Many keep working and keep posting and you'll go from learner to semi-pro in no time. It's already starting to look awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom King Posted September 25, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 A good friend of mine asked me once what method I was going to use to do something. I don't remember what it was we were talking about, but I remember my answer. I said I was going to use the same method I use to do anything- Attack. I see that in you, and I understand it. You don't wait until you have the exact best tool for the job. You just get it done with what you have at hand. Keep up the good work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leaseman Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Looks great. M & T joints require some patience as I've recently learned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted September 26, 2018 Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 Kudos on the lumber score. Looks like a good start on the tables. I always enjoy a project journal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted September 26, 2018 Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 It's gonna be great! I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Damon777 Posted September 27, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted September 27, 2018 I worked on these some more tonight. A few days back I started the finish process I am thinking about doing on a piece of scrap. Minwax dark walnut stain, Watco dark walnut danish oil, and one coat of amber shellac. I have another coupon going with 2 coats of the stain. I would like it to be a hair darker. I may change the shellac color. On to more milling. First, I needed to cut a groove into the bottom side rails to accept the bottom shelf. I have all of the material to build a router table, but I haven't gotten there yet. It will be my next project after these tables. Anyway, my dado stack only goes to 5/8", so the router was going to be my tool of choice. I got thinking about it, and my mortise jig would work pretty good with one of the bottom guides removed. I give you the poor man's dado rig: These were only 3/16" deep, so I did them in two passes to not stress out the trim router. They turned out pretty nice, IMO. After I put the kids to bed, it was back out to cut the last rails (rip and crosscut), then cut the tenons. As an aside, I love the saw more every time I use it. I restored it this summer, so I have an essentially brand new 1967 Unisaw. I had to see what these were shaping up to be, so I squared off a few more mortises and assembled a corner. My shop is a disaster. We plan to insulate this fall, then I will organize way better. Right now, I have all of the parts milled. I will do some final fitting, then move on to a pile of sanding. Thanks for watching guys. I appreciate any input (good or constructive bad) on these. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Damon777 Posted October 24, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 Just keep sanding... I did manage to hook up the shop vac. What a difference in airborne dust. I still use the respirator, though. Everything is sanded to 120. Finished dry fitting the parts other yhan the panels tonight. Sand to 180, cut the panels, glue up, and finish. There are some small gaps, but they won't be noticeable in use. As stated, these are my first M&T joints. If I try to fix, I risk more than just living with what I have. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 They are looking good Damon. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 The tables are looking awesome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 Love the ingenuity of making do with what you have. Although, you have a forklift and dont have a full size plunge router?! I have 4+ routers, but no forklift, and i could have REALLY used a forklift for most of my tools i have. Moving 1500-2000lb stuff sucks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 The table are looking great. When using a router to make your mortise you might give rounding the ends of the tenons a try instead of squaring up the mortises. You have some through mortises on your current project and obviously you want them square. But if they are not through you might give rounding the tenons a try. I find it a little faster and they don't have to be as exact as squaring up the Mortise. I have to ask... what is the forklift for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon777 Posted October 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Pwk5017 said: Love the ingenuity of making do with what you have. Although, you have a forklift and dont have a full size plunge router?! I have 4+ routers, but no forklift, and i could have REALLY used a forklift for most of my tools i have. Moving 1500-2000lb stuff sucks. I do have a couple of full size routers, but no plunge bases for either. I plan to install one in a soon-to-be built router table. If I had that built, I would have cut the mortises on that. 2 hours ago, Chet said: The table are looking great. When using a router to make your mortise you might give rounding the ends of the tenons a try instead of squaring up the mortises. You have some through mortises on your current project and obviously you want them square. But if they are not through you might give rounding the tenons a try. I find it a little faster and they don't have to be as exact as squaring up the Mortise. I have to ask... what is the forklift for? I was cutting the tenons on the table saw, and snuck up on the sizes. In the future I will probably round the tenons, but I wanted to try and square my holes up this time. Why? Chisel practice on holes unseen, I guess.. As far as the forklift is concerned, I initially was looking for a US made engine hoist to move my big machines around during their restorations and such. I stumbled across the forklift during that search, for not a whole lot more money. Now if I am ever going to haul heavy or big stuff home in the truck, I toss a pallet in for easy unloading. It's pretty awesome to slide sheet goods off the truck onto the forks. I use it way more than I thought I would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Damon777 said: In the future I will probably round the tenons, but I wanted to try and square my holes up this time. Why? Chisel practice on holes unseen, I guess.. Absolutely nothing wrong with developing new skills. There are times when you will be glad you can do both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 Tables are looking great. I really dig the A&C/mission style, it's simple and timeless but offers a lot of room for embellishment. That is a good place to develop skills. Honestly rounding isn't worth the time chop the tenon narrow enough to fit and leave the rounded mortise sections empty they don't contribute noteworthy strength to the glue up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon777 Posted October 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 I am debating tapering the legs slightly under the shelf. Just on the inside corners (AKA square on the outside corner). The plan I am working from has a curve on the bottom of the bottom rails, but I am eliminating that. I am thinking the leg taper may lighten the bottom slightly. I have a couple of spare legs without mortises I can try it on to see how it looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 18 minutes ago, Damon777 said: I am debating tapering the legs slightly under the shelf. Go ahead and mock it up and see what you thing, but I think they look good the way they are. I think the taper will take away from the mission style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 An excellent project, from someone without a lot of experience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 Thanks for sharing. I like your tables. You have a future in woodworking. I like your old table saw. I was trained an an old Delta/Unisaw. Do you know the year model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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