tables done......

I'm calling the tables done. I still have to put 2 more coats of poly on one of the tops and once I've done that the tables will be 100% finished. I got five coats of shellac on the leg/bottom thingies and I don't think I need do anything anymore there.

starting point

.I traced the outline of the figure 8 on the top on the apron first with a pencil.. I used that little gouge to outline the figure 8 before I chiseled it out. The gouge wasn't a perfect match but by overlapping I was able to get it done. I then chiseled out most the waste with a 1/2" chisel.

used my small router to get consistent depths for the figure 8's

one ready for a figure 8

one down 7 to go

The figure 8's are hidden by the legs. I didn't plan it that way, I just got lucky that it turned out that way. For small tops such as these are, I am going to use 1 figure 8 per leg. If this were a bigger top, I would put a second one per leg were the aprons cross.

last one done ready for the tops

I couldn't clamp the tables in either of my vises to do the chiseling and routing.  I set them on this table and pinned them against the workbench with my body as I chopped away. For a couple of tables this was ok. If I ever do more than 2, I'll have to come up with some way of securing them so I can work on them body free.

one table top done one more to go

done

Now that these are done, I noticed that the gaps on the through mortises aren't so visible. You have to get up close and personal to see them. The figure 8 fasteners aren't visible at all.  If you get down at their level you can see one or two of them but not all four.

temporary resting place

I am not sure if I am going to give these to my friend because I really like them. While I make up my mind this is where I intend to use them. This will give me a little more real estate until I get my desk done.

accidental woodworker

dovetail marking gauge.....

I have 4 metal dovetail gauges, 3 from Lee Valley that are 6,8, and 14 degrees, and one brass one that I don't remember where I got it. That gauge is a 1 in 8 - I matched it up with the LV 8 degree marker. I took this opportunity to make a couple of more markers out of wood. And I did them by hand and got some practice in with my hand saws and sawing to the line. These gauges are basically a tenon and nothing more.

tool line up - forgot my rip saw

The plan for the dovetail gauge came from the book by Paul Sellers. I'm going to make a 10 and 12 in 1 gauge out of poplar. I have oak but I want to get some practice in first and then I when I feel confident and I'm getting good results, I'll make some out of oak. Paul recommends a piece of hardwood about 7/8" thick by 1 1/4" wide by 4" long. This piece of poplar is a tad shy of 8" but I am still going to make both gauges out of what I have.

two pieces one is just shy of 4"

10:1 on one side 12:1 on the other

layout done for the 10:1

making the knife wall for the saw to follow

started with the rip cuts first

not so good

other side a little better

doing some clean up

I did this cleanup with a two handed grip on the chisel. I've been watching Paul Sellers do this cleanup this way. I was surprised by how much finesse you have with this set up. It is very easy to take a very small bite and control it. My cleanup here went pretty well and although my cheeks aren't dead nuts parallel, they are smooth.

first side

the other side

I had a little bit of dip in the square line but when I butted it up against the edge and struck a line it came out square. When I flipped it and did the other side it came out square also.

gauge line is parallel to the lay out line

square lines are parallel and 90 to the edge

12:1 cheek cuts

12:1 cheek cuts other side - tried to correct an errant cut

My cuts for the second gauge were a tad better then the first ones. I noticed that when I was cutting I had a tendency to cut on a slant towards my left. The saw will follow the sawn line without hesitation. I cut down first at a 45 on the line and then straight across the top down about 1/4".  I then finished cutting down my original 45 to the shoulder line. I flipped it over and repeated it on the other side. If your first cut if fubar when you cut the opposite side the saw will track in the cut line. You can see in the pic that I tried to correct for the first cut that the saw was following.

square on the 12:1 from the right

square from the left

check of my 12:1 gauge lines

The 12:1 gauge came out a tad better then the 10:1 gauge. Both gauges could use some improvement. However, comma, slant, backslash, ditto marks, this was a first attempt and for that it ain't so bad. I am going to use these gauges and make a couple of boxes to see how accurate they are.

two gauges to try out

I already scrounged the scrap pile and set aside enough stock to make 2 boxes. I'll do them tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

I did it on purpose......

I didn't have an urge to make anything in the shop tonight after work. I don't feel like this to often and tonight I went with the flow. I purposely did the finishing first so I couldn't do anything else after that.

table tops

Table #2 is up 4 to 1 in poly or is it the opposite? I'm glad that I remember that the one with the most poly coats has a hole in it - straight through.

bottoms

I got one coat of shellac on these and I should be able to finish these tomorrow. That is a definite plus for using shellac because you can get a bazillion coats on in one day.

 I ordered some screws for the figure 8 fasteners that I'm going to use from McFeely's. I also ordered some grain filler from the same company to use on my desk. I've never used grain filler before so this is something I'm looking forward to trying. I think that it is a necessity because this is a desk and I want a smooth surface for writing.

knob thingie

I thought I would finish the knob thingie and lid at the same time as the bottoms. I still think I did a pretty good job on this for my first try. For such a small object,  this lid is one heavy mother. The bottom of this box is still going to be 1/8 ply and I'm thinking of in letting into the bottom of the box. This way I won't see the ply on the bottom - not that it is that bad to look at. I want to dress this up a little more.

That piece of cherry by the lid is going to be made into a spatula or a spoon. It depends upon how much stock is needed to make either one and the biggest one wins. The spoon and spatula are a couple of the first projects that Paul Sellers presents in his Artisan series DVDs. I am going to make them all starting with these two.

the start of the cold frame

I did have one pic of the cold frame fiasco and here's the parts. All that's left is the dirty storm window. Hopefully plan #2 will yield better results.

accidental woodworker

cold frame almost......

The bride and her brother started a garden last year and it is on again for this year. The two of them are gung ho into this year more so than last year. That's due to them having learned from the mistakes they made last year that they aren't going to repeat this year. I've stayed on the side lines and I purposely stayed off the playing field.

That changed today with an email the bride sent to me at work requesting a cold frame. As soon as I got home I scrounged in the garage and found some old painted pine boards. The plan was to get this done and surprise her before she got home. Ah, the plans of mice and men......

 The boards I found had their ends rotted but I could cut them off and still have good wood. They were a tad twisted and a few were cupped a little too. 2 of the six boards were split and I'm not talking just an end check. The last board I looked at had a humongous knot in the center of the board. Should I have heeded the warning signs? Maybe I should have included this in the things I learned blog entry.

I'm brain dead. I knew I shouldn't have made a frame out of this crap but I did. I had an old storm window that I was using as the "top". I made the frame with an over sized groove on 3 sides for the window to slide in. The plan was pretty good. The woodworking was ok. The window would not slide in or out of the frame at all without jamming.

I tried to get it to work to the point that I split 2 of the grooves on the frame. No matter how I tried to slide the window it cocked and jammed. I've moved on to plan #2 which involves new, straight wood and a top frame that is hinged no more of the cleverness with grooves.

I would show some pics of it but I had a time out for a little therapy. It was a small 2-3 minute exercise that involved me, a 3 lb sledge hammer, and the recalcitrant cold frame.  The frame is now kindling and I definitely showed it who is boss. I feel much better knowing that at least some of the proceeding  wasted hour was productive.

accidental woodworker

table build pt V......

I started first working on the gaps I have with my through tenons. I gathered up a pile of oak sawdust and grabbed my hide glue and went to town.

a wee bit too much

this exercise didn't take long to do

 The hardest part of filling the voids was cleaning off the putty knife from the homemade filler that stuck to it. I ended up using two putty knives, one to apply the hide glue and the other to work the dust into the cracks. I used a chisel to clean off the putty knives in between applications.  It looks like I will have to break out some sandpaper tomorrow.

table table #2

Before I put the finish on this table I ran the #80 and my #3 over it one last time. The table tops were one part of this build that I didn't use any sandpaper on. You can see a big difference between surfaces that were planed only and ones that were done with sandpaper. I'm liking the planed look a lot.

brushed it off and tack clothed it before the shellac went on

two coats of seal coat shellac before the poly

table top #1 (back one) is up 3 coats of poly to none on table #2

This is the dull part of building for me. I find applying the finish to be a chore. It is definitely the tops in things I don't like to do. In order to do these table tops is going to take over a week - putting on the finish, wait, repeat several times. Exciting, eh?

In the interim I'll be thinking of how I'm going to attach the tops to the legs. I'm using figure 8 fasteners to hold them on. I have to decide how to orient the top in relation to the legs. As of now I'm leaning in the direction of the long grain of the tops to be 45 degrees to the legs. Subject to change as always.

accidental woodworker

knob thingie.....

I didn't have enough work to do on the tables and I didn't want to quit the shop so early. Since I had been banging around ideas in the brain bucket all day about a knob thingie, I decided to give it a try. And I got to use my new Auriou rasp in making my knob thingie.

started with a figured piece of scrap oak

the cut off the miter box

The learning curve is a tad steep right now for me with this miter box. I haven't quite figured it out but I can't get the cut completely done. The last inch or so closest to me, the saw won't cut because it won't go down into that portion. The saw is slanted downwards away from kicking up the other end. In order for me to complete the cut I have to put another piece of wood underneath what I'm cutting. I did get the very first cut I made completely down because I cut into my table. So at least on that cut I did something right. I'll figure it out, it'll just take a little time and a few scraps.

The cut I am getting from this miter box saw is incredibly smooth. It is a better cut then anything I have gotten off my motorized one. I really have to solve this problem I'm having with this box.

start of my knob thingie

I cut these shallow grooves on the handle with my tablesaw. I left it a tad big than needed to make it easier to hold whiling shaping it.

shaping the thingie

I used my chisel to rough a round over on both sides of the groove I made. I then used my Auriou rasp to finish the round over.This is another good tool that is worth the money to buy it. The finish off this rasp is awesome. All you need to do to it is use some 220 and you're done.

one round over on one  side almost done

 1/2" holes from the drill press

I faired these holes into the sides, top, and bottom by rounding them over with my rasp.

knob thingie

The knob thingie is almost done. I did most of the work with the two tools on the lid. I have to sand and smooth the round overs on the the top of the knob before I call it done. I'm pretty happy with what I did here today. It's not perfect or ready to put into the Smithsonian but pretty darn good for my first attempt. I'll post the finished pic when I'm done.

accidental woodworker

the boss said.....

Time in the shop tonight was severely shortened due to the boss wanting to go out to eat. I barely got anything done tonight  before she got home with the new marching orders. I did get some fish and chips which is in my top 3 favorite meals.

knife wall tenon

 Before I snapped this pic I got a good scare because I played Mr Bounce test with my camera. It passed. I survived and my camera did too. I don't think the camera screamed as loud as I did though.

This tenon doesn't look that bad. It's in shadow and I am starting to feel a little better about it. Once it's down closer to the floor it'll be even harder to focus on. As for the gaps on through tenons, I'll be filling them with oak sawdust and hide glue. That was on the hit parade for tonight but has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

the hole

After the first coat of poly went on, the hole popped right out. With the shellac you had to focus and search in order to find it. The poly darkened it just enough make it stick out. Another decision about what to do about it. Leave as is or try to do some  painting with stain to disguise it a tad more? The bride suggested a doily to hide it. I'm liking that not half bad idea.

I didn't make it with using only hand planes to finish the tables. I tried using my #3 to do the edge of the table top and it didn't work out ( especially on the end grain). I was able to use my card scraper with better results which surprised me. I still  had to use 4 grits of sandpaper on the edge to get it smooth and presentable. Red oak end grain is real hard stuff to work with.

bi-weekly dovetailed box

I don't have any 1/8 ply big enough for the bottom. I have plenty of pieces long enough but none that were wide enough. I found this piece of scrap white oak to use as a lid and for such a small piece of wood, it's heavy. It'll have to do because I had the same problem with hardwood scraps that I had with the 1/8 ply. I cut the rabbets for this on the tablesaw and I then cleaned the rabbets up with my tenon plane.

I want to put some kind of edge decoration on this lid. I'm leaning in the direction of bevels but no matter what type of edge treatment I do, I still have to get the lid off. I'm not sure there will be sufficient real estate left to afford a finger grab after that is done. Maybe a knob thingie?

Tomorrow I'll try to do what I wanted to do tonight.

accidental woodworker

what I have learned......

I've been playing at being a woodworker for a long time. I would consider myself a pretty good amateur at this point in my life. I still remember the first project I made and how I would do the same project now so differently. It proves that through the years by making a lot of bad, some good, and a few better projects, along with the mistakes, and techniques I learned, something stuck in my brain bucket. I have learned.......

1.   Wood can not be stretched along it's length or width. Period.

2.   If a board is cut an inch too short, it takes an act of God to add it back. For now, cut a little long and trim to fit.

3   Sandpaper does not last forever. It eventually will stop cutting and producing sanding dust. Buy more or learn to use hand planes. Hand planes are more friendly for your lungs.

4.   You should dry clamp all projects before committing to gluing the joints, no matter how small or large the project.

5.   Not everyone is going to like what you make.

6.    You should be happy with what you make or at least with the process of making it.

7.   Everyone makes mistakes. Even you will no matter how careful or how much you use the 7 P's. (proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance) Learn to work with the mistakes and around them.

8.   Keeping your tools sharp is a must learn early skill. Find a method you like, that works for you, and stick to it.

9.   Without trying new things and practicing, your woodworking will never improve.

10.  Do not compare yourself to others. Compare what you did today with what you did yesterday.

11.  Do not be afraid to say to that you do not know how to do something.  Search the internet, read the woodworking blogs, or ask another woodworker. Practice doing it, make mistakes, and learn from it. Repeat as necessary.

12. There is more then one method or way of doing things. If your way works stick to it. If you see another way of doing, try it. If you like it,  stick to that one. If not continue the way you were. There really isn't a right or wrong way.

13.  Cut the tails first or the pins first? It does not matter.  Cut them the way you are initially taught/learned to do it. Decide which is first after you've made a few hundred joints. This applies equally to whatever you are learning/being taught/trying - be it dovetails, chopping mortises, making grooves, etc.

 14.  Chose a way of working wood that suits you and what you want to do. Hand tool only or power tool only doesn't matter. Working wood is what matters.

15.  If something doesn't feel right, don't do it. Trust your instincts.

16.  Woodworking can be dangerous. Think and work safely. By the time you say aw sh...., it's too late.

17.  After 40+ years of woodworking I still get excited making anything out of wood. I'll keep at this until I no longer get jazzed about doing a woodworking project.

accidental woodworker

tables pt IV.......

No, I haven't neglected my desk by working on the tables. Yes, I am easily distracted and will go off on a tangent in a heart beat but I'm thinking on the desk all the time. I am going to use through tenons on the desk and the tables were practice for that. I want to finish the desk as I am doing the tables, without sandpaper and using only hand planes. So after the tables are done, it's on to the desk.

out of the clamps

The first thing I checked once these tables were out of the clamps was whether or not they wobbled. On one table it does a tad and the other doesn't at all. It looks like I won't have to practice let's make all the legs the same. Next is flushing up the wedges and the tenons.

my bi weekly practice dovetail box

I made this box last night and it's a couple of firsts for me. I laid out the tails by eye - I didn't measure for them. Secondly, this is my first contrasting hardwood/softwood box. I'm going to glue a piece of 1/8 plywood to the bottom and scrounge the wood scrap pile for a lid.

the original stretcher

I figured out what was wrong with the stretcher, it was about a 1/4" wider than the other stretcher. That's the only measurement that is different from the other stretchers. This caused the tenons to be offset when one stretcher was installed. I must have missed cutting these stretchers at the same time I did the others.

through tenons

I'm not happy with this gap. Just about all the tenons/mortises have at least one little gap somewhere. I've done better and I'm not entirely happy with this. Undecided at this point whether to fill them with sawdust and hide glue or wait and fill it with sawdust and shellac. Or just leave it as is.

one view

second view

It took some head scratching to figure out how to secure the legs in my shoulder vise so I could plane the wedges flush. After I flushed them I ran the #80 scraper over each outside leg face. I clamped each leg one at a time in the wagon vise and cleaned up the inside of the legs and the stretchers. I used a card scraper here because there isn't enough real estate to navigate with the #80.

can you find the hole?

If you zoom in you can find the hole in the top here. A casual look won't reveal anything. The hole blends in with surrounding grain real well.

finishing table top #1

This table has two coats of seal coat shellac and one coat of wipe on poly. I am using poly on the top because I don't think the shellac will hold up to whatever. With poly I don't have to worry about water/alcohol at all. I think about 6-8 coats of semi gloss will do it. The rest of the table is getting 5-6 coats of shellac.

That's it for me tonight. I just received my copy The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton, 2nd edition. I tried to get a first edition but the cheapest one I could find was almost 200 big ones, cash american. This copy only set me back 40 with s/h. Time to read what kind of tools a cabinetmaker needed in 1797.

accidental woodworker