Yesterday our dishwasher intake valve broke while we were out. So, hot water ran on the kitchen floor and to the basement for about 2 hours. We had a flood. The kitchen floor I hope dries out, it is old maple hardwood. There is some curling but I am hoping that it gets better.
The basement ceiling was 110 year old lath and plaster. It was soaked and falling. So I cleaned up the water and removed the ceiling. What a mess. I also had to replace the valve in the dishwasher. I hope things get back to normal soon.
I am catching up with my posting here. It is very cold here, the pipes in the shop froze again, even with the heat tape that I used to wrap around the copper pipe. However, they did not burst like the last time. I heated them with my heat gun and they started to flow again. Now I am going to leave them running a trickle and see if that helps.
I turned the table over and drilled the table buttons for a 1 inch #8 screw. This leaves 1/8 inch before the screw would go through the top. I used 10 buttons to hold down the top, this should help keep it flat and tight to the apron turrets.
Now I need to make the molding that matches the top and bottom of the turrets. This I will make by using traditional molding planes. I made a half set of hollows and rounds earlier this year and I am eager to use them.
I made some 3/8 inch stock and then used my fillister plane of create the first groove. Then I used the rabbet plane to create steps for the 3/8 inch round plane to follow. It worked out pretty good.
Tomorrow I check out the shape and make adjustments and I hope it is a lot warmer.
Here is the latest video:
This table top has been a lot more work than I anticipated. If you has watched the earlier videos and followed along, I have be working on this top for quite awhile. Well, I admit that I did make two! But making the second has not been that much additional work. In the last post I was scraping the molding on the top, I finished that and now I am carving the corners of the circles on the bottom of the top. These have to come together in a crisp 90 degree angle. So, I did not think it would take that much time to carve, scrape and sand my way around the top. Well, I was wrong again. It was a tedious process and took almost 4 hours altogether. It done now and so is the top except for sanding and finishing. I am going to mount it, so I do a little planning on using the table buttons.
Here is the next video, enjoy!
Well I finished the routing of the two table tops. That was a lot of work, I an not sure that it saved me anytime. But if I have to make another I have the jigs to do it faster. The set up for each pass on jig for the circles is far more time than the time it takes to route the molding. You have to clamp each side to be sure that the circle you are going to cut is flat to the bench top. Also, I used a hold fast then to stabilize the rest of the top. Then I was ready to put the router in the jig, check the depth that the router was going to cut at that point. Turn on the router and zip, zip the cove molding is made. Tear down the set up, vacuum the dust, move to the next circle and repeat the set up again. I am tied just explaining it. It is over now and I have used my router more than I have in the last 5 years.
Now I have to clean up when things are not quite smooth. I am using carving chisels, a scraper and sand paper to clean up the molding.
So, here is today's video.
Well I have finally finished smoothing out the two tops. Was that a lot of work! There must be an easier way of removing a 1/4 inch of material from the top of the table. I have seen quite a number of Pie Crust Tables. Those tops are much larger than mine and they have carved moldings around the edge. So, the entire surface of those tables had to be lowered to expose the molding. I'll have to do some reading to see if there is a better way.
So instead of carving a cove all the way around the table, I decided to use a cove bit and a jig to rough out the molding shape. I will use carving to finish the job but I hope to reduce the effort.
I made the jig from 1/2 inch plywood and tested it out. I works pretty good but it is slow to set up.
But it is important to secure the top and make sure it is flat to the jig.
I almost finished one top today and I should finish the other tomorrow.
So here is today's video.
I took the weekend off since we went out of town to a ski resort. We didn't ski but we had a great time with the grandkids. So I am back in the shop today. I have decided to clean up and flatten the second table top so that I have a choice in which one that I am going to use in the final assembly. It will be interesting if I decide to carve both table tops. Right now the carving of the molding around the parameter seems like a lot of work and will be challenging.
The clean up of the table top is not that easy, I am using planes, spokeshave, carving chisels, and scrapers to get it flat and smooth. My arm is sore from repetitive motion and I still have half of the top to go.
Here is the video from today's work. Enjoy!
I finished planing and scraping the table top after using the router to lower the majority of the table top by 1/4 inch. Dust was everywhere upstairs in the shop where I had set up to do the routing. It took me 30 minutes to vacuum up all the chips. I really dislike using the router but removing 1/4 inch from the entire top by hand would have been challenging. I suppose I would have used a router plane to set some reference grooves and then used chisels to remove the bulk of the waste. After that I suppose it would have been the same for smoothing - planes and scraping. Maybe next time I'll do it by hand.
Here is a short video showing the scraped table top.
My friend Doug Moulder finished his project today. He is a lot quicker than I am, maybe I should enlist him to help finish the table. Anyway, he has been building a replica of the Thomas Jefferson Writing Desk. He made it from walnut and did most of the work by hand. He did a wonderful job and sent me a few pictures. I have seen these reproductions go for $800 or more. Thanks for sharing Doug.
Well I finished routing out the 1/4 inch off of the table top. And no matter how careful I was it did not leave a smooth surface. I was very disappointed in grooves that were left by the router. I checked all of the equipment to see where the problem might have been but I do not see any defect in the process that I used.
So, one table top is routed and I started to plane and scrape the surface smooth. It is just about completed and I am satisfied that the top is going to be acceptable. For now, I am not going to route the other top that I made.
The next thing I have to figure out is how to carve the molding around the outside edge.
Here is the video from today's work:
Yesterday, I started to shave a 1/4 inch off of the top of the table tops. I am using a jig for the router that I made a few years ago for flattening a table top. I am using 2 routers, one with 3/4 inch bit and 1/4 inch bit. I am taking off 1/8 inch and the next pass I hope to get it smoother and close to the final depth. I want to leave a little material to be taken off with a hand plane, spoke shave or scraper.
I finished cutting out a new table top. The new one is a little flatter than the old one but both are acceptable. The new one does not have the discoloration in the middle but has other grain challenges.
So now I am ready to cut a 1/4" groove around the parameter of the table to give me room to hog out the rest of the material to lower the surface by a 1/4" across the entire top. This is in preparation for carving the molding around the edge. I made a template out of mdf and attached it to the top and used a guide bearing in the router to facilitate cutting the groove. It works well but I have to be careful as I go to the outside of the circle so I don't tip the router and cut deeper. I did this once while I was practicing.
I did not get too much time in the shop today since I had to run errands and leave early for a dinner.
So here is the video with my progress.
Well after looking at the current table top a bit more today, I decided to make another one to see if it would be flatter and better fitting than the one that I have completed to this point. So I took the only other piece of wide maple that I have and flattened it and then thicknessed the board to 13/16". I traced the pattern from the table frame to the underside of the new table top just as I did with the first one. I added the 1/2" all the way around to allow for the round over and then set up to cut out and flush trim the table top. This process went so much quicker than the first time, since I have all the patterns and the process from the first one.
I have an apprentice Ian Helms, who comes once a week to learn woodworking. He has been coming for over a year now. He has built a bureau for his grandmother, tool chest and a number of other projects. I'll include a picture of him working in the shop in a later post. Anyway he came to the shop today, so I spent a little time working with him on his current project. He is making a cutting board for his mother. I think he will be making a bread board as well.
So here is the video of the remake of the table top.
Yesterday was the coldest day in Lakewood, it got down to -11F. Part of my shop is not heated all the time and the cold water pipe froze and cracked. So now I have a plumbing project when it gets a little warmer so that we can have water in the shop again.
I finished the smoothing over of the table edge that I started yesterday, I used files and carving chisel. So, now I was ready to round over the bottom. I used the 3/4" round over bit that I had tried on the test board. I made several light passes by slowly raising the bit, this reduced the amount burning on the side of the table top.
The only problem now is that I am not sure that I like the way it sits on the top of frame. I took some close ups and looked at it from several angles. I think it is ok but I may make another to see if it could be better.
It is the coldest day of the year. The shop started out nice and warm but the temperature was dropping all day long. The day started at about 20 degrees and by lunch it was 0 degrees. By dinner time it was 9 below zero outside. The shop has been getting colder as the day goes on, I am wearing 2 flannel shirts and my apron so I am staying warm.
I started the day by chatting with my friend Doug Moulder about his project. He is making a Thomas Jefferson desk out of walnut. I hope to see more picture of his project soon.
Here is a picture he sent me on his progress.
He has a lot of hand work going on in this project. He has ordered the felt for the writing surface and the hardware from Horton Brasses. When we were talking about my project he suggested that I use a flush trim bit in a router to clean up the circles after I cut them out. It sounded like a good idea so I made some templates and ran a test to see how it would work. I came out ok so that is what I did.
First I sawed with my jig saw around the table top leaving about 1/32 of an inch extra and then I used the flush trim bit and the router to smooth out the cutting. The router makes a lot of noise and dust so I wore a mask, goggles and ear protection while using that machine. I got it done, so now I am ready to round over the lower portion of the table top. I'll do that tomorrow.
So here is the video of today's progress.
Well I did spend some time in the shop today. Even though there was playoff football on tv. I did work on just how I am going to hollow out the top by 1/4" and then carve the molding along the edge. I made a template to use my router with the collar to cut a 1/4" deep by 1/4" wide groove which matched the circle and straight edge shapes. Look like this is going to work. Then I have to hog out the rest of the table using the router and a bowl bit which is flat bottomed. There is going to be a lot of dust so I'll use a mask, safety goggles and hearing protection. The layout the pattern for the full table top has been ascribed to the bottom of the table top. I have started to saw out the pattern.
Here is the video:
Another cold day. The shop is warm and I heated the glue in hot water to get ready to glue up the side turrets. I glued them on and clamped them. I also put some small nails in from the back to hold them in place. Now I have to turn my attention to the top. I milled a small piece of stock and traced the design on to the wood. I added 1/2" to the circles to allow for the round over. I band sawed the curves and used the router to round over the edges. I worked pretty good, so now I have to figure out how to carve the inside of the table top.
Here is today's video:
What a winter day. I got up at 7am to snowblow the driveway and sidewalks. That did no good because in a couple of hours it looked like I did nothing. Let it snow, I am going nowhere today. I did snowblow again at 5pm but with the blowing I sure I will have to do it again in the morning.
I did file and sand the knee blocks on the last 2 legs today and then I glued the legs to the frame. I used both strap clamps. I also glued and nailed the 2 side turrets to the ends of the table frame. While I am waiting for them to dry I turned my attention to the stock for the top. I have 2 wide boards 20" and 22" that I may used for the top. I started to flatten one this afternoon and we will see if it good enough for the top.
So here is the video of today's work.
Well, Happy New Year... I hope your new year was a great as mine. We stayed home this year and we cooked king crab legs and had a bottle of prosecco. We rented a movie on Amazon Instant Video. Great new years party. No baby sitting this year, first time in a number of years.
I did spend some time in the shop on new year's eve and new year's day. I completed the knee blocks and glued them to the legs. So the next step will be to glue on the legs to the frame and the side turrets to the frame. I'll get started on that tomorrow.
So here is the video for the work from yesterday and today.
