Cherry Chippendale Handkerchief Table Aprons & Mortises Part 3

Finally an update on the progress of the handkerchief table build.  I have been traveling. Chicago for a wedding and east to the Winterthur Furniture Forum in Delaware.   Great couple of days there and always informative.

I did complete carving the ball and claw on the 4 legs that I need.

On my way back from Winterthur I stopped at Groff and Groff Lumber in Quarryville, PA.  and purchased some 18 inch wide cherry boards for the top of the table.  These were 2 consecutive boards so the grain would match on both boards.

I don't have an 18 inch wide jointer so I will have to hand plane one side flat.  I am using an old reconditioned wooden jointer that I won last year from Old School Tools in the UK.

A little bit of hand work here and the board starts to reveal the color and grain. Looks like a good board and now I need to plane the other one.

Here are the two boards together. I have marked out the two triangles that will make up the top.  I have selected an area on the two boards that will mirror the grain pattern on both boards.  Should be a good looking top.

Since I now know were the  top is going to be on the boards I can use the rest for the aprons and swing leg that I need to make. So I cut off a 3 foot section of the board to be used for that material. This way the entire table will be made from the same material. Except the legs.

The two front aprons are 5 1/2 inches wide and are tenoned on one end at 3/4 inch.  The other end is about 1 1/2 tenon with a 45 degree shoulder.  A bit tricky.  I used my tenoning jig on the table saw to cut most of them.

Using the table saw here with the blade set at 45 degrees to saw most of the 45 degree shoulders.

Clean up with hand saw and chisels.

I select the front leg and put the simple 3/4 inch by 5/16 inch mortises in the leg for the aprons.

I use my hollow chisel mortiser but they could be done by hand. I saved the band saw cut offs from when I cut out the cabriolet legs so I could easily square up the legs.

Now things get real tricky. The rear two legs need angled mortises at 45 degrees. These are cut exactly on the edge of the back corner.

I had to make a V block to hold the leg at the correct angle and make sure that it was perpendicular to the chisel.  This could be done with a drill press as well. I also taped on the cut offs from the band sawing to square  up the legs.  This is why I did not cut the mortises before that legs were cut out.

Carefully cutting the mortises along  that edge about 1 1/2 inches deep.

Cleaning up with a chisel, they came out pretty good.  If I had messed up I would have had to remake the leg and carve another ball and claw.

Dry fitting the table base.

You can see where that angled mortise is located and why it is so important that it be as perfect as you can get it.

This rear piece of soft maple is not fastened to the legs, it is just held in by that strap clamp for now.  The joinery here is odd.

The hinge piece will be tenoned to the leg and glued to this back piece which will hold it in place.

A small piece with a tenon will be used on the other end to hold the back piece in place.  Then the swing leg will be attached to the swing arm.  Much hand work and fitting to be done here.

Looking from the front you can see that there is a lot of shaping to be done on the tops of the rear legs and knees to get them to be the correct shape around the corners.  This will be done after it is glued up.
Also the aprons need to be cut out with the pattern before glue up.

The front leg knee blocks will be the simple ones.

So for now I am going to work on the wood hinge and swing arm joinery in the back.  Get that to fit together and then cut out the pattern on the aprons.  That will be in the next post.

Here is today's video: