Finished table

November 11, 2011 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 3 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

 

I’ve been procrastinating on this post for a number of reasons. The veneering I did for the top didn’t turn out as well as I would have hoped. A combination of crazy humid weather and possibly not enough glue caused the veneer to form checks. This reminds me of how much timber is in synch with the environment, even long after the tree has been felled.

Wood movement in veneer

Wood movement in veneer

I decided to go in a different direction for the top. I had a nice piece of camphor wood waiting for an opportunity like this. So after some slicing up, resawing and gluing, we have a new table top. I really quite like the end result and the grain in the camphor is very striking.

Camphor wood top

Camphor wood top

Finished hall table #2

Finished hall table #2

Finished hall table #2

Finished hall table #2

If you like this table, or any of my other work, I’m starting to sell some pieces on etsy. So, take a look at my etsy store for details.

 

 

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Veneering the hall table top

November 4, 2011 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 2 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

 

The glue

I’m using “hide glue” for this process which is also known as animal glue. Yes, it’s literally made from bits of (dead) animal tissue, essentially cellulose. Animal glue has been used for many thousands of years and is perfect for veneering.

The basic process is to hydrate the glue granules with water, head it up to 60-80C and brush it onto the surface. The glue become tacky as it cools (which only take a few seconds). This provides the initial stickiness you need to lay down and position the veneer. Over the next few hours, the glue’s moisture evaporates and it pulls the two pieces of wood together forming a very tight bond.

What I love about it? It’s very forgiving. Just heat it up with a hairdryer or iron and it goes soft again ready for you to adjust.

The problem with it? It stinks!

Hide Glue warming in the pot

Hide Glue warming in the pot

The veneering

The piece had lots of twisting grain and knots causing it to “bubble” up in places. Essentially, some parts of the wood had expanded more than others. To soften the wood I used a mixture of water, glycerine and denatured alcohol. I covered both sides of the veneer in this concoction, sandwiched it between two pieces of plywood, and waited. After a few hours, it had decided to give up and was laying perfectly flat. Time to rumble!

Splash on the glue, lay down the veneer, slide it around a little and then use a veneer hammer to push out all the excess glue. The video below shows this process from start to finish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiIZ63CrSbM

The result

The table is coming along nicely. Some more finessing and finishing to do and we should be done and dusted.

Dry fit of the table with top

Dry fit of the table with top

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A hall table on my own

October 14, 2011 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 1 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

 

Sheez, has it really been that long? Well, the weather hasn’t been conducive to start gazing and it’s been too cold to sit out in the workshop building stuff. This last couple of weeks though I’ve started up again and decided to build a hall table. The last hall table I built (which was also the first) was as part of a course at Ideal Tools. This time, I’m trying it on my own.

A colleague from work, Michael Green, provided me with a very nice piece of birdseye featured Huon Pine veneer. I’ve designed this table around that piece.

First up however is rough cutting the parts from a slab. I’m using one of the English Elm slabs I bought at auction a few years ago. Cutting up the slab took a fair bit of work and heavy lifting but after a good day’s work I got the result I was after.

Rough cut parts

Rough cut parts

To join the legs to the aprons, I would usually rush to the Festool Domino. This time I decided to cut some sliding dovetails. Some time spent at the router table and then with a chisel in hand produced an ok result. The fit is quite solid but not great enough to be exposed to viewers. This image is probably the last you will ever see of it before it gets covered up with the top.

Dovetailed corner

Dovetailed corner

With the basic frame pieces done, I started work on finessing some of the shape. This began with tapering the legs. I used an inside taper, the same style I was taught at my course. The end result is quite pleasing and really gives the whole piece a light feel to it.

First dry fit

First dry fit

Moving onto the top, I had a number of options in mind. After playing around with a few pieces I’m settling on framing the huon pine top. The frame will be flush with the legs. This means I will need to plane the aprons down slightly so the frame can give a subtle shadow line around the piece. I’ll do this part once I have the frame cut to precise size.

Framed top

Framed top - clamped in place

 

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Hudson coffee table

July 14, 2011 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 3 of 3 in the series Hudson dining table

 

After delivering their dining table, the owners of this new home asked me to build them a matching coffee table. Was I stoked? Totally! Unfortunately due to various illnesses, work and getting caught up in the summer night skies, it took me a lot longer to finish than I wanted. Now however, I’m finally ready to show it off.

As with their dining table, this one is designed by Steven Hanson (the guy who built their home). It is build using 100% recycled/reclaimed Australian timbers … Victorian Ash (lighter) and Queensland Spotted Gum (darker). A simple finish of Scandinavian Oil and a very thin layer of wax tops it off.

Here’s a video showing the last half of the build.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-n9vcr5cn8

 

Finished Hudson coffee table

Finished Hudson coffee table

Final inspect by Stanley

Final inspect by Stanley

 

 

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Building a hall table – All finished

June 22, 2009 By Carl Joseph 1 Comment
This is part 3 of 3 in the series First hall table

 

Finished Hall Table

Finished Hall Table

Last Saturday was our last day on the course and we spent it giving out tables the final touches. It was most fun, especially getting to run a sander over oil and have it splash all over my t-shirt.

All in all, I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I’ve still got some finishing and waxing to do and need to actually make the inside of the draw and attach the top to the base, but aside from all those bits and pieces, it’s done!

Want some more information on this?

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Building a hall table – Part 2

June 15, 2009 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 2 of 3 in the series First hall table

 

Lots of progress in the last few weeks. The main one was a significant design change. Instead of the “fans” on the side, I decided to add a curved stretcher at the bottom. This compliments the slender lines of the legs better than a “fan” type thing on the side would.

Here’s Anthony helping to route a curve on a piece of ply for me. This will become the template I use to cut the Jarrah. By doing it this way, I can recreate the exact same piece multiple times (I need 2 for this hall table).

Routing the curve

Routing the curve

In between the two curved pieces, I made a number of “tenons” to fit between them. All in all I made at least 18, 9 of which were too narrow, the other 9 of which I only used 5! It took me a few hours to get the size right and chamfer the ends to they’re fit into the rounded holes. It’s not a job I want to do again soon.

I then laid out all the pieces in an organised manner, placed my clamps nearby ready to slot into place and yelled out for some help. The glue up is stressful. So many pieces needed to come together perfectly all at the same time and it wasn’t something I could do with only two hands.

Finally it came together, and here’s the current result.

Glue up

Glue up

Next on the list:

  • Making the draw and draw handle
  • Making the top and attaching it
  • Finishing the piece with oil
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Building a hall table – Part 1

June 1, 2009 By Carl Joseph Leave a Comment
This is part 1 of 3 in the series First hall table

 

I’m a few weeks into my first woorkworking course at Ideal Tools and thoroughly enjoing the experience. Most of my updates on this are on the wood working forum and on my Flickr account, but I thought I’d post a summary of my work here.

I started with rough lumber and dressed it to size with the jointer and thicknesser. This was good learning for me as I have read about this many many times, but haven’t done much of it myself. I ended up with four nicely square legs and the rails for the front, back and sides.

Dressed legs

Dressed legs

Making the draw front was interesting. The piece has a rectangular hole cut out of the front rail. I was wondering how we would do this so perfectly, but learnt I learnt the trick. I ripped the front rail into three pieces with the centre one the height of the draw front. I then cut out the draw piece and glued it all back together. The end result … it looks like I’ve cut out a perfectly rectangular slot for the draw.

Draw cutout

Draw cutout

Moving ahead a few steps … after putting an inside taper on the legs, finessing all the pieces, and making the mortises with the Festool Domino (I want one!), I was ready for my first dry fit. The result? Pretty impressive if I say so myself. I was very very happy to see it come together so nicely.

Dry fit #1

Dry fit #1

Still lots more to do:

  • Bottom rail
  • “Fans” for the side
  • Bottom shelf
  • Top
  • Draw & draw handle
  • Finishing
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