Entry hall table for a niece

[derekcohen]

The basic case complete ...

My niece's expressed wish is to have a table front looking as if it was faced by a single board. The original model for this project has two drawers. I did not see this working here since, as their width would be greater than their depth, two drawers would likely rack. Consequently, I decided to build three drawers of equal width (I considered a narrow drawer in the centre, but decided this would be too busy).

In order that the figure of the drawer fronts would not be interrupted by the drawer dividers, the drawers are to have half-blind dovetailed side lips, such as these ...

The drawers will each have a side lip of 6mm. This requires a 6mm wide side panel on each side of the case, and two 12mm wide drawer dividers. This will allow three drawers to run adjacent to one another, and the three fronts to be cut from a single board.

The drawer fronts will come from this board ...

Below are the panels for fitting ...

It occurred to me later (of course!) that the 6mm end panels could have been made to run with the grain direction of the case. Being the same Jarrah, this would have counted for any expansion/contraction, and there would not be any danger of movement being intrusive. Too late. It's glued.

So I did the next best thing, and planed 2mm off the upper and lower edges. This will permit enough movement, if any (it is a small and thin panel). There will not be any gaps seen as the front edges will later receive edging, which will be used as a depth stop.

Frankly, the hardest part of this section of the project was accurate marking out of the two central drawer dividers. These need to be both perfectly parallel, and also aligned vertically (the lower panel with the upper panel).

There is a second area that needed to checked, which is important for drawers to work well, and this that the lower panel is flat - that is, does not have any hills. I learned my lesson the hard way about this. All good.

The way I go about marking the dados for the dividers is to make templates for their position. These are used on both the lower panel, as below, and then the upper panel ...

The process is self-explanatory ...

The dados are knifed deeply ...

Chisel walls cut ...

.. and then the waste is removed with a router plane ...

The dados are just 2mm deep. That is deep enough to prevent any movement. This process is quick and relaxing (compared to setting up and using a power router).

Once done, the process is repeated on the upper panel ...

All ready for a dry fit. The rear of the case ...

... and the front ...

Happily, all is square ...

Tomorrow I shall glue it up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[ScotF]

Beautiful project!! Thanks for all the pics...wow! Great craftsmanship!!

 

[rubber_ducky]

Amazing work. Bravo!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[derekcohen]

There needs to be a Thank You button for all the replies ... thanks!

We ended the last session with the drawer dividers installed ...

Everything was nice and square, but the more I thought about what I had done, the unhappier I became. Such an elementary oversight. I cannot believe I did it, and also that no one pulled me up for it. What was it? Two items:

The first was that the grain for the drawer dividers runs the wrong way. Although the boards are as close to quarter grain as possible, which adds to stability, they will expand vertically. That could cause them to buckle, and then the drawers will not run nicely.

The second is that I could have built in a way to close up the drawer dividers against the back of the (to-be-built) side lipped drawer fronts ... this is to be used as a drawer stop ... at this stage it would be necessary to add a filler. Not good.

So I re-did the drawer dividers. Here is the rear of the case. The drawers are left long on purpose ...

Provision is made for the dividers to be adjustable in length (to close up with the back of the drawer front). They are given rebates to slide further forward ... it will be necessary that they move around 15mm forward (to within 5-6mm of the opening).

The rebate is 2mm deep (the depth of the dados), and largely created with a cutting gauge. The blade slices away end grain, and the resulting splitting away makes it easy to chop the remainder.

Here are the dividers, further forward than before, and capable of moving a little more still ...

The plan was to glue up the case. However, before this is done, it is wise to fit the drawer fronts across the width (the height will be done at a later date).

This is the board for the three drawers.

Removing one end, the board is set on the case ...

It is now apparent that the front of the bevel, where it meets the drawers, is not straight. It is possible to see a small amount of flat ...

This is especially noticeable in this corner ..

This is fairly easy to remedy ... mark with a pencil, and then plane away the pencil marks ...

Perfect now ...

The other end needs no more than a smidgeon removed ..

The upper side is now treated the same way. Interestingly, this needs no work at all.

Time to saw the drawer fronts to size.

First step is to mark the middle point of each divider (since the lips will share the divider). The mark can be seen in the rebate ...

The drawer board across the front ...

Transfer the mark, and then saw the drawer front ...

This process is repeated. Here are the three sequential drawer fronts. You can just make out the breaks ...

I am happy with this.

And so, finally, the case is glued up (Titebond Liquid Hide Glue - reversibility and long open time). Looking like a trussed up fowl ....

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

The case was glued up yesterday, with everything tight and square as one could wish, but I did not sleep well. I was haunted by the thought that there was a problem that would come to a head some time in the future.

If you look at the grain direction of the two centre drawer dividers, you notice that the grain is vertical. That is the way it should be. Wood moves, expands and contracts. It does this in reaction to moisture in the air. When it moves, it does so across the grain. That is why solid wood drawer bottoms have grain across the width - allowing the drawer bottom to move towards the back of the drawer, rather than towards the sides (where it will be blocked and then buckle).

These drawer dividers will be butted up against the rear of the drawer lips and act as drawer stops. The front third of the divider will be glued in the dado, forcing any expansion towards the rear of the case. All good.

The two spacers at the inside ends of the case have the grain running horizontally. I glued this in before I realised that I had cut them this way. I had done the same with the internal dividers, but re-cut them, as shown in the previous article. The end spacers will expand vertically, and to allow for this, I provided a 2mm gap below and above the panels. That is what kept me awake.

The end spacers are 6mm thick. The case, to which they are glued, is 20mm thick and about 40mm wider. Initially I was concerned that the spacer would be overwhelmed by the case moving, and buckle. Having thought some more about this, I am no longer concerned that this will occur. Why? Because movement in the case would instead "stretch" the spacer length-wise. I started to breath again.

In the end, I decided to reduce the height of the spacers by half. This would allow them plenty of space to expand, when necessary, as well as reducing their impact inside the case.

Here is one side ...

Taped for visibility and protection ...

The saw is a 16" Wenzloff & Sons tenon saw (10 tpi) ...

Three kerfs ...

Deepened with a Japanese Azebiki ...

... and split out with a firmer chisel ...

A Bahco carbide scraper cleans up ...

The result ...

Final cleanup was aided by the only shoulder plane that fitted inside the space   ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[cider]

I noticed the grain direction thingy, but just assumed you know what you're doing--and you do   Thanks for showing the challenges you run into and your solutions.  I'm came here for the eye candy, but learned a lot from your decision-making process.

BTW, I noticed you marked all the drawer fronts at once.  Does your blade kerf match the drawer gap?

 

[derekcohen]

BTW, I noticed you marked all the drawer fronts at once.  Does your blade kerf match the drawer gap?

It is a bit of an illusion. I marked one, cut it, butted the next against it, cut that, butted the third ....

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

As a reminder, we are building a version of this table ...

The plan is to attach the legs, which were made near the start of this project.

The attachment method is by inserting the legs into compound angle mortices in a base, which will be fixed to the carcase with a tapered sliding and stopped dovetail. We don't mess about here!

It will be necessary to do this over two articles, the first being the base for the legs, which will be dovetailed (tails). The second will be the socket (pins) for the base.

Before we begin, I want to mention what I did at the end of the last session. I had replaced the central drawer dividers as the grain ran in the wrong direction. The spacers at the ends also did so, and my response was to cut out half the spacer ...

Well, I fretted over the end spacers, and just could not leave them this way. Encouraged by the way the halves had come out cleanly, I removed the remainder and replaced the spacers with correctly grained versions ...

OK, onto the leg base ...

I spent a while playing with angles for the legs, and finally accepted this (mocked up base) ...

I have drilled angled mortices with a brace on a number of occasions. This time I decided to used a drill press and some Japanese Star-M augers, which are specially designed for this type of work (no lead screws). I built a 10 degree ramp for the resultant angle. The auger is 30mm ...

[

The tenon is straight, but the mortice will receive a slight reaming, and the tenon will be glued and wedged. This is probably overkill since the weight of the case rests on the legs.

These are the bases for the legs. The final prototype is at the rear ...

Drilling the bases ...

The design requires that the legs do not go over the boundary of the case (to avoid tripping over them) ...

This is how they should be ...

There was a small dilemma: The base at one side measures 3" from the end ...

... and the other side measures 1/4" further ...

I could not work out how this occurred. The angles are the same. In fact, I made another set of bases, and the same error showed up again - exactly the same! 

So what to do? Actually, the decision was obvious after a little think - make the bases the same. What is more likely to be noticed is if the bases are different distances from the sides. No one will notice a 1/4" difference where the legs hit the ground. So be it.

This is one of the bases for dovetailing ...

First step is to remove a 2mm taper from one side. The taper will be on the inside of the base, with the outside parallel to the side of the case.

Taper line drawn ...

Easiest way to do this is with a #604 smoother ..

This is the one end of the base ...

.. and this is the other end ...

mmmm .... 0.39 mm oversize. What to do ...?    I'm kidding   

The dovetails will be 7mm deep. A shoulder was planed with a rebate plane ...

The squareness of this rebate is important, so check ...

The dovetail is now to be created, and the preparatory step is to colour the outer edge of the rebate with a sharpie. This will warn that the planing does not lower the external edge of the rebate.

The dovetail is created with a modified Stanley #79 edge plane ...

The fence has a 1:6 ratio wedge ...

Details of this dovetail plane here:http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/SlidingDovetailsWithTheStanley79.html

The result of planing. That is a 1:6 dovetail marker ...

So what are the numbers for the taper? This will give an indication of the accuracy of the joint.

One end is 44.12mm ...

... and the other is 46.46mm, which is a difference of 2.34mm.

This will work - the pin socket is measured from this (in the same way as dovetails for a drawer.

The reason for the 7mm depth? The case is 20mm thick. the dovetail should be about 1/3 of this thickness. I decided to take it to the depth of the rebate for the rear panel ...

So, here is one of the completed bases ...

And this is where it will be fitted ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[bertv]

Wouldn’t it have been easier (and more in line with the MidCent style) to bore the holes into the bases at a straight angle, with the bases 4C’d, and shape the bases afterwards to obtain the desired splay of the legs? [My dad did it that way for smallish side tables he made in the late sixties — all of my aunts and uncle had those in their homes at one time.)

 

[derekcohen]

Bert, the 20mm thick case is too thin to hold the tenon. Morticing directly into a 20mm case is a recipe for later failure.

In the case of much of these pieces in the 50's, the legs were screwed in with a single bit into a mechanical fastener. Ugh.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

It’s coming along nicely now Derek, so much detail and precision.
I sometimes pop in to see an old retired, and almost famous in the know master cabinet maker.
He is in his early 90’s now, and still keeps his hand in. I have shown him some of your threads and work whenever I have the iPad with me. He always takes his time gazing, and makes lots of praising comments. His words are like a seal of approval, to any of us lucky enough to receive them.  [thumbs up]

 

[bertv]

I think I did not explain very well. So here is a quick sketch:

 

[derekcohen]

Hi Bert

Thanks for the discussion. It is much appreciated.

What you have drawn is a blind mortice-and-tenon joint. It is shallow. What I have done is create a through joint, which means that the mortice-and-tenon is 30mm deep in a separate base. The grain of the base runs across the grain of the case, however the base is a sliding dovetail, which permits it to be locked in, but also free to expand towards the rear of the case (it will only be glued at the front of the socket).

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

Following hot on the heels of the last post, where we created the male or tail section of the tapered sliding dovetail, now comes the female or pin socket to house the base for the legs.

These are the bases. This post will focus on the socket for the one closest the camera.

The base is positioned exactly 3 1/4" from the side. The tapered side is on the inside, with the outside face square to the front and rear of the case ...

This process is essentially the same as transferring marks from the tail- to the pin board with drawers.

The base tapers towards the toe, that is, the sliding dovetail will tighten up as the base is pushed into the socket.

The first step is to register the far end of the base in such a way that the position is repeatable. This is done by placing a long board along the "square" side. The position for the end of the board is marked ...

Now the base can be stood up to mark inside the tail with a scratch awl. You can make out the mark aligning the baseline of the tail ...

Look carefully for the dots.

This is repeated at the other end.

The dots are now joined up ...

The plan is to saw the socket sides, as if sawing dovetails in a drawer. The angle ratio is 1:6, as it was with the base. Since the socket is blind or stopped, the saw needs to have space in which to begin the cut. An area at the toe is excavated with a router.

The depth of the cut is set using a 7.0mm drill bit. I am aware that the actual depth is 7.5mm, but this will be a second pass. I intend to clear the waste with the router - this Jarrah is bloody hard, and I am not a masochist!

Using an angled saw guide, the end is chopped to the line ..

Now this is space to register the azebiki saw ...

I have roughly marked a depth to aim for ...

Both sides have been sawn ...

The waste is removed with the router, leaving a few mm close to the sides ...

This is chopped away with a chisel in two passes, and then cleaned up with a hand router ...

The side rebate #79/dovetail plane is used to clean any rough sections ..

The power router drops a 0.5mm to 7.5mm and this is cleaned up ...

Amazingly, the base slides in and tightens up about 1/4" from the end. It will need a tap to be fully secure.

That's it for now.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[rmhinden]

Very nice work!

Bob

 

[derekcohen]

The legs are on. I must admit to mixed feelings at this stage. This is not my style of leg, but it is what my niece wants. Perhaps I will feel differently with a finish on the wood.

The tenons were kerfed for a wedge ...

Installed in the bases ...

And glued into the socket. Note that only the first third is glued. The rear is free to move ...

The bases have been shaped to reduce their impact ...

The legs were evened up ..

Side view from underneath (one does not see the base otherwise) ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[butzla]

I think it looks nice.  That's saying something from me.  Nice design and execution!

 

[derekcohen]

Thanks Jim

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

It's time for the drawers. Once again there is a challenge. The design calls for drawer fronts that stretch across the front without being broken by drawer dividers. In other words, "lipped drawers".

There are two ways to do this. The easy way is to used "planted fronts", that is, attached fronts to the front of a box ...

The hard way is to make the drawer front a single piece. This requires rebating the drawer front and forming a half blind dovetail in the side of the rebate. Courtesy of Christian Becksvoort ...

I've chosen the high road (sigh).

Today I spent my time preparing for three drawers. Why three and not two, as in the original design? Simply because I can build them narrower, and this will make them less likely to rack. They'll end up somewhere around 280mm wide and 290mm deep. I anticipated that 375mm wide and 290mm deep would be a disaster waiting to happen. The only way drawers that dimension could work is on runners, which I do not do.

The wood for the drawer front is more Fiddleback Jarrah (by request), while the remainder of the drawer is quarter sawn Tasmanian Oak (which is actually a Eucalyptus, and is quite unstable unless quarter sawn. I keep a stock for drawers). It is a lot like US White Oak in appearance and hardness.

I have a bunch of narrower boards, which I re-sawed to make 7mm thick drawer sides, and glued together two to get the height needed ...

No clamps, just blue painter's tape, which is stretched across. It pulls the edges together.

This is enough for 4 drawer sides (one spare) ...

The drawer bottoms will be 1/4" (6.35mm) thick  ..... I cannot go metric here as my plough blade is imperial   .... this is re-sawn from a wide board, which saves some effort as only two boards are needed for the bottoms (the grain runs across the drawer) ...

Same trick with the blue tape, and cauls are also added to keep it flat. This will be sawn up at the time it is needed, and the panel will remain in the cauls until thn.

The narrow drawer sides necessitate using drawer slips, which is a strip added to the sides with a groove for the drawer bottom. This also adds extra width as a runner.

The slips are made with a plough plane. In this case, I used both a Veritas Small Plow (to plough the groove) and the Veritas Combination Plow (to plough a bead - the bead lies at the join of the slip and drawer bottom). Setting up both save time switching set ups back and forth, and once begun, making these slips was a quick process ...

First plough the bead ...

A tip on how to avoid over-planing the bead. This comes from David Charlesworth. Scribble pencil along the top of the bead, and when it is gone, the bead is complete ...

Now flip the board around to plane the groove ...

The first line is where the groove begins, which is 3mm below the bead. There will follow a 1/4" groove, and there will be 4mm below this to support the groove/drawer bottom. This makes the slip a smidgeon over 12mm high. It is 10mm deep, which allows for a 5mm deep groove.

As mentioned, once set up, no further marking is necessary. Just plane ...

... and then rip off the slip on the table saw.

This is a mock up: the bead at the top and the groove on the side ...

I have a strategy to fit the drawer fronts, so that the edges align with each other. It is all about accurate marking out. This will hinge on getting the opening exact, and transferring the respective measurements to their drawer fronts.

First order of the day was to fit (what will become) drawer backs to the front between the drawer dividers. This is what the result looked like ...

The table saw can cross cut really close, but only a shooting board will get the final dimension ...

On to the all-important drawer fronts!

I was heartened that all the verticals were indeed vertical still ... well, except for one (if you look carefully, you will see light in the top half) ...

This meant a slight adjustment of that side .. again a job for the shooting board.

Set one, mark the angle with a small sliding bevel ...

... transfer this to the side of the board, and head for the shooting board. As the side is no longer square, a shim is used to create the needed angle ...

A good result ...

This is the join I need to manage ...

These are the fronts fitted in sequence ...

And here were are now, waiting for the next build day ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

The process of attaching of the legs was completed by the addition of two screws in the sliding dovetail base.

Why add screws? The screws are not to prevent the base sliding back (an elongated hole actually encourages this). It is just to prevent the base twisting in, and breaking out of, the socket since there is no glue there to prevent any lateral movement.

The force comes from the splayed and angled legs. They will want to cant outward, and this becomes more so when the three drawers are filled and a vase of flowers is placed on the top of the table.

I thought that it is worth mentioning the screws used and how they were inserted.

The screws are 1" long brass tapered wood screws. The drill bits are also tapered to match. These ones include a countersink and depth stop.

The plan is to drill the hole for the screw through the base and into the case, and then widen the hole in the base. This will permit the base to move with expansion and contraction. In this case 2mm each way.

A wider drill bit (and depth stop) ..

Before inserting a screw, especially brass screws, they are dipped in a little wax. This is wax for lubricating bandsaw blades ...

Here is the widened hole ...

The gap around the screw ...

The second screw is on the other side of the leg. This is positioned about half way between the end screw and the glued toe.

Regards from Perth

Derek