- Joined
- Nov 18, 2010
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I just finished this side table that I'm calling Jigsaw Puzzle Table.
The table is made of 1" Baltic birch with 1/4" quartersawn black walnut veneer, with 1/4" riftsawn black walnut edge banding.
After veneering the outside, I finished the inside with gloss blue paint (gloss finishes are finicky!). Then I cut the mitres with my sliding table saw and scoring blade. I was grateful that I didn't have to slide the freshly-painted surfaces across a metal table. Still, I had to do some touchup on the painted surface.
I cut mortises with my Domino DF 500 and pressed 5mm Dominos into one piece. Then I spread glue on the mitred surfaces (I didn't bother putting any glue on the Dominos or in mortises) and slid the parts together. This was easier said than done.
Whenever I do mitred joints, I appreciate the positive alignment properties of the Dominos, but none more so than here!
Right after taking that picture, I found that I couldn't press the joint together any more. Uh-oh. Fortunately, one feature about splined joints is that sideways forces are directed in the direction of the spline. That meant that I was able to drive the parts home with sideways blows (perpendicular to the vertical component) with a mallet near the joint.
After getting one pair of parts together, I assembled a second set, then put all four parts together before the glue set. I threw some web clamps over the box and pulled everything tight.
I laid out a grid representing the position of the puzzle pieces and free-hand routed them with an up-spiral router bit.
After that, it was a cakewalk. You know - I just had to finish all the edges of the puzzle pieces. [eek]
I also built a small base to raise the box off of the ground by a couple inches.
Here's a studio shot of the finished table.
If you want to read more about this project, check out these blog posts:
The table is made of 1" Baltic birch with 1/4" quartersawn black walnut veneer, with 1/4" riftsawn black walnut edge banding.
After veneering the outside, I finished the inside with gloss blue paint (gloss finishes are finicky!). Then I cut the mitres with my sliding table saw and scoring blade. I was grateful that I didn't have to slide the freshly-painted surfaces across a metal table. Still, I had to do some touchup on the painted surface.
I cut mortises with my Domino DF 500 and pressed 5mm Dominos into one piece. Then I spread glue on the mitred surfaces (I didn't bother putting any glue on the Dominos or in mortises) and slid the parts together. This was easier said than done.
Whenever I do mitred joints, I appreciate the positive alignment properties of the Dominos, but none more so than here!
Right after taking that picture, I found that I couldn't press the joint together any more. Uh-oh. Fortunately, one feature about splined joints is that sideways forces are directed in the direction of the spline. That meant that I was able to drive the parts home with sideways blows (perpendicular to the vertical component) with a mallet near the joint.
After getting one pair of parts together, I assembled a second set, then put all four parts together before the glue set. I threw some web clamps over the box and pulled everything tight.
I laid out a grid representing the position of the puzzle pieces and free-hand routed them with an up-spiral router bit.
After that, it was a cakewalk. You know - I just had to finish all the edges of the puzzle pieces. [eek]
I also built a small base to raise the box off of the ground by a couple inches.
Here's a studio shot of the finished table.
If you want to read more about this project, check out these blog posts:
