A Build along Virginia table

Jeff,

I think these days if building on spec then you have to ask yourself the questions as if you were the customer.  In regards to the back being made with primary versus secondary wood, I would say primary since it isn't really that much more material.  So do you use sandpaper at all in your work???

Freddy
 
Cutting the mortises in the legs. I will use a mortising attachment on a drill press( we have been using since the 60's) I will set it to match, as well as possible, my marking gauge's lines. Then cut the first mortise. As not to blow out the back side of the second mortise, from the other side, we will stick a filler piece in the mortise, previously cut, to mortise the second side. I will mortise the top front rail ( from the back side not the front side like all the others) along with the bottom rail, because of the secret drawer. I will use the mortise on the top of the front legs to excavate for cutting the dovetail of the top rail.
After fitting tenons with a bull nose plane ( to the desired fit by either removing surface from the inside or outside)the tenons are two long so I will cut a 45 degree angle on the inside of all the tenons and bevel all ends of tenons.

Fred, I will sand all exposed surfaces. I will use modern sand paper. I have not had anyone that would want to pay me the expense to grind my own glass paper. I am still looking for that client.
 
Jeff,

In the process of fitting the tenon do you try to take off the saw and adjust as needed.  Or do you stay away a 1/32 of an inch and plane to the line. Do you take your shoulders off the saw or do you pare your shoulders by hand.  Is there a certain technique you use to see if you removed enough material from the tenon, so that the rail is perfectly flush????  Do you always 45 the ends of your tenon. 

Thanks,
Fred
 
Fred, I will try to get as close as I can cutting my tenons with my saw without going to far, which means, I stay proud of my lines and trim to fit. I wish I could say I stay 1/32" away from my line, each time, but life doesn't work that way, this time yes next time I don't know. I just plan on fitting by hand with my bull nose. On this table the sides and backs are all flush. With small legs, as on this table, I would quite often 45 the inside of the tenon to get my maximum amount of gluing surface, but with that said I would not say the 45 is a common occurrence. I will bevel all ends of the tenons to avoid splitting of mortises.
Now that I have my bottom front rail mortised and fit and my top front rail dovetailed and fit I am ready to glue up. I will dry fit one last time before the glue up. Drum roll please.
But not to worry I use Elmer's white glue. Should I hang my head in shame? I think not as I glue to my hearts content, not worrying (as much) about the open time or the fact that it's 62 degrees in our shop.
My glue up process would consist of the sides first then the back and then front. Measuring from corner to corner to assure that the case is square. If all fits properly there will be no reason to clamp things. Now I can get to my other projects that hopefully will pay my wages this week or maybe next week.
 
Jeff,

If I understand this correctly, you are actually glueing the entire table frame up at one time?  Or are you sub-assembling and glueing the sides first, checking for square and twist,  then adding the back and front pieces?
I'v always had my students glue up the front and back assemblies first (because of the 2 front rails and drawer kicker location), check diagonals and use winding sticks to check for twist.  Then, it's very easy when they're dry to add the two side aprons, throw in the kicker (which they tenon into the front top rail and back apron) and check for square again.

Every student I have has made a table almost identical to yours.  I think it's a great starter project to get someone into basic joinery and glue-up techniques with a nice, small and inexpensive useful project as the outcome.
 
Throw away all preconceived in conceptions. I will glue up all at once. Sometimes the norm sometimes not. It all depends on the situation. I have spent enough time on these tables. I need to get them done and out the door without sacrificing joinery. With all my joints square and true there is no need to check for racking. Certainly if you don't trust your joints then check for racking.  I will check to see that all is square. I will add a little persuasion ( from clamps) if needed.
I have brought in all the wood for drawers ( primary and secondary) and my two board top.
As a ploy to keep up interest please don't forget about the hidden drawer soon to be discussed.
 
Thanks for doing this; I'm enjoying it!

And there's no need for a ploy to keep our interest; it's refreshing to hear how a production woodworker, descended from a long line of woodworkers, builds this table.  I especially liked the idea of secondary wood for the back rail.  Secondary wood is used for the backs of desks, secretaries, etc., so why not for a table such as this, assuming it's placed against a wall?  You'd just never hear this approach on the "hobbiest forums".

Cheers,
SteveB.
 
Production shop, Hmmm. I guess I am. I don't like the connotations although. Either myself or my business partner Steve Hamilton, usually build each piece or pieces from start to finish. We do, quite often, combine forces to get a project done. Especially when we want to eat this week instead of next week or buy the baby, although today it's grand baby's , new shoes.
I will need a top 16 3/4" X 19 1/2" X 13/16" finished size. I know I said 7/8" thick top earlier but I have changed my mind, so shoot me and send me to heaven.
Since I have my wood acclimated to my shop. I will plane down one face of both of the two boards for my top and lean  them against my bench until tomorrow. I will do the same to the drawer front and the drawer sides and back and bottom. The scrap of of the secondary will be used for drawer guides and bearers.
Off on another tangent. I buy poplar, as one of our secondary woods. Most lumber companies want to sell me 3/4"milled lumber for me to plane down to 7/16" thickness for sides and bottoms. So in essence I am buying 4/4 and paying them to mill it to 3/4" for me to mill down to 7/16" or occasionally to 1/2". Would I not be better off to buy 6/4" and get it re sawed in half, by the same mill, which is what I have been doing for years. I guess at getting  6/4"  I am getting charged for  8/4" prices. But half of it doesn't get carried out to the trash pile. So I think I'm better off. Who knows?
 
I do realize that tomorrow turned into a few days later. I do that a lot anymore, under estimate my abilities to get things done. What I think will take two days takes three. Cows got out, snow then ice and then, other paying projects, that's a good thing, got in the way.
I will get the two boards that I have gotten out for my top which have been surfaced or planed on one side and look to see their movement. If they have stayed flat then they might ( I would underline the word might but I don't know how) not move much more when I remove more surface from the other side.  If I have an 1/8" or more to remove from the thickness of the boards for my top I will do it in stages throughout the day or next day and watch their movement, cupping and warping.
Now that they have relaxed with my final surfacing to do, my boards for the top, I will hand plane one side before sending them for their finial pass through the planer. That way if they cup or warp then one side will be hand planed and I will only have this last surface to hand plane removing all machine marks. Am I faking an antique by doing so, I think not. Anyone with any expertise of antiques would be able to tell our pieces origin. I don't want our pieces to jump out that they are new. Our clients want the pieces we build to blend in with their period pieces.
With the thickness finalized 13/16" I will concentrate on gluing up the two boards.
Now for the glue joint. Throw away all of your biscuit joinery. If your glue joints aren't perfect to begin with then biscuits won't help. Do it right the first time and there will be no need for crutches. You want surface to surface contact with a bonding agent. Your glue should not be relied upon to hold a joint together by filling voids. I will plane one edge( the glue joint edge) flat and true with my jointer. Truing up with my hand plane if necessary. I will then flip the other piece and plane it's glue joint from the opposing side. This way if my jointer is out of square ( which it is not) then my glue joint won't amplify any problems and produce a barrel instead of a flat surface.
Valentine's day is coming up and all of our spouse's would appriaciate a nice gift for all the new tools which we have purchased thoughout the year. Would they like a nice hand plane or chocholate? The payoff could be greater than expected.
 
I would like to clarify my previous post about my preparation for gluing up my two board top. Before I start the glue up with my two boards planed to thickness with rough edges I will lay them out on my trussell boards as I would like them glued up. I do like to hide my glue joints if possible. Once I have decided upon which sides will be my top surfaces I will mark them with an X or F for face with a lumber crayon or a pencil. If I have multiple tops to glue up I will draw diagonal lines across the glue joint edge. One diagonal line for the first top two diagonal lines for the second top and so on. This way I can make one trip to the jointer and edge joint all surfaces in one process. I will joint the edge of one board with the marked surface,X ,F, or? against the fence of my jointer then the next board will have the marked surface away from the fence. This way if my glue joint is at a slight angle the next board's edge will offset the angle and create a glue joint that will give me a completely flat top. That is what I meant as far as a barrel joint. A slight angle on each glue joint eventually creating a barrel. If you have a glue up of three or more boards you should do this to each joint alternating back and forth. I have noticed this also works for hand planed joints. I work hard to get a completely square hand planed edge but it seems more often than not there is a miniscule angle from my hand plane. So if I do the same thing in my vise x in (away from me ) and then x out ( towards me ) it helps to get a flat surface. I have glued up my top so I have at least a 1/2" on two sides to play with.
With my top glued up I will plane my front edge, with my jointer and then square the cross grain edge with my tables saw, truing up with my hand planes. I will hand plane my end grain edge being careful to only plane two thirds of the end grain surface in one direction and finishing the other third from the other edge as to avoid tear out.
Now for my drawer front I will need a final size of 5 1/2" X 13" X 5/8".
 
I have squared the front edge and a side of my top with the maybe a 1/2" to play with extra. All my hand work on my outside edge is in vain. I forgot I have a shaped top. No wonder I have a hard time earning a living. Now I will cut it to it's final dimensions, my top not my living. While the top is square and before it gets shaped I will hand plane all machine marks and any abuse marks which have occurred during glue up off both top and bottom. The top has square edges with rounded corners and a serpentine front, back, and sides. I will saw the corners round 2 1/2" in from each corner. The front and back will get a 5/8" deep(from the outside edge in)  and the sides will get 1/2" deep serpentine cut. I will clean up this edge with my spokeshave. I love my spokeshave. The whole top gets a 1" bevel along the underside with a 1/2" edge exposed.
Now for the drawer. Oh my wife is calling. Later for the drawer
 
Bearers and guides.
I will need to cut my guides, for my drawers, which will be glued to the side rails . They want to be 1 1/8" X 1/2" X 11". The 1/2" measurement I will leave strong and fit to my case. By this I mean I will saw then hand plane the 1 1/8 width from a 9/16" thick piece. Cut to length at 11" it should fit in between the front leg and back leg on the left and right sides flush with the bottom of the sides. The guide will have to be notched around the backside of the front bottom rail. The 9/16" side will protrude passed the inside edge of the legs. I will hand plane the guide flush with the legs before nailing. The bearer (which supports the drawer) needs to be 3/8" X 3/8" x 10 1/2". The bearer starts behind the front bottom rail and runs to just shy of the back. I will nail these in, just as the original. They should not be glued.  I will not nail the bearers in completely. I may need to adjust them to fit my drawer later. Not to say that my dovetailing of my drawers won't be perfect. Ha Ha In my dreams.
I would like to discuss clean up or surface preparation. We do use machines but try to remove all machine marks. To remove these marks we will use hand planes, flat scrapers, and sandpaper on the outside surfaces. A hand paned surface, without tear out, is probably the best way to go but in combination with other surfaces can cause finishing problems. A hand planed surface will take stains or dyes differently from a sanded surface. Most of our clients don't want the ripple surface from a hand plane on say a dining table top. This will require scraping and I have not been happy with my hand scraped surface for a direct finishing surface. I will sand with modern sand paper and a sanding block. Starting with 120 Garnet paper sanding to 220 saving the worn out 220 for sanding the dyed surface later in the finishing process. After the 120 I will wipe water on the finished surface with a wet rag to raise the grain before staining or dyeing then after drying sand to 220.
 
Jeff, when you finish the drawer, do you do anything to the drawer sides and bottom or do you just put finish on the front? Thanks John
 
John,  What a great question. Yes we do color our drawers. I would like our pieces to blend in with our clients, or potential clients, pieces. Most don't want the stark white secondary wood. Do you think that someone else 200 years ago might have done the same thing? What a silly question.
 
I don't think that they would waist their time (or money) back then, or would they? I really don't know.
 
Drawer
A drawer is a mini exploration into case construction. It's a box. The same joinery will be used to build a drawer as you would use to build maybe a Chippendale chest carcass. Although most case backs don't slide up a groove or dato from the bottom.
This drawer is constructed slightly different than we would normally build a drawer. By that I mean the front has a shaped bottom.  I guess a brief description of how we go about constructing a drawer might be useful.
I cheat on drawer construction, not by joinery but by technique. We will sandwich our drawer sides together with the outsides facing each other. I will cut the groove for the drawer bottom on both drawer sides and the back side of the drawer front at the same time using a 1/4"shaper cutter or a 1/4" data blade on a table saw or a 1/4"rabit plane. The top of the rabit needs to be about 5/8" up from the drawer sides bottom edge. This will leave room for about 3/16" of wear below the 7/16" dawer bottom with future use of the drawer. The reason for sandwichiching the drawer sides is I will use a bandsaw to saw out the tails. So for every drawer I will have half the dovetails to cut out. Over a bunch of drawers or a high chest it means quite a lot less work. I can use a dovetail saw but a bandsaw works also. After the groove for the drawer bottom and the tails (both front and back) have been cut I will seperate the drawer sides and then go about laying out the pins. To lay out the pins a will cut a 1/4 thick piece maybe 2" X 2"  I will set it in the drawer bottom 1/4"groove  so that the drawer side and front interlock. I have not told you that I will set my cutting gauge to 7/16" this will be the length of my tails and the depth of the pins, marking both for how far the drawer sides goes into the back side of the drawer front. I will try to explain thing better in my next posting.
 
Drawer again
After cutting the tails both front and back, the front pins are always finer than the back pins, on the sides while they were sandwiched together I will separate them. With my drawer front clamped in my vise face out and the left or right edge up about 3" above the top of my bench. I will get a 3" X 3" X ? set it on my bench to support the back side of my drawer side. I will stick my 2" X 2" X 1/4" piece in the slot for the drawer bottom in the drawer side and in the back side of the drawer front. This 1/4" lines up your front and side. Slide your side up to the cutting gauge line you marked earlier and then mark with a thin blade knife. I like a knife that has a good point but isn't terribly sharp so that when I mark my pins I won't slice off the bottom edge of my tails which will do two things ruin my fit and my day. I will take the drawer front out of my vise turn it around so the face is in or the back is facing me. I will indent my lines a little deeper with my dull knife so I can see the lines better then indent each line where it intersects the corner. This is to set your knife in then slide a square over against you knife and scribe a line down the back side of the drawer front to your 7/16" cutting gauge line. I will continue this line past the cutting gauge mark. With my dovetail saw I will saw down the line at an angle with the outside edge of the saw on the inside edge of my line and yes I will saw past the 7/16" cutting gauge mark on the back side of the drawer front. Taking my drawer fronts to my mortiser I will mortise out most of the waist staying 1/16" away from my saw lines. The 1/16" is to use as a lever with my chisel so I won't damage the edge of my pins. I will also stay about 1/16" from the bottom of the tails to clean up and fit by hand. The back is done mostly the same way. The drawer back starts above the slot for the drawer bottom so the bottom can slide in underneath. the back runs up even with the top of the drawer sides,  marked and then sawn the same way I will use the band saw to saw most of the waist away and then fit by hand. After all is fit I will glue up and then slide in case to dry. The next day I will cut the bottom 11 3/4" deep  12 1/2" wide  3/8" thick with a bevel edge to 1/4" I will saw this angle on the table saw then clean up cross grain with a spoke shave and a hand plane with the grain. Please remember that the slot for the drawer bottom on the back side of this drawer front has to be cut at a different depth up from the bottom again because of the shaped bottom of the drawer front.
 
One thing to add to my drawer posting. I will cut the shape in the drawer front before I glue up the drawer.

I would fasten this top as we would fasten most tops in general. I
would set my cutting gauge to 3/4" mark a line on the inside in the
center of the sides and back. With the table standing up on the floor
I would drill down from the top of the sides and back at an angle and
staying away from outside edge a hole down so that it comes out about
a 1/4" to an 1/8" below my mark. I would then drill a hole down thru
the rail towards the inside. That way if I slip screwing the top down
I won't srcew up the  front of the rail. I will lay the table on each
side and then the back and cut down my 3/4" line at an angle away from
the hole on either side this sets my bottom for my screw depth. With a
carving chisel I will carve out a cavity for my screws and counter
sink the rail. Then I will lay the top, bottom up ,on my bench making
sure there is no trash to scar the top later and clamp it down so it
can't shift as I tighten down my screws slightly tightening all screws
and give all a final snugging. After removing the clamps I will
hopefully flip the table over, making sure I have not screwed it to my
bench.
 
What have I forgotten? I would like to try this with other projects, if there is any interest, but I am sure I have not explained the steps properly for someone else to build this piece at their shop so I am curious what could help explain this better, more pictures better explanations or what. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I thought a build along could work for lots of different pieces and people.
 
Jeff,

I  both enjoyed, and learned from, your blow-by-blow project description.

The most valuable information for me were the asides that touched on things never mentioned in the typical articles like how much oversize to rough size stock, tricks to check for distortion as pieces approach final dimensions, etc.

You made me realize that in wood we more often sneak up on a fimished piece that make it in final form directly from the start as is often portrayed. Having been trained in wood, but primarily in machine shop work, one gets to thinking of making a bunch of parts from the detail drawings and then assembling them, and that is not how you work.

I do no tmean to criticize the traditional articles, but want to tell you what was valuable.

Karl
 
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