Jim’s End Tables – Viewer Project
This Viewer Project was sent in by Jim. He writes:
This is my most ambitious furniture project to date and one I am verrry happy to be finished with. Needless to say, my wife is happy also. She wanted two new end tables to replace the nice, but 30 year old ones we had in our living room. I began working on design ideas over a year ago passing ideas by the “customer” and after getting approval of preliminary design concepts, began some serious layout and prototyping. I constructed a full-scale prototype of the base with a piece of plywood for the top, for the purpose of determining suitable scale, proportions and some style ideas, like the coves on the aprons. The basic lines of the frame are very close to a couple of hall tables I built for my wife and for my daughter-in-law. Jane wanted it to be dark but not too reddish, and I wanted to see nice grain pattern so I chose walnut.
But rapid completion was not to be. Other high priority projects took precedent and extended the completion to the point of ridiculousness. And working intermittently kinda hurts my head trying to get back into it. Ever have that feeling? Then there are the cold winters in Virginia that make it tough to work in the garage. A few shop/tool improvements over the last 6 months of ‘08 helped make things go much better. Specifically, I bought a used Grizzly 6″ jointer, a new Steel City table saw, a new Triton router with above table height adjustments, built a router table and fence, and a band saw fence.
Pictures 1 through 3 are different perspectives of one of the tables showing the tapered legs, and the coves. Everything but the shelf platforms are solid walnut. The shelf was an “oh, yeah, we need a shelf” idea which wasn’t part of the original design plan. Since I had already built the bases, the shelves turned out to be quite a challenge to come up with a way to mount them. The shelf fits in a dado in the shelf support aprons. I mounted the aprons, both for the tops and for the shelves, with pocket screws.
My wife found the baskets at Michael’s on sale for $10 each. I made a simple walnut plywood lid with finger holes that sit snugly in the top of the basket to hide the junk. The final touch, shown in picture 4, is the ebony inlay. I thought it would add a lot to the top but had never done anything like it before. With much trepidation, but bolstered by Marc’s advice on more than one occasion, it actually worked out pretty decent.
The finish was as follows:
* Wiped on TransTint Dark Walnut in distilled water, applied twice, then very lightly knocked down the grain with 400 grit.
* Wiped on SealCoat (dewaxed shellac) to seal the water-based dye.
* Brushed on 3 coats of General Finishes Water-Based Polyacrylic Semi-Gloss.
* Sprayed on 2 coats GF WB Poly Satin.
The WB Poly was something else I had never tried before but once again Marc’s advice got me going. I owe a big thanks to Marc for his advice, and my wife for her patience and design ideas.
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
Gary’s Basement Shop – Shop Tour
This Viewer Shop is from Gary, a 14 year old woodworker. Let’s hear what he has to say:
Hi, I am woodworker (from the forum). I am 14 and and just started woodworking. My workshop is a basement shop and its right at the bottom of the stairs so I can only get 4×4 sheets down there, 4×8s won’t fit. At the bottom of the stairs is a shelf with some cabinets with drawers which hold screws and nails which are all sorted by size. The shop is about 6′ by 11′. There’s about 8 feet before and after the blade on the table saw with about 2 feet from the left of the blade and 1.5 feet from the right. The table saw is a 10 inch Craftsman contractor saw. It cuts pretty good, not the best. Along side of the stairs I have a Harbor Freight 14 inch bandsaw. It’s a good bandsaw for the price. Next to the bandsaw is my Harbor Freight 21 gallon air compressor. My miter saw is, yes you guessed it, a Harbor Freight 12 inch sliding compound miter saw. The stand is all 2×4s, 11 feet long by 3 feet tall and 1 foot thick with a 1 gal, 1 hp shop vac hooked to the miter saw. Then in front of the fridge next to the table saw is my homemade router table with a Freud 2 hp fixed base router. The work bench is 2×4 frame and legs; the top is just a osb board over the supports with instead of a 1/4 inch hardboard, I used 2 1/8 inch so I could put the top on bottom and bottom on top just one shelf on it. The lathe stand in the picture has steel legs; I rebuilt it with 2×4 legs and I am selling the lathe to get a Steelcity granite lathe. For lights I have two 4′ florescent lights and two heat lamps for spot lights on the miter saw. Lastly I have a 1940 Craftsman scroll saw thats not set up and besides that there are drills and things like that.
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
Bench Cookies? – Yes Please!
Its not often that I get to recommend something that’s useful, effective AND cheap! So I wanted to make sure you all knew about Rockler’s Bench Cookies. If you followed the AWFS news recently you probably heard enough about these little puck-shaped doo-dads. For those who haven’t, they are little “puck-shaped doo-dads” with a bit of soft gripping rubber on each side. The idea is to not only elevate your work off the bench for sanding and routing tasks (with no clamps), but to also stop the workpiece from sliding. Now we’ve had router mats for a long time now and I used to buy a similar material in big rolls at Costco. But I found that the rubbery material always left its pattern behind in the wood and it would take forever to sand it out again. But so far, I am not having that problem with the material on these little guys. And to answer your first question before you even ask it, dust doesn’t ruin their gripping power. Just knock the excess dust off and you’re good to go! I’ll be anxious to see how they hold up over the course of time. FYI, the links below are our Rockler affiliate links.
 |
Rockler Bench Cookies: Lifts, Grips and Protects! With high-friction rubber surfaces and a durable core, Bench Cookies are the most exciting, versatile accessory to hit wood shops in years. They keep projects from slipping while routing, sanding,.. |
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
Veneer Both Sides of a Panel? – Viewer Question
This question was asked by Mike:
I plan on building a small box for my daughter’s birthday, and I want to use a veneered panel for the lid. I plan also to use PVA, and a press as the lid will be small (5×8) and I don’t think it needs any more. When watching you make Nicole’s frame, I noticed that you veneered both sides of the frame even though only one would show. Is this to ensure that the moisture balance in the piece stays equal, or was it just pride in craftsmanship? Also, if you’re veneering plywood or MDF, is this necessary considering that these materials are dimensionally stable?
As always, keep up the good work – you’re definitely my reason for trying my hand at fine wood working. Thanks!
And this was my response:
Hey Mike. In most woodworking circles, it is believed that you should always veneer both sides of a panel. By adding a layer of glue and a thin sheet of wood, one side of the panel will absorb and lose moisture at a different rate than the other. This lack of “balance” could lead to warping. If you ever have a sheet of commercial veneer laying around, you can see exactly how this works by applying a little water to one side of the veneer. It will curl up like Pringles chip (pic 1)! The side that receives the moisture expands, and the other side does not, resulting in a severe curl. Wet the other side (pic 2) and the sheet relaxes once again (pic3).
When we’re talking about veneer on a substrate under normal conditions, this effect is not nearly as great. Furthermore, I have seen the rule of thumb broken a number of times with no detrimental effect. But with my projects, most times, I don’t take the chance. I like to play it safe and usually veneer both sides. And again, this is really a “better safe than sorry” type of thing. Perhaps one day I’ll do a bunch of test panels and see what really happens. Good luck Mike!
So what about you folks? Any bad experiences from veneering only one side of a panel? If so, tell us about it by commenting.
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
What’s New?
Donation Tally: $2145 Premium Membership
Keep up with TWW
Shop Our Affiliates
-
Proud to be Sponsored By:
Support Our Advertisers
