I've not been doing much woodwork lately, which means it's time I did.
Several things have come together to help. One is the gradual realisation that our sitting room could be improved with a low coffee table. Another is that a generous friend gave me some nice oak boards which I haven't done anything with. So here we go!
I've not done a detailed design, but we have played around with bits and pieces of different sizes propped up in the right place, and have come to an agreement on something that I can build, with the wood in stock.
Here's what I have. Four nice big window boards, two of them rebated and one rounded along its edge.
I also have a couple of oddments of inch boards
and this great big lump, which was somebody's mantel shelf until the new occupants of the house ripped it out and put it in their front garden. They were pleased to see it disappear on my trolley. I was thinking it would be ideal for table legs.
What you can't see in the pictures is several hours of fiddling about looking closely at the wood and any flaws that needed to be worked around, then thinking about how wide a leg should be, how deep the rails of a table frame need to be, how far in from the edge the frame should be set - anyone who has built a table will know the experience of thinking closely about this sort of thing.
I've built a few tables, but nothing for a long time and nothing quite like this. I reckon the sensible order of work is
1 Make the top and get it all square enough and flat enough. Adjust its size if necessary.
2 Make the frame and legs to suit the actual dimensions of the finished top.
So today I started in with the tools. I'll document this in my usual detailed way; if there are too many words, the pictures should tell most of the story.
The rebated edge on a window board is useful if you are fixing it onto a frame, but no use here so I sawed it off. There's not enough space in my workshop to do this sort of thing on the bandsaw and my default is to prefer hand tools when I can, so I clamped the board and ripped the edge off. The saw is an ordinary no-name handsaw which I converted from crosscut to rip, at 4 tpi. It really doesn't take long and is part of my exercise regime for the arms and chest muscles.
This board is longer than I need, but just the right length if I remove the big knot. It soon succumbed to this other saw, filed and set not by me but by the same generous friend who gave me the timber. (You know who you are, Peter!)
There's nothing like a properly set up saw to make cutting wood a pleasure. Although I don't have space at the end of my bench for this sort of cut, this saw cuts straighter and squarer than my other saws, and quicker too. If you know anyone who can really take care of saws, treat them right and sit at their side for a lesson. I feel very privileged to be using this tool.
After that, there was quite a lot of planing, mostly with a Stanley 5½ and a no 7. This oak was a treat to use, really well-behaved. Everything seemed to fall into place like the books describe, and the edges got straighter and squarer without anything going wrong.
On the board with the rounded-over edge, once I had removed the rebate I needed to gauge the width. It was around 7", which I find is a bit too far for an ordinary marking gauge. Even if the stock is long enough, the head is too small to stay square. Fortunately, I have been unable to resist picking up one or two panel gauges. These are almost always user-made. That means that they don't appear in catalogues and so don't appeal to collectors wanting to collect one of every model made.
I think the variety makes them more interesting. Their makers often used the nicest bits of wood they could get their hands on and were skilled enough to do an accurate job. This one is in mahogany and has four different owners' names on it.
Although it marks quite well, the line is difficult to see on this open-pored oak, so I went over it with a pencil.
It wasn't worth trying to saw off the rounded edge. I used this wooden jack plane to take off thicker shavings, then reverted to the Stanleys.
This was followed by lots of comparisons and adjustments. It's difficult to photograph, but you may be able to see here that although the edges touch nicely, one of the boards is a bit bowed end to end, showing as a shadow.
I think I can deal with that by adjustment when gluing, followed by planing, but we'll find out later. For today, I was pleased to get to this stage, with the three boards reasonably well matched together.
I've been told or read somewhere that it's good practice to get on and glue boards like these while they do still touch, not wait for them to curl up in different directions, so by the time you read this it will be too late to tell me I'm going wrong...
And here you can see everything ready for glue-up.
I've had these Record sash cramps since the 1990s, when I was aware that the prices had been cut by about a third and decided to invest in them. In one way it doesn't feel like very long ago, but on the other hand there's no equivalent UK manufacturer of such things, and if there was I doubt if I would ever find out that they had a sale on nowadays.
I used my usual Titebond Liquid Hide Glue and warmed it up in a jug of hot water first. I brushed a thin layer onto both edges, making sure that the glue went all the way across with no gaps.
Then it was the usual procedure of tightening up the cramps evenly and wiping off the excess with a damp rag. I also used a soft faced hammer to bring the edges of the boards into line as much as I could.
Tomorrow I shall find out how well it's worked.
Whatever happens, it's good to be back with the saws and planes again!
Several things have come together to help. One is the gradual realisation that our sitting room could be improved with a low coffee table. Another is that a generous friend gave me some nice oak boards which I haven't done anything with. So here we go!
I've not done a detailed design, but we have played around with bits and pieces of different sizes propped up in the right place, and have come to an agreement on something that I can build, with the wood in stock.
Here's what I have. Four nice big window boards, two of them rebated and one rounded along its edge.
I also have a couple of oddments of inch boards
and this great big lump, which was somebody's mantel shelf until the new occupants of the house ripped it out and put it in their front garden. They were pleased to see it disappear on my trolley. I was thinking it would be ideal for table legs.
What you can't see in the pictures is several hours of fiddling about looking closely at the wood and any flaws that needed to be worked around, then thinking about how wide a leg should be, how deep the rails of a table frame need to be, how far in from the edge the frame should be set - anyone who has built a table will know the experience of thinking closely about this sort of thing.
I've built a few tables, but nothing for a long time and nothing quite like this. I reckon the sensible order of work is
1 Make the top and get it all square enough and flat enough. Adjust its size if necessary.
2 Make the frame and legs to suit the actual dimensions of the finished top.
So today I started in with the tools. I'll document this in my usual detailed way; if there are too many words, the pictures should tell most of the story.
The rebated edge on a window board is useful if you are fixing it onto a frame, but no use here so I sawed it off. There's not enough space in my workshop to do this sort of thing on the bandsaw and my default is to prefer hand tools when I can, so I clamped the board and ripped the edge off. The saw is an ordinary no-name handsaw which I converted from crosscut to rip, at 4 tpi. It really doesn't take long and is part of my exercise regime for the arms and chest muscles.
This board is longer than I need, but just the right length if I remove the big knot. It soon succumbed to this other saw, filed and set not by me but by the same generous friend who gave me the timber. (You know who you are, Peter!)
There's nothing like a properly set up saw to make cutting wood a pleasure. Although I don't have space at the end of my bench for this sort of cut, this saw cuts straighter and squarer than my other saws, and quicker too. If you know anyone who can really take care of saws, treat them right and sit at their side for a lesson. I feel very privileged to be using this tool.
After that, there was quite a lot of planing, mostly with a Stanley 5½ and a no 7. This oak was a treat to use, really well-behaved. Everything seemed to fall into place like the books describe, and the edges got straighter and squarer without anything going wrong.
On the board with the rounded-over edge, once I had removed the rebate I needed to gauge the width. It was around 7", which I find is a bit too far for an ordinary marking gauge. Even if the stock is long enough, the head is too small to stay square. Fortunately, I have been unable to resist picking up one or two panel gauges. These are almost always user-made. That means that they don't appear in catalogues and so don't appeal to collectors wanting to collect one of every model made.
I think the variety makes them more interesting. Their makers often used the nicest bits of wood they could get their hands on and were skilled enough to do an accurate job. This one is in mahogany and has four different owners' names on it.
Although it marks quite well, the line is difficult to see on this open-pored oak, so I went over it with a pencil.
It wasn't worth trying to saw off the rounded edge. I used this wooden jack plane to take off thicker shavings, then reverted to the Stanleys.
This was followed by lots of comparisons and adjustments. It's difficult to photograph, but you may be able to see here that although the edges touch nicely, one of the boards is a bit bowed end to end, showing as a shadow.
I think I can deal with that by adjustment when gluing, followed by planing, but we'll find out later. For today, I was pleased to get to this stage, with the three boards reasonably well matched together.
I've been told or read somewhere that it's good practice to get on and glue boards like these while they do still touch, not wait for them to curl up in different directions, so by the time you read this it will be too late to tell me I'm going wrong...
And here you can see everything ready for glue-up.
I've had these Record sash cramps since the 1990s, when I was aware that the prices had been cut by about a third and decided to invest in them. In one way it doesn't feel like very long ago, but on the other hand there's no equivalent UK manufacturer of such things, and if there was I doubt if I would ever find out that they had a sale on nowadays.
I used my usual Titebond Liquid Hide Glue and warmed it up in a jug of hot water first. I brushed a thin layer onto both edges, making sure that the glue went all the way across with no gaps.
Then it was the usual procedure of tightening up the cramps evenly and wiping off the excess with a damp rag. I also used a soft faced hammer to bring the edges of the boards into line as much as I could.
Tomorrow I shall find out how well it's worked.
Whatever happens, it's good to be back with the saws and planes again!
Last edited:
