I returned from a month trip to Germany and Austria, and had a week in the workshop picking up on the project I had started earlier. 

 

The build is an entry hall table for a wedding present for a niece. Her choice was this mid century modern piece, which will be the basis for the build. My job is to re-invent it somewhat. 

 

 

These are the chapters to date:

 

            1. Preparing and dimensioning Stock   http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/EntryHallTableForANiece1.html

            2. Start of mitred dovetailed casework   http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/EntryHallTableForANiece2.html

            3. Fine tuning of through mitre dovetails and completion of case   http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/EntryHallTableForANiece3.html

            4. Front bevels and rear rebates    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/EntryHallTableForANiece4.html

 

Ask questions, offer insults, discuss a technique ...

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

Good to see you back, Derek.   I enjoy your posts on WoodNet and hope you visit here more often.

Good to have you back. Hope you enjoyed your trip.  

I was also following it on Woodnet, no much to say...like everything you do it's a fantastic piece.

Beautiful.

Your patience,talent and workmanship is awesome. Love the Jarrah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back here to the gang and welcome home.  Great job on a classic.  

Thanks for checking back in with us Derek.  I dare say that your rendition of this will put the original to shame.  Like Al, I really like the jarrah that you are using.

Nice, real nice.

Nice job!!!

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

That is some nice wood on the top, what is it?

Quote

That is some nice wood on the top, what is it?

 

That is Jarrah, in particular Fiddleback Jarrah. It only grows in south Western Australia.

 

It should end up similar to this ...

 

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

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

Edited February 2, 20206 yr by derekcohen

Derek, the saw cuts on the drawer front board seem to be an extremely thin kerf. I guess you did those with a razor saw? There seems to be no interruption of the grain at all.

Fred, that was sawn on the table saw. The blade is 3.2mm wide. It helps that the cuts were very clean and that the grain was "straightened" (levelled), in the previous post.

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

Coming along beautifully Derek.

WOW!!

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

It's going to be a table to be envied and emulated. The ride along, you so graciously provided continues to amaze and entertain. Thank you!