Feet, a Bottom & the Top Cut to Size

I suppose I made a bit of a mistake.

Well, I've certainly made a number of mistakes throughout this project (which I'll likely enumerate often once I finish) but this one in particular: not accounting for the bottom panel, tripped me up. Really, it should have been just like the sides, dadoed into the bottom rails. But since I didn't do that before gluing the whole thing together, I missed the boat on that option.

(One of those 'things' I had talked about needing to do before the glue-up; a really glaring 'thing', actually).

Now that I have the bottom attached, I wish I had glued, doweled and/or screwed strips along the bottom insides of the rails, cut the bottom panel undersized (to allow for any expansion) and just laid the panel in without screws or glue. Instead, though, I cut angled edges on the bottom and screwed (then plugged the screw holes) directly up into the bottoms of the front rail and corner stiles. Then I screwed down through the bottom into the two feet.

Oh well. It's assembled.

All I need to do now is to find the piece that will run down the center of the table underneath the gap between the two top pieces, attach the hinges, and create little lock supports to prevent the table top from tipping open onto whomever happens to be sitting there. (I am intentionally giving the near table-top half several inches of over-hang.) The rough sketches for these supports are below.

Then I'll just need to do a few coats of oil and a couple with some urethane.
And I may 'ruin' the table-top with a wood-stained coffee ring so that the table shouldn't be treated as too precious an object.

Carcass Glue Up

I went into the shop on Sunday to finally get the body of this thing all glued up. This part was a bit worrisome for me because there are a few things that really need to be done beforehand and if I have miscalculated or forgotten anything, the problem will soon become apparent and will be impossible or difficult and likely sloppy to make up for.

Dry-clamping the components helps to prevent these types of mistakes. Here's what the main body will look like assembled and unfinished:

I wiped one coat of Tung Oil around the outsides of the panels because otherwise, in a less humid environment the panel will shrink a bit and reveal an unfinished line of wood just below the top stile. Hence the strange coloration around the outside of the two larger panels.

Everything fit well, so first I glued up the end panels. I cut special blocks and stuck (adhesive-backed) sandpaper to them to allow me to apply direct pressure on the joints with the bar clamps. Here's how they looked while being clamped:

 

I worked on the table top for awhile and took a long lunch break. The end panels came together pretty well. On one or two of the joints, I positioned the wood such that the clamp applied pressure above the actual mortises and tenon so the joint is tight on the inside, but shows a small crack on the face. I could fill it with wax maybe, but I'm not so concerned with the appearance as I am with the implications it has for the strength of the joint. Oh well, not much to be done now. And it feels sturdy.

Next I dry clamped everything again to ensure the positioning of the ends (post-glue) didn't present complications with the longer stiles or panels. Looked good. So I clamped it all together.

I unclamped the carcass after work today (Monday) and handled it a bit. It looks and feels good. Only one of the panels moves freely in its framework unfortunately. I need to hope that means the other three caught a little glue in the corner rather than that the panels fit tightly in the dadoes. If the panels are too snug, find themselves in a more humid environment, and expand across their grain enough, they will snap the joint apart.

I'm not too worried.

The last time I worked at the shop, I filled the knotholes in the cherry sections with epoxy. Yesterday I had an opportunity (while the end-panels dried) to sand down the epoxy and both faces of the cherry slabs (until now they were pockmarked with relief from the planer). I still have a good amount of material to cut away and I'm thinking about making them unsymmetrical in size: as in, the slab closest to the associated seat (above the angled face) would be maybe twice the width of the other.

But here's what they look like now. Any input?

 

Also, when I dry-clamped the body, I set the feet atop it and they just didn't look right. For one, I rounded them too much. Also, I was trying to echo the angle in the body but I've decided I think the angle should run the other way: the feet should be flipped upside down so they're longer on bottom than top. I also think the feet may need to be a bit wider (maybe shorter, though). 

A second set of eyes advised making them as short as possible, though. So they only just sneak out from underneath the body.

Any suggestions?

It's Starting to Look Like Something...

Well I'm finally starting to get to the point where I've cleaned, milled, cut, sanded, and glued all my components and can begin to see just what this thing is going to look like. The last solid block of time I spent working on the coffee table, I managed to cut all the joints for the (reclaimed pine) frame. I reassembled it today so that I  could take a few measurements.

The pieces for the feet (approximate size, but not cut to shape) are stacked on the left and, yes, my safety glasses in the foreground. The frame mostly completed, my aim today was to cut the dadoes (in the frame) and rabbets (on the edges of the panels, once I'd cut them to size) and maybe even get one or two of them glued up.
I fell short of my goal because I couldn't cut the dadoes on the stiles (vertical posts). The dadoes on the rails (horizontals) run the full length of the piece, so I cut them with a dado blade (series of stacked blades and spacers) on the table saw. The dadoes on the stiles, however, need to start and stop at the mortises because the end-grain of the stiles is seen (at the top; underneath the lid) and would display the useless grooves.
Instead, the dadoes on the stiles need to be cut with a plunge router (and fence guide mounted to its base plate). But, I couldn't manage to get the 5/8" bit out of the (I think the only plunge) router nor but the 1/4" bit in. So I just got everything else ready and I'll ask Adam or Dave about it next time we're at the shop (I've been spending most of my days in Gladwyne at our installation site, finishing up some built-in cabinets).

I made the angled cuts on the two side panels:





The sides shown here will be the exterior faces. I chose not to fill the nail, screw, and staple holes left in the ex-kneelers. (I did fill the knot and screw holes in the pine frame and a few knots in the table-surface-slash-lid.)

 Then I cut the dadoes in all my rails and the rabbets on the panels and partially assembled them to finally have a look.