Coffee Table: In Use

This is a bit of a rush post, but I felt it was owed to anyone who has actually been following this. The coffee table is finished. It sits in my living room and, while I need to get some better pictures of it (hopefully an overcast day without snow around--for which I can be home during daylight) I made sure to get a few, even if they are grainy, sitting in front of our hideous sofas.

I wish the bottom was different. I wish the crevice in the top wasn't centered. The whole concept of it being a 'chest' doesn't make as much sense as I had convinced myself it would. And, frankly, with all the light-colored wood, there's something Albino-like about it.

But the longer it sits in my living room, the more it grows on me and, as was the point, I learned a hell of a lot from the experience of designing and building it start to finish. All the characteristics I see as 'mistakes' only whet my appetite for a a new project through which to express my 'corrections'.

 

 

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.

 

Mirror Frame for Pete & Erin

So I will preface this post by apologizing for the low quality documentation. Mainly I'm apologizing to myself because I was in too big a hurry to get good shots of what I feel is the first really good piece I've designed and built. Especially the absence of a picture with the mirror in place (it reflects back the hidden edges of the slab and is just so nice...). BUT I told Pete that I expect some pictures when they hang it and he knows about documenting design work, so I'm hoping he'll send along some really good ones.

I wanted to build Pete & Erin a wedding present. I got a late start but worked hard and got it together fairly quickly. I had what I thought were Walnut slabs (but later found, to my embarrassment, that they were Cherry)

First, I needed to strip off the bark around the edges with a drawknife. Action Shot!

Then I cut the pieces in half and jointed the edges and planed them to thickness. Then they looked like this:

I spent some time arranging them in different ways and eventually came up with the setup that looked best to me. I cut out mortises where they were to be joined and glued them up with a couple Walnut tenons.
Then I stole a few strips of Walnut from Adam to make the framework on the back that would hold the mirror (I specially ordered) in place. I attached the framework with glue and screws but plugged the screw holes with Walnut and sanded them flush.

I brought the frame home and set it up on the fold-out futon in my room (with canvas, foam-core, and plastic sheeting underneath) so that I could do the finish work on my own time in the evenings (instead of staying after work). After three coats of a mixture of one part Teak Oil, one part Satin Poly-urethane, one part Mineral Spirits (sanding with 320 between each) it looked like this:

Sorry for the glare.... Like I said, bad documentation. Here's a close-up of my favorite part:

 

And, what makes it truly valuable:

Oak Panels

It's been awhile since I've had time to post and, in fact, the work in this post happened more than a month ago, but I'm still gonna tell you about it.

Since the coffee table I am building is frame and panel, I needed to work on the panel part. Adam generously donated about 15 Oak kneelers which needed to have all their nails, screws, and staples removed. Then I spent several hours with some Mineral spirits scraping off most of the remaining adhesive and foam padding which had made them so comfortable to kneel upon. Only then could I send them through the drum sander to (finally) expose the wood I'd be working with. Below you can see before and after sanding.

The wavy line across the lower boards is from gaps in the sanding belt (I used a worn belt so that if the adhesive and foam gunked it up, a fresh belt wouldn't get ruined) but the strange figuring in the wood is because all of the boards are quartersawn (picture a cyclindrical tree-trunk with boards cut out along radii). Here are all the boards after they've been sanded, cut to size, and cleaned up a bit. You can see how many nails and staples I had to remove...

Next, I glued the edges of some of these boards together to make flat panels. Here is two of the large panels in clamps:

There are four boards at top glued and then three boards below glued. Between them is a strip of scrap wood so that I can clamp them all at once without accidentally gluing both panels together. The next step is to sand all the glue off the faces of these and cut them to the sizes they'll need to be to fit in the frames (of the frame and panel construction).

I also took the time to finally cut down the Cherry slab into the approximate sizes they'll need to be so I could start to get a better idea of how everything will go together. I spent a long time with the board (and a tracing of it) trying to find the best sections for my purpose. Here is what they look like now:

  

That's more or less what the tabletop will look like.

Still much work to do....

Coffee Table (Sketches)

Adam informed me that the first thing I should build of my own design would be a coffee table. For my own house. I'm not sure that I want or need a coffee table at the moment, but I have no particular bias against the design and construction of a coffee table. And since Adam is essentially providing me with all of my materials, tools, and guidance, I began sketching coffee tables.
I talked to my room-mates about what they might like to have in a coffee table. And I thought about what I would like. Also, about what I would like to build. Ideas were generated.

The final concept took for granted the use of a natural edged section of cherry that Adam offered. (And the partially-milled pieces of pine to its left.)

I wanted to preserve the natural edges, but was concerned about the leg injury hazard of exposing the edges to pedestrians. I decided to turn two edges in on themselves and create a second table layer in the gully between them. I began to think about it as a river valley or canyon and realized that by using the wider face of the cherry slab as the table-top, the undercut on the natural edge could be utilized as a handle which would, in turn, encourage the owner/users to further explore the edges with their fingertips as well as their eyes.

I sketched the concept a bit at home:

Then, not wanting to bring in my sketchbook, I did some new sketches at the shop:

Adam was encouraging, but suggested I build a quick model in SketchUp to get a better idea of the dimensions I would be working with (the materials pictured were just available contrasting Paint Bucket options; they bear no reflection on my choice of actual materials):

The SketchUp model allowed us to discuss the details a bit better and when I decided to use hardwood and reclaimed materials for a frame and panel construction, I did a few more sketches:

I'm considering wooden hinges:

Then created an organized page of dimensions and required materials:
 

Used that to put together my cut list then started cutting some of the pine timbers to approximate dimensions (after yanking a few stray nails):

 That's what I've got so far. It's a slow process and I have done most of the work in small chunks before and after work. Adam has also given me (14, 15?) Oak Kneelers that he was given from a (demolished? renovated?) Church for the panels in the body of the table. I pulled them from the bottom of the rack, under 1/16th inch of dust and riddled with long staples, short screws, and covered with the remains of an adhesive-backed padding. So far I've pulled the staples out of half of them. I'll take pictures as they improve.

Adam Rung Woodworks

So, quickly, before I get started on the coffee table, I thought it might be a good idea to give a bit of an idea about my place of work. I will say upfront that I truly enjoy working there (not that every activity I do fills me with pleasure, but it is among the best jobs I've ever had) and that I feel privileged every day to have come across a such a complementary situation. He's willing and able to give me what I want and every day I'm more able to give him what he wants. I'm always willing.
Adam Rung Woodworks operates out of an old coffin factory in Port Richmond. Adam has been stationed there for...somewhere between six and ten years, though I always seem to get a vague answer. He is an avid collector of items in which he sees potential for a furniture-related use. Coming into the shop in the morning, he is regularly armed with anything from an old lamp, a steel base from an old school desk, to a hexagonal grid of cast iron. Sometimes there is a decades-old corner cabinet from a local row-home waiting in the back of his van for me to unload and find (=make) a space for somewhere in the back of the shop.
He tries hard to recycle and repurpose found items and sometimes we refinish old pieces of furniture that he has tumbled upon. Most of the time we are building new things, though even they often include wood from old pine joists and the like. A full portfolio can be found on his website, but below are a few pictures from the showroom (slash office, slash cafeteria).

Scrap Lamp

I built this lamp from (mostly) scrap pieces of wood. Some I collected from my old job with John Doyle and at least one I pulled out of a scrap bin in Adam Rung's shop when I was mostly finished building the lamp. I wanted a bedside table lamp and had a bit over a week off. Adam requested that I limit my activities in the shop to hand tools while he was away. I built this....mostly....with hand tools. There were brief interludes with the drill press, the table saw, and the cross-cut saw.
AND, of course, none of the wood would have been in such a workable condition had it not been joined and planed on machines at a different time.
BUT it still took quite a bit of work with my block plane to get a smooth surface on the long, narrow pieces.

I did zero sketches for this project and (oh wait, one quick doodle that is reminiscent of the finished project, but having no notion that I could or might put it together with scraps in one day) took no measurements. Consequently, the lamp turned out to be far too low to use in its intended location. So, first I hauled up an out-of-use speaker from the first floor to elevate it off the chest that I use as a bedside table. Still hovering about a foot over my sleeping or groggy head, I decided to part with it as a graduation gift for Sherpa (Dan McIntyre).

Being assembled from scraps, the lamp has a bit of a hodge-podge look. The trapezoidal piece up top is Spalted Maple. It is tacked on top of a length of what I believe is Oak which is, in turn, suspended on two sticks of Cherry (might be Mahogany left from a project with John Doyle where we needed some trim sticks for a lot of mahogany-veneered MDF). Those vertical sticks have through-tenons (which were cut poorly and needed to be supplemented by perpendicular pins: dowels) that go through a beautiful Walnut base (that I milled--then  accidentally cut to the wrong dimensions in pursuit of another project for Adam). The base is raised by two trapezoidal lengths of Cherry.
I bought the lamp hardware at Home Depot for few dollars and put a Compact Fluorescent bulb in it because the lampshade I hand-stitched from the sleeves of an old Adidas t-shirt (that I "borrowed" from Sherpa years ago) wound up being too small and ignitable for an incandescent.

Would never call it quality craftsmanship, but there it is. A satisfying days work, some lessons learned, and a fine gift for a computer nerd in need of a desk lamp.

It's getting late...coffee table stuff tomorrow. Er, over the weekend...