Side Table Part 3

So today was a little mixed up due to dealing with insurance and trying to get my surgery scheduled so I can get my finger put back together like it was meant to be, but I did get a little time in the shop. I was going to start on the table legs and get them planed square, but as I was setting up a planing stop, I had and idea in regards to the top. I realized that making breadboard ends as suggested to run the full length of the piece would be the best bet ( as nicely suggested by a reader), but then also thought of a different take on the same method for doing the top. Instead of doing one long top, I could create sections that would all slide together. This does two things: limit movement so that it will only be in small sections going front to back, and also give the top more "flair".

In trying out the tongue and grooves, I realized I don't have a cutter for my No. 45 that will go a full 3/4", at least not a 1/4" width. Also, the only 1/4" cutter I have was not a part of the set and doesn't seat in the holding mechanism on the plane, as it is too thin. This I fixed with several layers of aluminum tape and was able to test some tongues and grooves.

Now I had to practice. This is really the first time that I've used the 45 on anything other than a practice board and I didn't have a whole lot of good luck with it. For some reason, this time worked like a champ after a little fiddling.

So now the grooved test piece is done, so now it's time to try and create the tongue. I cut several boards for practice, as I noticed the last time I used my rabbet plane, I also got mixed results. I set it up based on my groove measurements.

The first shot was a little loose, but not really a bad fit overall. I made the most minor adjustments that I could and tried again. Good fit. Try again. Too tight, touched it up, and good fit. Another...good fit. One more....again good. One more piece for good measure.







Now it's time for the real stuff. About twenty minutes and all the grooves are done. If the tongues go as smoothly, I'd be surprised, but we'll give it a shot tomorrow...

Oh, and no, I'm not worried about covering up the exposed edges. Others may not like it, but I like the thought of seeing how it was put together. At least for now...

Until then!

Josh

Learning Woodworking and Side Table Part 2--Questions

So I've been thinking about this post for a couple weeks, and figured that since I hit a perfect example today, I'd go ahead and do an extra post.

I really admire those who get the opportunity to learn from or at least watch an experienced woodworker. As much as I know I am capable of learning on my own and with the help of books and the internet, I don't believe there is a substitute for hands-on instruction. I can learn to plane, saw, and drill with those instructions available to me, which means that I can also learn to dovetail, mortise and tenon, and other general joinery. It's just going to take a lot more time and practice since I can't see the fine details of how something is done or even have someone tear apart my work with well-meaning criticism. Instead, all I can do is try to tear apart my own results, appreciate the work and time that went into it, and vow to do better next time while noting what I think probably went wrong. Maybe I do better on the next one, or maybe I don't.

I believe the most difficult thing to learn for me is how to visualize a piece and know what type of joinery should be used. I can read and read and read until my eyes roll back into my head--and yes, a little bit does sink in--but until I do something with it or see it explained on the workpiece in front of me why I should or should not use a style of joinery, I'm just guessing. I'm not one who generally likes to copy work someone has already figured out. I've done it and will do it again, but it's just not my thing. I don't learn from it, other than sawing, drilling, chiseling, etc. At times I believe I'll just be learning by seeing what furniture blows up.

I do halfway understand wood movement, but I don't know how to control it or compensate for it. What joints are good to use in those types of situations? I do know the smaller the piece, the less it matters, but now I'm getting into real pieces of furniture. And that brings me to the current dilemma on the new side table, which I'll get to in just a minute, right after I catch everyone up.

I was also to get all the boards for the top cut today and decided to lay them all out to see how it would look. I also needed to figure out how I was going to do the joinery on the table itself, and make sure the ideas in my head were still going to look the same (or similar at least) in real life.

I was going to half lap the long edges of the top and then peg and glue each joint, like a breadboard end, but just lengthwise. As the top will be made of 14 pieces laid side to side (these are 14" long, which is the depth of the piece) I was going to laminate them all together and then rabbet the long edges (across the grain) for the "breadboard" edge. I'd leave space in there for the wood to move in the length.

The other half did not quite agree, and she likes it better with the exposed end grain, which I'm okay with. This just means I'll create a frame underneath and attach each piece to the frame. This will keep them all from warping or bowing. But how to attach them? If I use glue or pegs, won't that create too much stress in the top due to seasonal movement?

Again, this is where learning from an experienced woodworker would come in handy. I can make this table look pretty darn good, but I also want it to last. I'm not worried about the table getting beat up, but I'd rather it not become firewood as soon as the desert experiences some type of freak humidity or I move back to the Midwest and find myself furniture-less.

So that is where I'm at for the moment. I'll do some more reading and research, looking for examples and such, to see what the world has accomplished before me. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

Until tomorrow!

Josh

Introducing myself and how Woodworking wasn't quite what I expected...

Not everything in this world turns out just the way I want it whenever I start a project. I'm not exactly sure why, but it just rarely turns out that way. One thing I've noticed, though, is that it doesn't matter. Not to me, and not to my woodworking. For once I don't find myself getting crushed (or wanting to crush something/one else) when I'm in my shop. It's kind of nice!

Pre-fitting my first dovetailed box

    I have spent about a year learning as much as I can about woodworking, and especially working with hand tools. By hand tools I don't mean circular saws, jig saws, and hand routers (though I do own them), but the tools of my father and grandfather, such as hand planes, hand saws, and the good ole brace and bit.
    I'm not precisely sure what got me into these tools. One day I decided I needed a sturdy workbench for my garage. That was it. Nothing else. The idea was that if I had to work on my car, a nice,  flat, horizontal surface would really be handy. I wanted something really sturdy so I spent some time doing some research. I needed something simple, but really strong (who knows when I'll have to toss a transmission on the thing), and settled on a torsion box design similar to Tom's Torsion Box Workbench. Simple, sturdy, and extremely inexpensive, especially when you consider I had to settle on a 2'x4' design, as that was the max length I could fit into my little coupe. A couple pcs of plywood, hardboard, and a few 2x4s, and I was home free...except I couldn't afford the expensive miter saw, electric drill, and circular saw. I figured I could afford the drill and a handsaw (it wasn't until about a month later that I found out that I had purchased a "crosscut" saw) and that's exactly what I bought. No more and no less. It was good enough.
    I loved it. It's not that the workbench turned into something absolutely amazing. It didn't. I just enjoyed the time I spent working with wood. I rushed it, didn't follow directions, made a ton of mistakes, but I made it work and still use it to this day for many tasks. You can see below that I didn't create a piece of art, but just a workbench, and I really have to say I learned a lot from a simple project. It was awesome.

Frame almost done

Done enough for me at the time

So since then I've made quite a few projects (for a guy who only gets to play on the weekends), and have been dying to share some of my experiences with anyone or no one, whoever may be out there that wants to hear about my silly mistakes and silly successes. They're all pretty much same these days.

So stay tuned if you'd like to see more projects, pictures, and hear more about my foray into the world of woodworking in the past year and moving forward!