Saturday, September 26, 2009

Table Fully Assembed



Yesterday I glued the four legs together with the stretchers. Today, I glued the top to the leg assembly.

Once the leg assembly was released from the clamps, I drilled 1/4" holes in the legs. The hole was deep enough to pierce the tenon. I then inserted a short piece of 1/4" dowel to pin the stretcher into the leg. No way this table will come apart!





Next step is to sand the entire table with 220 grit paper, then start applying the Watco dark walnut danish oil.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Table Frame Comes Together



I've been working on the legs alot, they required much hand sanding and filing. First I filed and rasped the legs to their final form, then starting with 60 grit sandpaper, sanded the legs until I got to 150 grit. The final sanding with 220 ans 440 paper will happen once the table is fully assembled. After getting the legs done, I then went about cutting the stretchers -- those horizontal pieces used to connect the legs and provide support and attachment for the table top.


I clamped the pieces together, just to get a sense of how tight the joints were, and whether the table is fairly square and level. To my surprise, it was both. The stretchers have tenons on each end, and from the previous images you can see the legs have mortises in them. I'll unclamp everything, apply glue to the joints and re-clamp it overnight.