First Coat of Finish

I put the first coat of finish on the end tables. I figure it will take 2-3 coats on the parts unseen by the user, and 5-6 coats on the parts which are exposed to touching and spills.

More Progress

I finally got around to building a jig for making accurate miter cuts: a miter sled. It's basically a piece of plywood with wood framing attached at a perfect 45 degree angle to the saw blade. Under the sled, there are "miter sliders": aluminum bars which fit tightly into the miter slots on the table saw surface. These sliders are specially designed so that they can be adjusted to tightly fit into the miter slots. This is critical in getting accurate and repeatable cuts.


I used a piece of our old kitchen countertop for the sled base. It worked well, it was a 3/4" piece of particleboard with formica laminated to the surface. Way better than just sending it to the landfill. The red aluminum strips in the photo are pieces of "T-track". Handy stuff, you can mount it to the sled, then use a 10-24 bolt to fasten all kinds of helpers to the jig. In the picture you can see I have hold downs placed in the T-track, to keep the wood from moving when the cut is being made.




After cutting the 4 pieces for the Occassional Table top, I used the biscuit joiner to make cuts into each joint. I am using picture frame clamps to keep things squeezed tightly together, and square, while the glue dries:



A close up of the clamps and one corner of the table top:



After routing the edge and an initial sanding, the top is looking good!