Well, its been a while since I have posted any progress of my work as it seems life has once again gotten very busy and pulled my attention in other directions. After a week where my dad came up to build a new center console for his classic Boston Whaler, the holidays were right around the corner. Once I cleaned up a few things on the boat console, it was time to start Christmas projects for family & friends. This year the gifts were spalted maple veneered clocks. They are of my own design in somewhat of a ‘modern’ style. The other set of gifts I had on my list was a set of 3 walnut and tiger maple picture frames for Toni, to house a few drawings of Mason done by our friend Lyndsey of 3 Legged Dog Ink. Both the drawings and the frames turned out great and Toni was very surprised! MORE ON THESE LATER!
With the long weekend for New Years I was able get into the shop and work on the DT breakfast table. I started off by laying out for the bolts to attach the top to the base. Next the holes were drilled and countersunk so the bolt heads and washers will not be visible once assembled. You can see the goofy jig I made for the drill press in order to locate the holes correctly on the base. Once those were drilled, I transferred the holes into the underside of the frame for the top. These holes were drilled to the proper depth to accept a 5/16″ nut mortised into the underside of the top half of the half lapped dovetail.
With the holes drilled, next I needed to cut the mortise to accept the nuts that will be embedded in the top. This was simply done by tracing the shape of the nut in pencil, then cutting along the lines with a chisel. Once these two faces of the half lap are glued this nut will br retained by the lower half of the joint, securing the table top to the base.
I then moved onto cutting the rabbit in the top frame that will accept the glass. Two sides were done on the table saw and the other two were done by hand held router with a spiral up-cut bit and fence. Two different methods were used because one set of rabbits ran the full length of the piece (ones done on the table saw) and the other two were ’stopped’ meaning they didn’t go all the way to the ends of the board (ones done by router). This is easier to understand by looking at the pictures below.
Once all 4 rabbits were cut I assmebled the top and began to square off the round corners left by the router bit to accept the glass. With any luck this one should be wrapped up soon. Thanks for reading!
-NWB
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- Laying out for bolt holes
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- Fixture for drill press
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- Boring for the bolt head & washer
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- Through hole drilled in base
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- through hole into the top frame
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- tracing the shape of the nut
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- cutting the mortise for the nut
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- Nut mortise at half depth
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- Nut installed in mortise
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- Once glued, this nut won't go anywhere
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- Rabbit run on the table saw
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- Stopped rabbit done by router
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- Corner that must be cleaned up.
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- Just like that; ready for glass
