05-21-2015, 09:50 PM
No, you silly people, it's not warped like most of my projects (or my thought process). The lines are straight.....uh, well, mostly. It's different - by about two thirds or so. I built it pint-sized for my growing brood of grandchildren. It's based on an article in Popular Woodworking by Chris Schwarz.
By the way, my apologies for being AWOL for a bit; I haven't posted or even read the forum for a while. It's been nice to take this little break, build something, and share it here.
Life has been happening. Three grandchildren in three months makes life interesting, to say the least (plus a 2+ year old). All healthy, although one little (and I mean little) bugger was in baby intensive care for a bit.
The eldest is just over two, and is getting really active. One of his favorite activities is banging all his toys on our coffee table. Sooooo, it was time to make one for the kiddos, that would double as a kid's table at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc. And since it's made from Douglas Fir construction lumber, they can bang to their heart's content. Isn't it great when you can get your wood fix and make the family happy?
As mentioned, I started with construction lumber that has been drying in my garage for 7 or 8 months. Which in our climate means it's as dry as a popcorn fart. Definitely ready.
Mostly 2x10s with a pith, so I went about carving them up to eliminate the pith and as many knots as I could. The result was mostly kinda quarter sawn, with all but the smallest knots gone. Nice and easy to work.
Since time has been at a premium, I did use some power tools for the milling. But also a bunch of hand tools, so it belongs on this forum. I tried to use my power jointer to save some time, but I made an awful mess of that. How can I start with a perfectly good rectangle and end up with a rhombohedron?????
The results were ghastly, but really easy to fix with a good ol' trusty Stanley #6. The power jointer has been put away, and I'm tempted to put it on the For Sale list.
Breaking down the rough stock with my little panel saw. This and the shooting board gives more square corners (most square? square-er? square-est? Bibliophile, save me!) than my power tools.
I did use a track saw to cut one mortise, then cleaned it up with a chisel. Using this method, the piece (the feet in this case) being mortised consists of two halves that you glue together after the mortise is cut. On the other mortise I used the drill press/chisel approach, which works fine for me.
Here's the mortise in the first foot.
To cut to the chase, here are the feet, legs, and stretcher-to-be. Still some chisel work to do on those leg mortises.
And the dry-assembled base.
Of course it has a top. These two halves have been flattened, but still look a little rough with dried glue on them. I'll run them through the planer, glue 'em up, and finish with a smoother. The idea is to use buttons and screws to attach it.
By the way, my apologies for being AWOL for a bit; I haven't posted or even read the forum for a while. It's been nice to take this little break, build something, and share it here.
Life has been happening. Three grandchildren in three months makes life interesting, to say the least (plus a 2+ year old). All healthy, although one little (and I mean little) bugger was in baby intensive care for a bit.
The eldest is just over two, and is getting really active. One of his favorite activities is banging all his toys on our coffee table. Sooooo, it was time to make one for the kiddos, that would double as a kid's table at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc. And since it's made from Douglas Fir construction lumber, they can bang to their heart's content. Isn't it great when you can get your wood fix and make the family happy?
As mentioned, I started with construction lumber that has been drying in my garage for 7 or 8 months. Which in our climate means it's as dry as a popcorn fart. Definitely ready.
Mostly 2x10s with a pith, so I went about carving them up to eliminate the pith and as many knots as I could. The result was mostly kinda quarter sawn, with all but the smallest knots gone. Nice and easy to work.
Since time has been at a premium, I did use some power tools for the milling. But also a bunch of hand tools, so it belongs on this forum. I tried to use my power jointer to save some time, but I made an awful mess of that. How can I start with a perfectly good rectangle and end up with a rhombohedron?????
The results were ghastly, but really easy to fix with a good ol' trusty Stanley #6. The power jointer has been put away, and I'm tempted to put it on the For Sale list.Breaking down the rough stock with my little panel saw. This and the shooting board gives more square corners (most square? square-er? square-est? Bibliophile, save me!) than my power tools.
I did use a track saw to cut one mortise, then cleaned it up with a chisel. Using this method, the piece (the feet in this case) being mortised consists of two halves that you glue together after the mortise is cut. On the other mortise I used the drill press/chisel approach, which works fine for me.
Here's the mortise in the first foot.
To cut to the chase, here are the feet, legs, and stretcher-to-be. Still some chisel work to do on those leg mortises.
And the dry-assembled base.
Of course it has a top. These two halves have been flattened, but still look a little rough with dried glue on them. I'll run them through the planer, glue 'em up, and finish with a smoother. The idea is to use buttons and screws to attach it.
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer. It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
![[Image: 19883933659_baf12312a0_z.jpg]](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3704/19883933659_baf12312a0_z.jpg)
