Breadboard Ends

[jteneyck]

After spending most of the good months milling lumber I'm finally back in the shop using some of the lumber I cut and dried.  Currently, I'm making a dining room table with English walnut for the top and a painted maple base using some legs from Osborne.  As an aside, I ordered the legs on Monday and they arrived today.  Amazing.  And they are beautifully milled.  Anyway, I designed the table top with breadboard ends because I thought they looked good on a rustic style table and because the lumber wasn't long enough to give me the 96" long top as a simple glued up assembly.  I had never constructed bread board ends so I took a few photos of the process to share.  

After the top had been glued up I made a simple jig to support the router as I cut the tenons on the ends of the top.  I wanted the long tenons to be 2" so I set the fence accordingly and clamped it in place.  

The slab flattening bit I used did a great job for this task.  



The top is 1-1/4" thick so I made the rabbets just under 3/8" leaving the tenon just over 1/2" thick.  With the rabbets cut I laid out the tenons, then cut them with a hand saw and jigsaw.



I cleaned them up with a couple of planes and a file.



The center tenon is 4" wide and the two at the ends are 2-1/2".  The stub tenon is 3/4" and ends 1" from the ends.  

After prepping the breadboard ends which I left 1/16" thicker than the top, I transferred the tenon locations to them.  To allow for seasonal expansion I cut the center mortise about 1/8" wider and the outer mortises 1/4" wider on each side of the tenons.  Since the wood is at 6% moisture the top is going to expand but I still allowed room for contraction, just in case.  I cut the mortises with a 1/2" spiral upcut router bit using my horizontal router mortiser.  By adjusting the height of the router I was able to match the thickness of the tenons by flipping the workpiece with each pass over the bit, keeping the mortise centered.  First I cut the stub tenon across the full width of the ends, stopping at the transfer marks, and then I cut the deep mortises for the long tenons.  The mortises are 1/16" deeper than the tenons.  When done they looked like this.



I made a test piece before cutting the workpieces so I knew the mortise width would be very close, but I was still quite surprised when the pieces fit on the first try, maybe just a little snug on one but that will be remedied easily with the shoulder plane.  With the pieces test fit I marked the edges where they meet the field, then drum sanded both sides until just proud.  From here I'll bring them flush with the top with the ROS and maybe a hand plane.  




More to follow on how these will be held in place.  Thanks for looking.  

John

[KC]

Looking good... as always.  

[lift mechanic]

Nice looking walnut, can't wait to see the finish on the walnut, one of my favorite woods. How did you glue up the top? Dowels, domino, biscuits or maybe splines. I am about a month away from starting a dining room table. 8/4 QSWO I have been saving for 5+ years. I need all the help I can get.

[jteneyck]

Nice looking walnut, can't wait to see the finish on the walnut, one of my favorite woods. How did you glue up the top? Dowels, domino, biscuits or maybe splines. I am about a month away from starting a dining room table. 8/4 QSWO I have been saving for 5+ years. I need all the help I can get.

8/4 WO is going to be HEAVY if the boards are very long.  This top was supposed to be 1-1/2" thick, but I could only get 1-1/4" out of them due to twist and bow.  Even so, at 42 x 96" it's going to weigh 120 lbs.  To answer your question, after considerable time to get the 4 boards edge jointed for a tight fit I used biscuits for alignment, 8" on center.  I didn't glue them in, just used them for alignment and I was very pleased with how well aligned the boards are after glue up.  FWIW, I used TB Original to glue up the top because it has less creep than the others.  I have sometimes felt the glue line in panels I've glued up with TB III, in particular, as the RH changes during the year.  I didn't want that to happen with this dining room table, so I chose Original.  

I've made up at least 10 finish specimens to show the lady I'm making the table for.  With clear finish on it it looks yellow green to me, very unattractive.  A coat of Sealcoat shellac first and then my WB topcoat made a world of difference.  My personal favorite so far, however, has been to first dye it with Transtint Brown Mahogany, followed by Sealcoat and topcoat.  We'll which direction she wants to go.  

The top has several knots and cracks in it so I'm going to have to fill them.  My first tests look pretty good using 5 minutes epoxy with a drop or two of Honey Amber dye.  

John

[Stwood_]

Looking good.
I did a RO table a number of years ago. It took 5 of us to get it down some stairs into a basement dining room. 1-1/2" thick. 5'x12'.
I built it on sawhorses, and was tough handling it in the shop. Gave up thinking about getting it into the finish room. I just sprayed it where I built it. Lol

[lift mechanic]

Titebond III may be the reason I could feel the glue line on my last large oak table in some areas. I have never used TB original. I used 12mm BB ply for the spline mainly for alignment. Biscuits would be a lot easier.

[jteneyck]

Titebond III may be the reason I could feel the glue line on my last large oak table in some areas. I have never used TB original. I used 12mm BB ply for the spline mainly for alignment. Biscuits would be a lot easier.

I've sworn off TBIII for interior work.  TB Original and TB II can handle most any application and don't suffer from joint shift. I actually had planned to use TB PU glue until the test glue up I made broke with only minimal force.  I bought the bottle not quite a year ago but had never opened it and stored it in the fridge.  Nevertheless, it was bad.  PU glue would still be a good choice when you want a waterproof glue and/or a long open time, but it needs to be fresh.  The test sample I made with TB Original wouldn't break even when I whacked it with a mallet.   

John

[jteneyck]

Looking good.
I did a RO table a number of years ago. It took 5 of us to get it down some stairs into a basement dining room. 1-1/2" thick. 5'x12'.
I built it on sawhorses, and was tough handling it in the shop. Gave up thinking about getting it into the finish room. I just sprayed it where I built it. Lol

Holy cow that must have been a whale.  I'm debating how I'm going to move this little 42 x 96" top to the finishing area by myself.  It's going to be nearly 100 lbs w/o the breadboard ends.  Just flipping it over on the bench is a handful.  Probably going to have to call a (masked) friend.  Definitely going to need help getting it up out of my basement shop.  

John

[petertay15]

Yes the thickness of the top can make it very heavy. I’m making a 7-foot dining table of ash with 20-inch extensions on each end.
To keep the weight down, the top is being made of 4/4, but in order to make it look thicker, I will glue a 3/4 trim to the underside. Of course the trim piece for the ends will have to be made of endgrain, so it will shrink/expand along with the top. Also, the legs will be bolted on for easy removal when the table is being moved.
Thanks for the build-along John. We always enjoy your work and replies to other folks. —Peter

[Stwood_]

Holy cow that must have been a whale.  I'm debating how I'm going to move this little 42 x 96" top to the finishing area by myself.  It's going to be nearly 100 lbs w/o the breadboard ends.  Just flipping it over on the bench is a handful.  Probably going to have to call a (masked) friend.  Definitely going to need help getting it up out of my basement shop.  

John

$12.00 HF furniture dolly?