Hall Table - Sort of a build-along

[jteneyck]

Practicality usually wins the day. My guess is those joints will never fail unless severely abused. 

Doug

Turns out you are right Doug.  I made the drawers yesterday.  I thought I had them sized correctly, but when I test fit them into the cavities there wasn't enough room for the side mounted slides.  We're talking maybe 1/32", but that was enough to make it a no go.  Moral of the story:  Better to pad out an opening that's too large than not leave enough space.  I rarely use side mounted slides anymore, undermounts give a much cleaner look and the tolerances can be a little sloppier, too, but I couldn't find any appropriate for this table. They were either too short or too long, but the side mounted ones were the perfect length.   

I debated what to do.  Sand down the sides of the Baltic birch drawer boxes, or remove the center divider and make a narrower one.  I decided sanding the drawer sides was too risky, so I set about removing the center divider.  I removed the pocket screws and then tapped the divider with a rubber mallet.  Nothing.  I tapped harder.  Still nothing.  I whacked it pretty hard.  Get the picture?  No way it was going to break loose.  I thought about it some more, and then got a hand saw and sawed down through the middle of it.  That allowed me to lever each half sideways and the pieces came out pretty easily, but pieces of the ash stretchers were still bonded to the plywood and in other places the opposite.  It was never coming apart on its own. 

So my morning didn't go quite as planned, but I have a new divider made and will make some forward progress before the game later today.  In that regard, I respect but dislike the Chiefs since they are the dominate AFC team that Buffalo has to face if they want to be a real contender, so I'm rooting for the Eagles.  Buffalo did beat the Chiefs early in the season, but it was clear they were not up to the task when they faced the Bengals, by a wide margin.  Next year.  Maybe.  

John

[Tapper]

"Stuff" happens when you're building things. The word of the day with my projects seems to be "flexibility." Have to be able to make adjustments on the fly. Having said that and your mentioning taking a little off of the sides of the drawer boxes, seems like I did that more than once when I was constructing my built-in base cabinets in the shop a couple of years ago. I have my 8" jointer set to take off 1/32" at a pass. Was able to dial in the drawer widths that were a "smidge" too wide for the side mounted slides I used - worked fine.

Good luck with the adjustment and keep up us updated with pics!

Doug

P.S. I'll be pulling for the Eagles also. Jalen Hurts and several other members on the team played at my alma mater.

[goredsus]

John,

I appreciate all  your posts and this build-along has been very educational for me.

Thanks.

[jteneyck]

Never bet against Mahomes.  He still looks like a kid, but clearly is the current best QB in the NFL.  

Back to the table, I made the drawers a couple of days ago.  I use my router table with an original Incra jig.  No tuning required; it just works.  There's pretty much zero tearout, too, if you use a backer board on both sides of the parts.  A very nice feature of the Incra jig is you can gang common parts together and cut them all at once.  With only two drawers I cut the four fronts/backs, and side pieces in just two operations.  


 
I set the height of the bit to give me an "ear" of about 1/32" when the parts were put together.  I use a straight bit, or one with a slight shear, but not a spiral bit.  Every time I've tried a spiral bit the cuts are two narrow for the fingers to fit.  The best 1/2" bit I've found so far is from Rockler, which is in the photo above.  It cuts very cleanly and the width is perfect for the Incra.  

Here's what I mean about zero tearout.  I'm using Baltic birch for these drawers and this is the exit side. 



I cut a dado for the 1/4" bottoms near the bottom edge of the parts, sanded the inside surfaces with 220 grit and then taped off all the inside surfaces where glue might squeeze out.  I wouldn't do that for a kitchen's worth of drawers, but for only 2 drawers it was worth the time to eliminate any glue cleanup.  I glued the bottoms in because it adds a lot of strength, and makes the bottom stiffer, too.  Clamps near each corner; just enough force to pull the fingers tight into the bottom of the sockets.  



After the glue was dry I sanded the ears flush with the sides, and then mounted the slides.  I used self-closing, side mounted slides.  Not my preference, but they best fit the depth of the table, so that's what I used.  

I felt like finishing the top before fitting the drawer fronts so I did that next.  After I squared the top on my table saw with a large sled I built 30 years ago when I built my first set of kitchen cabinets, I set up a tall fence on the rip fence to cut the bevel around 3 edges of the top.  It's just a piece of Melamine bolted through the fence.  



I needed an angle to give me a 7/16" x 1.5" bevel; turns out that's about 16 degrees, but I just eyeballed it against the layout lines I marked on the end of a piece of scrap and confirmed it with a test cut.  I had to remove the guard and cantilevered mount I use.  Here's the top ready to cut.  



I cut one end, then the front, then the other end so that any tear out would be cut off with each subsequent cut except the last.  I used a freshly sharpened combo blade to give me a good cut both crosscutting and ripping.  I also left an extra half inch on the back edge when I cut the bevels.  After they were cut, I ripped off that 1/2" to give me a clean edge with no tearout on the ends.  This is what it looked like off the saw.



It looks great in this photo, but there were a couple of imperfections, mostly due to me not being able to hold it perfectly flat to the saw table near the end of one or two of the cuts, so I cleaned up the bevels with a very nice LN 4-1/2 low angle plane a friend gave me, and my all around favorite Bailey #6 that I bought from Tablesaw Tom several years ago.  After I put a Hock blade and chip breaker in it it just purrs.  The Hock blade and chip breaker turned it from a good to a great planed.  A few swipes with both and it was ready for sanding.  



Just have to fit the drawers fronts and then it will be ready for detail sanding and then finishing.  

Thanks for following along.  

John

[jteneyck]

I didn't show fitting the drawer slides to the drawers and partitions in the table.  They are side mounted slides.  I got these slides from Amazon and the directions were truly pathetic, but I've installed enough of these to know how to do it.   I used only two screws in each half of the slides, horizontal slots for the pieces inside the table and vertical ones in the pieces on the drawers, so I could make any adjustments need to get the drawers level with the bottom rail and flush with the front opening. A couple of adjustments were needed.  

The only remaining construction task was to fit the drawer fronts.  I did that by first cutting the board I had to 4-7/8" wide to give a scant 1/8" reveal at the top when the drawer fronts are flush with bottom of the side rails of the table.  Then I cut them to final length, each piece having about a 3/32" reveal at the leg and a total 3/32" where they meet in the center.  To install the fronts to the drawer boxes I first bored the holes for the drawer pulls then clamped them to the top rail with a spacer at each leg and a with the scant 1/8" offset at the top of the rail.  

 
I used a pencil lead to mark the hole locations on the drawer boxes, then removed the drawer fronts and bored the holes in the drawer boxes at the drill press.  One more time back into the openings to attach the drawer pulls through the drawer boxes to make sure everything was aligned OK.  





When I install the drawer fronts after finishing, I'll add two screws through the drawer boxes into the drawer fronts to lock them in place.  And there you have it:





Ready for detail sanding and finishing.  

John

[Randy C]

John

As usual, your projects look great! I really enjoy your build a longs even though I know I could never approach your level of craftsmanship.

[Tapper]

Very nice work John - looking good!

Doug

[mound]

Lookin' good! 




..

[jteneyck]

John

As usual, your projects look great! I really enjoy your build a longs even though I know I could never approach your level of craftsmanship.

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say, but don't sell yourself short.  Dave Diaman went from a nubie to unbelieveable craftsman in a very short period of time.  We all are far more capable than we often think.  My projects look pretty good because I've become better at planning the build sequence and at fixing mistakes, and this project was no exception.
Fairly detailed drawings and cut lists have helped a lot, too.  Winging it on the back of an envelope doesn't work for me. 

John

[Tapper]

John,

I remember your mentioning that original Incra jig on an earlier project. I noticed you used it this time to cut box joints for the drawers. Will it cut dovetails also?

Thanks,

Doug