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Ok. Got most of the wood milled up. The top boards were 8/4 and currently milled to 1-3/4 to 1-7/8. I milled them one at a time so that's why the various thicknesses.
Big question is how thick to make the top. Proportionally, I think that 1-1/4” would look best. I can resaw that planks which would same me some time and leave some thin wood for other projects.
I would like to hear from you-all on top thickness.
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(05-04-2023, 03:09 PM)Scoony Wrote: Ok. Got most of the wood milled up. The top boards were 8/4 and currently milled to 1-3/4 to 1-7/8. I milled them one at a time so that's why the various thicknesses.
Big question is how thick to make the top. Proportionally, I think that 1-1/4” would look best. I can resaw that planks which would same me some time and leave some thin wood for other projects.
I would like to hear from you-all on top thickness.
I would mill a scrap to your thickness and chamfer the underside to get a feel for how it will look.
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(05-04-2023, 06:50 PM)Philip1231 Wrote: I would mill a scrap to your thickness and chamfer the underside to get a feel for how it will look.
Great idea. I do have some cut-offs from those planks. That will also help in figuring out what sort of edge treatment to use.
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I picked up the lumber back at the end of April and got started on it last week.
I am calling these bubble legs. This leg design creates a challenge in that the bubbles are larger in diameter than the squared top section.
I have a bench top mortiser, but that does not have a capacity required. Pulled out the Drill press mortiser kit and used some shims so that first bubble would not interfere.
I was able to get all the mortises cut without drama.
Fast forward to today, and I do have the basic base assembled. I will post more on that tomorrow and how I plan on the drawer supports.
The part I am not looking forward to is resawing those planks down to a reasonable thickness. I am shooting for a top that it 1-1/4" thick. I milled a piece down to 1-1/2 and it was just to chunky. The 8/4 lumber I got milled down to 1-7/8". The off-cuts will become drawer box and bottom parts.
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Instead of milling it down, how about a heavy chamfer on the underside?
Semper fi,
Brad
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05-21-2023, 02:55 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-21-2023, 02:55 PM by Scoony.)
I had though about that, but I ended up resawing the planks on the bandsaw. That did cause the planks to bend slightly as expected, but I alternated them and clamped them up for over a week. Finally got the top glued up. I need to process some pics so I can post them.
I am almost done on the base. It only needs a few more coats of finish. Did some testing on scraps. I am wiping on one coat of Seal Coat to the pine then applying a gel stain. For the ash, I am simply applying the get stain. The Seal Coat on the pine prevent blotching and it ends up mating the ash perfectly. The only thing that is hard to hide is how the legs are glued up to achieve the size.
I am using the glued up top as a work surface to finish the base. Once I get the base finished, I can get that out of the shop and focus on the top. Friend wants those power outlet groments installed, so I am going to figure out how to make those holes. Will probably make a jig/template and use a router with a bearing bit. Holes need to be 3-14" dia.
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(05-21-2023, 02:55 PM)Scoony Wrote: I am using the glued up top as a work surface to finish the base. Once I get the base finished, I can get that out of the shop and focus on the top. Friend wants those power outlet groments installed, so I am going to figure out how to make those holes. Will probably make a jig/template and use a router with a bearing bit. Holes need to be 3-14" dia.
If that is 3-1/4", then the router with template should work. Or, you could buy a Forstner bit that size. That is a handy size for roughing in a bowl on a lathe.
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A wish for you all: May you keep buying green bananas.
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Wanted to provide some closure on this. I did not get a lot of pics during the build, but it turned out much simpler than initially thought.
The front apron is simply laid on it's side along the top. Here I have one board milled down to about 1-1/4" which looked like a good proportion. The top got a simple round-over edge to complement the legs and provide a comfortable edge for the forearms.
For the finish, I put on one coat of Seal Coat to the pine legs as a pre-stain then used a Varathane gel stain. For the ash, I use the same color, but a regular stain. This gave the best color match between the pine and ash from the tests I did. The fact that the legs were made up of chunks of glued up pine did not lend to beautiful legs, but I feel they turned out pretty nice for what they were.
Top coat was rattle can Varathane varnish which is really easy for me to apply and creates a super durable finish. I have been using this on several pieces and really happy with the end results. I keep asking customers about the finishes on the pieces that I make, and this one has not failed me yet. From a rattle can product that some folks would probably skip over.
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I'm not a fan of the "bubble" legs, but it looks like you did get a decent match on the stain. You chose well on the top thickness...Looks awesome!
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Impressive skill levels, both in the ability to understand what the user wants and the ability to make it exactly that way.
