TeeBee's Blog

Here's an index to the Down in the Shop, Cherry End Tables series.

Part 1 - the beginning
Part II - chopping mortises and ripping tapers
Part III - tenons and tabletops
Part IV - beveling the tops; smoothing the legs
Part V - smoothing the aprons and tops
Part VI - Watco's Danish Oil
Part VII - puttering while danish oil cures
Part VIII - gluing up legs and aprons
Part IX - first coat of polyurethane
Part X - more polyurethane; preparing for top installation
Final Chapter - assembly, goodbyes

After viewing a chapter, use the browser's Back button to return to the index.

teebee

Today - final assembly!

BTW, you might be wondering about that "say goodbye" comment in the last posting. That's 'cuz these tables are not for us. They're for a charity raffle.

Pic 65 - a corner bracket in use, with one screw installed.

Pc 66 - all 4 screws in place

Pic 67 - Done!. And they turned out pretty darn nice if you ask me.

Pic 68 - yours truly poses with the tables (big pic - ~400k)

Hope you enjoyed this blog edition of "Down in the Shop". I hope to post an index for these entries, for ease-of-reading. If I get really motivated I'll create something on Yahoo Geocities in webpage format.

Pics here.

teebee

I have been having a problem with my blog. The little "#" symbol that was supposed to allow you to jump right to a blog entry wasn't working. I did a little sniffing around in Blogger help and found I had to enable a "Title" feature for the # to work correctly. Well, I did and this is the first test using it. Let's see if it works.

Down in the Shop, Part X

Today - more coats of poly; preparing for installing the top

Pic 58 - second coat of clear polyurethane on tops. Second coat flows on much smoother. Still dries with some bubbles and nibs here and there.

Pic 59 - Here is the secret to how I install a table top. The trick is that you need a mechanism that will hold the top in place, but allow it to expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity. I make up a bunch of these brackets, install them in the inside corners of the table body, drill oblong holes through them, and thread screws through them to hold the top down. The oblong holes (you'll see in a moment) allow the wood to expand and contract.

Pic 60 - drilling out the side holes in the brackets so I can screw it into place.

Pic 61 - all brackets, with mounting holes drilled and countersunk (wouldn't do to have any screws showing, now would it?).

Pic 62 - an interesting contrast between cherry sapwood and cherry heartwood. The sapwood is creamy almost to the point of looking like maple. The heartwood looks like, well, cherry. You can get some interesting effects when you build pieces that use wood that has some sapwood showing. Some people don't like that 2-toned effect. I think that used sparingly it can add drama and interest to a piece.

Pic 63 - table assembly, with brackets installed. A side benefit of this method is that the brackets add some lateral stiffness to the table. Not that a table is generally stressed laterally, but if it is being moved and gets bumped or dropped the brackets will help.

Pic 64 - Bracket with elongated hole. I doubt I need to make the holes as elongated as I do, but better safe than sorry. I need to be sure I install the top with the grain perpendicular to the length of the holes - wood does expand both parallel and perpendicular to the grain but the perpendicular expansion is by far the most pronounced.

Next - final assembly and we say goodbye to our tables (sob!)

Pics here.

Down in the Shop, part IX

Getting down to the finish line.

Today - first coat of poly

Pic 53 - Minwax Clear Polyurethane. I read a lot of Net woodworkers who disparage polyurethane (polyurinate is one of the more "clever" put-downs), but I like it. It applies easily, is relatively self-leveling and if you're smart about what sheens you use and how they are applied, can give a teriffic-looking finish. I like to start with 2 coats of gloss to give a smooth even surface without muddying up the look of the wood. I then finish with one (or two) coats of whatever the final sheen will be. For these tables, it'll be semi-gloss. Why not just 3 coats of semi-gloss? Well, any finish but gloss has opaquing gunk added to the poly. That is what cuts down the sheen from gloss to semi-gloss or satin. If you apply multiple coats of non-gloss, you start to muddy and blur the wood's grain as you add more and more of the opaquing stuff. All that really matters from a sheen standpoint is the very top coat, so I do gloss for all but the top.

I also chose the non-water-based poly for this project because it has a nicer, amber-like tone. The water-based stuff is great 'cuz it doesn't stink up the basement and cleans up easier, but can have a colder, plastic-like look. I've taken great pains with the appearance of this table and didn't want that effect.

I apply the finish with cheapo bristle brushes. I used to be very fussy about how I laid it down, going slow and painstakingly with my strokes. Now I tend to go much faster; more like putting down paint. Except for the last coat on the top - then I slow down to ensure even coats with no overlapping lines.

Pic 54 - leg/apron assembly #1 with first coat of poly. I apply it with the assembly upside-down, so that any runs or sags will be at the top and thus will be covered when I put the top on.

Pic 55 - leg/apron assembly #2

Pic 56 - table tops. If you view the large version of the pic, you can see nibs and bumps in the finish. I'll have to sand those out before applying the next coat.

Pic 57 - closeup of table top. Starting to get that 3D look I'm striving for.

Next - sand, then second coat

Pics (as always) here.

teebee

Down in the Shop, Part VIII

Today - gluing up the legs + aprons. Not a lot of pics - I had to work fast before the glue set up.

Pic 50 - first table assembly in clamps. I use the pipe clamps to apply most of the gluing force, then add the strap clamp to keep the legs from spreading out. I found that I could prevent the clamp jaws from marring the wood by sticking on some squares of that felt stuff you put on the bottom of chairs - works great!

Pic 51 - second table assembly in clamps. You might be saying to yourself, "Self, I thought Steve said he was going to peg these tables and not glue them". Well, I changed my mind. With a table like this there isn't a lot of room on the insides of the legs to put pegs, and I didn't want the pegs showing from the front. So I went back to glue. With tables, too much glue ends up slopping down the legs and is a pain to clean up so I try to only use enough to hold things together. Tight-fitting mortises help a lot here.

Pic 52 - Table assemblies freed from the clamps, and tops placed on for an early preview (along with my lunch, an overview library book ("The Hobbit"), and misc crap to deal with during the day).

Next - polyurethane time!

Pics (as always) here.

teebee

Darts

Still waiting for danish oil to set up, so I've been doing misc cleanup in the shop. Moved some wood around, hung 2 more shop lites, and set up the dart board (using the backboard Ben made for me years ago). Hmmm - that gets me thinking...

Darts was big in our family growing up. Can't remember exactly how it got started. Maybe Dave went off to college and came back playing darts, so naturally we had to learn so we could beat him. Can't be sure.

I didn't really learn to play well until l went off to college myself. The RA (Resident Asssistant) on our floor played darts pretty well, so I played my first games in the lounge of the 21st floor of Kennedy Tower at UMass. I had a crappy wound board with a hard-as-rock cork center, and crappy plastic darts. Still, I learned the fundamentals.

Bought my first darts at Palazolla's sports shop in Gloucester that year. I still have them, along with the original flights (now shot, but I kept 'em anyway). Lighter than most, with smooth instead of knurled barrels. They've served me well.

I went on to eventually beat my RA. I bought my first real bristle board, wore it out over the years, and bought another (the one that is now in my shop). I started to get good enough to sometimes beat Dave and his college buddies, then good enough to give them a good fight, then good enough to beat most of them most of the time - except Dave. That level of play didn't come until later.

Dave and I found that we were almost unbeatable as teammates in Cricket. We both played well, strategized well together, and kept the other one calm under pressure. One of my best nights of darts was with Dave at a bar in Winooski, Vt called the Trackside. We took on all comers and beat them all.

When I started working at McKesson (then HBO & Company), HBO was sponsoring a darts team in the local C-division darts league. I joined the team and we played well enough to win the C-division championship in our league - playing out of Elks lounges and Moose halls and various and sundry dives. Despite the rough surroundings the people we played against were almost always nice. The ones that were jerks were simply more satisfying to trounce.

Last big darts event I can recall was Ben's bachelor party. We played golf in the morning, went to a Sox game, then back to my friend Tommy's house on Long Beach for lobster, beer and darts untill the sun went up. I think I played well, 'tho some of the wee hour events are hazy.

Darts have faded from my life these days. I play occasionally at Christmas at Mike's house. The bar we played at in league play has changed hands, and the new place doesn't have a board. But now the board is back up in my basement. Maybe I'll shoot a little grease into the old elbow (I had a zerk fitting installed years ago), get out the darts (I still carry them with me whenever I travel - found that whenever I left them at home I wanted them) and see what I can do. Maybe I'll teach Emma how to play.

teebee

Down in the Shop, Part VII

Still waiting for the danish oil to set up, so I hung the shop doors. Was able to salvage the main door from the old set of shop double-doors. For the other 1/2 I hung a 18" wide door blank, for a total door width of ~50 inches. Should be wide enough to get big stuff in and out. Much quieter and less smelly (a la danish oil fumes) now that I can close the door.

Next - gluing up aprons + legs.

teebee

Down in the Shop, Part VI

Today - Watco's Danish Oil

I decided to apply at least the Danish Oil part of the finish before assembling the table. It is much easier to apply a finish to legs and aprons when they are not put together.

Pic 44 - Watco's Danish Oil (natural finish). This is my favorite finish for cherry - really makes the color and the grain pop. I'll follow it up with a couple of coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, 'cuz the danish oil is not that sturdy of a finish.

Pic 45 - applying oil to an apron. Apply a heavy coat with a cheapo brush, let sit for 1/2 hour, apply another coat, let sit for 15 minutes, wipe off excess. Continue to wipe off excess as it dries. Let sit for 72 hours. Apply polyurethane.

Pic 46 - Oiled aprons. Note lack of finish on tenons. That's so the glue will stick.

Pic 47 - Oiled top #1. Compare to pic #42 and you'll see what I mean about Danish oil making the wood pop.

Pic 48 - Oiled top #2. Compare to pic #43. Also note the different grain characteristics of this top compared with the other top. This one has a wilder grain pattern. Ah, variety!

Pic 49 - Oiled legs. Dad - note your old stereo in the background - thanks!

Next - assemble aprons and legs.

Pics here.

teebee

Poker

Poker night last night, at James' house. Me, James, Norm, Greg B, Glenn.

Highlights:

- I win the first 5 hands - amazing!. No big bets though, so its not like I'm up by that much.

- Glenn shows up and immediatly starts raising $.50. I stay with him and lose

- We play side bets. I make a bonehead side bet with Greg and lose $1.00. Gotta pay more attention...

- Anaconda: Both James and Greg have a king-high flush. Luckily, I have an ace-high flush. Come to papa!

- Night baseball - Greg turns up 4 of a kind with his last card and wins. I have 3 natural kings and not a damn wildcard in sight - I go down swinging.

- I get a natural full house in 5-card draw - queens and 8's.

- Beers: Celebrator Double-Bock, Becks, Magic Hat something-or-other, Harp. Greg buys a variety mix pack and ends up with Corona Light and some nutmeg-and-orange holiday brew. No thanks. Snacks: Doritos and peanuts. Now that's nutrition!

- I make $3; Greg makes $4, not sure about Glenn; James loses a few bucks; Norm busts out

A good time is had by all.

teebee

"The Missing Necklace"

I went into Alex's class today to see them put on a production of "The Missing Necklace" - the story of Ms Pig and her missing necklace of marshmallows.

Pic 1 - the invitation (how can you resist!)

Pic 2 - Alex's self-portrait hanging in the hallway

Pic 3 - setting up (with you-know-who peeking out)

Pic 4 - the narrator concludes and scuttles offstage as fast as he can!

Pic 5 - Ms Pig calls all her friends - Ms Cat, Mr Turtle, Mr Dog and Mr Chipmunk

Pic 6 - All the friends arrive (Alex is the chipmunk)

Pic 7 - The necklace is gone!

Pic 8 - Alex announces that he is a detective and will find the necklace!

Pic 9 - Alex sternly questions the cat. She denies all responsibility.

Pic 10 - Ms Pig confesses: "I ate my own necklace!" Much hilarity ensues.

Pic 11 - Everyone takes a bow while we all clap

Pic 12 - Our Star!

Pics here.

teebee

Down in the Shop, Part V

Today - smoothing the aprons and tops

Pic 38 - one of the aprons before being planed. Note how dark and kinda dirty it looks; that's 'cuz this board had been sitting around for awhile.

Pic 39 - right-hand side has been planed; left-hand side has not. Quite a difference, no?

Pic 40 - all planed. Compare this with pic 38. This took all of 30 seconds and about a dozen passes with the smoothing plane.

Pic 41 - Remember all that stuff I said about hand planes? Well there comes a time when you have to set them aside and break out the sandpaper. Table tops are usually that time. It is very difficult to glue up a series of boards that look good and have all their grain going in the same direction (a virtual must if you want to plane a top). The tops I glued up did not meet that criteria, so I'll be sanding them. This pic is of the sanding table I made - just a box with a pegboard top and a hole in the side for my dust collection hose. It does a fair job of keeping the dust contained.

Pic 42 - first top after sanding. Used random-orbit sander with 150 and 220 grit paper, then block-sanded with 320 and 400 grit. Verrrrry smooth.

Pic 42 - second top after same sanding.

Next - either assembling the table legs and aprons, or applying the finish to the unassembled pieces first - haven't decided.

Pics here.

teebee

Down in the Shop, Part IV

Today - beveling the tops; smoothing the legs

Pic 32 - putting a bevel on the top. Beveling the top makes the top appear thinner and more refined than just leaving the edges square. It is also a characteristic of Shaker-style tables. Note the pipe clamp across the top. That's cuz the top warped a bit after being glued. The pipe clamp pulled it back to being flat so I could cut a uniform bevel. When I fasten the top to the body it will get pulled flat.

Pic 33 - Both tops, with bevels. When the tops are installed, the bevel side will be face down.

Pic 34 - one of my favorite hand tools is this old Stanley #4 smoothing plane. It was Gina's grandfather's and is in fine condition for being ~50 years old. A well-tuned and sharp hand plane such as this one can leave a finish far smoother than all but the finest sandpaper, and with much less noise, time and sawdust. That's because a plane will slice off the ends of the wood fibers while sandpaper grinds and mashes the ends. A planed piece of wood will appear almost 3-D, with the appearance of the wood shifting as the light changes. It really is nice, and it is a nice connection to the past to use these old tools. Here's an informative write-up about the Stanley #4, as well as every other Stanley handplane (this guy Patrick knows his stuff!).

Pic 35 - planing a leg. The trick is to see which way the grain is going, and always plane uphill:

planing direction: -->
grain: /////////////////

If you plane downhill, or against the grain, you'll lift out and tear the wood fibers, instead of slicing across their tips.

Pic 36 - another fine old tool is this Record bench vise. This thing is huge, heavy, and rock-stable. I added some pine boards to the jaws so I can clamp down hard w/o marring the wood (usually the wood I have in the vise is something harder than pine).

Pic 37 - this is what you get after an evening of planing - a nice pile of aromatic shavings instead of a cloud of sawdust. Plus you get tired arms (but it's a "good" tired).

Next - smoothing the aprons and tops.

Pics here.

teebee

Train Show!

Alex, his grandfather and I went to the Train Show at the Big E on Saturday. 3 enormous exhibition halls filled with train setups, train booths, train enthusiasts, train geeks, and us. This is our 4th year going and we always have tons of fun.

Lotso pics here.

teebee

Down in the Shop, part III

Today - tenons and tabletops

Pic 17 - cutting the tenon "shoulders". This involves making a cut about 3/16" deep, 1" in from the end of the board. It'll become obvious what this cut is for in a few pics.

Pic 18 - cutting the side shoulders

Pic 19 - The Tenoning Jig. This is a great jig! What it does is hold a piece of wood vertically so you can saw one side of a tenon. It works really well, and is a joy to use.

Pic 20 - backside of the tenoning jig. Here is where all the adjustment levers are, and the grab handles

Pic 21 - cutting the tenon "cheeks". Now you see what the shoulder cut was for - once I make the cheek cut, the piece falls off and voila - tenon!

Pic 22 - all the tenons cut to size.

Pic 23 - mitering the tenon ends. That's to allow the tenons to slide all the way into the mortise without bonking into the tenon coming in from the other side. Kinda like this (bad ascii art to follow):
______
|\\______
| |
| |
| |

This is what the tenons will look like inside the mortise.

Pic 24 - completed tenons

Pic 25 - test assembly! Let's put it all together (without glue) and see if the mortises are too snug or the tenons too long or Steve did some sort of bonehead move that ruined some piece or another. Nope - everything looks good!

Pic 26 - same shot, but with the tops plopped on. BTW, that's my grandfather's (Grampy's) ballpeen hammer.

Pic 27 - first top before sanding. Lots of glue, pencil marks, (slightly) misaligned panels, etc.

Pic 28 - The Belt Sander!. Great for rough sanding, as long as you keep it moving and don't let it dig in. One pass with 80-grit, then another with 120-grit. Back and forth, back and forth, back in forth....

Pic 29 - Voila! Rough sanding complete!

Pic 30 - Ripping the tabletops to width. I make the blanks about an inch too wide and an inch too long, then cut to size.

Pic 31 - Crosscutting to length.

Next - cutting the bevel in the tabletop.

Pics here.

teebee

Down in the Shop, part II

In which our hero bravely chops mortises and fearlessly rips tapers

Pic 8 - Chopping the mortises at the drill press

Pic 9 - this is what it looks like right off the drill press. Need to clean out bottom and side with a chisel

Pic 10 - crosscutting all the legs to length

Pic 11 - leg blanks, all cut to size and mortised. You can see the rough tabletop blanks in the background, with most glue scraped off

Pic 12 - The Taper Jig (homemade). This is the thingie that lets me cut a line that is not parallel to the tablesaw fence. Note that one face of the jig is not parallel to the other. This is adjustable, and is what determines the angle of the taper.

Pic 13 - ripping the first taper with the jig. Note the holddown - keeps fleshy parts well away from spinning blade.

Pic 14 - ripping the 2nd taper in same leg. You can see that the topside of the leg is already tapered

Pic 15 - this is what you get after tapering - a leg with 2 tapers, and a bunch of cherry shims. You can see what I mean about cutting a tapered line.

Pic 16 - all legs now tapered and mortised

Next - cut the tenons in the table aprons!

Pics here.

teebee

Down in the Shop

First major project in new shop - a pair of cherry end tables.

Pic 1 - the plan! I've made several like this, so plan doesn't include all details. Tables will be cherry, 18" x 18" x 22", Shaker-style, pinned mortise-and-tenon construction (no glue).

Pic 2 - leg blanks. If you look closely, you can see the mortise layout on one of the blanks

Pic 3 - apron blanks. These are the table sides, and will have tenons cut at each end

Pic 4 - Table top 1 being glued up in the clamps

Pic 5 - Table top 2 being glued up

Pic 6 - Drill press set up with mortising jig. This allows me to drill the square holes for the leg mortices

Pic 7 - Closeup of mortising bit. Basically a hollow square chisel, with a rotating bit inside. The bit extends slightly beyond the end of the chisel. The bit turns; the chisel doesn't. The way it works is that the bit drills a round hole, and the chisel carves the round hole into a square, with the waste from the chisel being cleared out by the rotating bit. Works great!

Next - drilling out the mortises, then ripping the tapers in the legs.

Pics here.

teebee

I'm an uncle (again)

Congratulations to my "little" brother Ben and his lovely wife Melissa on the birth of their second child - a daugher, Arianna (spelling?) Torow Locke. Mother and daughter are reported to be doing well. First child Brendan proudly told his classmates that he has a new baby brother. Oh well, as long as he's enthusiastic - the gender thing will doubtlessly come later.

Welcome, Arianna!

teebee

Downright balmy...

38 degrees on the bank clock this morning. We'll all get spoiled, then p & m when it goes back below 0.

teebee

Who's Voice is That?

Some famous people providing voices for SpongeBob SquarePants:

Ernest Borgnine - Mermaid Man
Tim Conway - Barnacle Boy/Man
Marion Ross - Spongebob's Grandmother
John Rhys-Davies - Man-Ray
Charles Nelson Reilly - The Dirty Bubble
Bill Fagerbakke (was "Dauber" on "Coach") - Patrick
Clancy Brown (was sadistic head guard in "The Shawshank Redemption") - Mr Krabs

Who'da thunk it?

Thanks to the Internet Movie Database.

teebee