31 August 2009

Brownie points...don't you love 'em?



















A few pics of the on-going progress on this table. It's almost complete now and I'm just applying the final coats of Osmo Poly-X oil to the exterior. This one has been quite a 'journey', not least because there's been nothing square or regular about the top, which has compounded the difficulty in making it, not that it's a particularly difficult piece to make...just plain bloody awkward.
The first couple of pics show how the rounded tenons are made using firstly a skew chisel for the ends and then a small shoulder plane used very carefully to shape the sides, after which it's a bit of detail sanding. Next down shows the Mirka Abranet hand sander in use, which is really effective with the following shot showing how the cross-halving joint (at least the second half of it) had to be marked out...not easy!
The final two pics show the Lamello C2 in action to make the biscuit slots to hold the wide top 'X' in place and the last shot is a pic of the gluing of one of the four end frames.
This has been a tricky one and I'm glad that it's gone reasonably well...there are always some faults in any project and this one's no exception, the main one being that on the first main assembly glue up, it went together like a dog's hind leg and like an eejit newbie, I forgot to check for squareness with the result by the time I'd realised that the thing was about a mile out of square, the glue had long set. I guess it's one of those things that I'm going to have to live with, but I'll still find it intensely bloody annoying whenever I see it...but it's not going through the bandsaw.
The main and overiding thing is though, I've collected a barrow load of Brownie points from SWIMBO, who as it happens, is in a remarkably good mood at the moment 'cos she's booked a holiday in Cyprus so as of next weekend, I'm being dragged off to warmer climes.
It's a tough life, but sometimes a bloke's gota do what a blokes gota do...

4 comments:

Kari Hultman said...

it's looking really good, Rob! That is definitely some trick joinery. I'm sure you could use about 4 extra hands during glue up.

What is the tool behind your coffee mug in the third photo?

Woodbloke said...

Hi Kari - that tool you can see on the 'Tool Wall' is a Radzi veneer cutter for trimming off excess veneer from a board after it's come out of the press. Have a look at the linky:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Radzi-Veneer-Cutter-23087.htm

Anonymous said...

Have a good holiday, Rob. Cyprus is very nice. If you hire a car, drive to the mountains - very nice scenery. And they drive on the left, so no nasty surprises.....

Cheers ;-)

Paul Chapman

Steve (dunbar) Hamlin said...

We know they drive on the left - trouble is they don't always remember :P
Have fun.