Tuesday, May 19, 2009

For Next Time

The process is a little different with each iteration of the class. All the handouts I made last year were irrelevant by this time, as we have several new pieces of equipment.

Things we need prior to next Woodworking class:
Jointer knives sharpened
Planer knives sharpened
Dedicated rip and crosscut blades for class
New marking gauges
New 3/8" Forstner bits
Make up a big batch of ebonizing solution
Write vocabulary quizzes

Other notes: recommend walnut or cherry over white oak
Make sure students read the PDF posted for the class, entitled "Gluing Up Tabletops".

Table Process
• Joint and plane 8/4 wood for the legs and 4/4 for the aprons and top
• Rip the legs oversize and run through the planer to make them square
• Cut the legs to length with the sliding table and a crosscut blade
• Mark out the mortises (we need new marking gauges)
• Drill the mortises with a sharp Forstner bit,
• Grind and then hone a wide chisel and a narrow (skew the chisel on the Japanese water stone)
• Clean up/ square up the mortises
• Make the crosscuts for the tenon shoulders
• Use the mortising jig to cut the tenons
• Bandsaw the wide ends of the tenons with the rip fence, and fit them to the mortises
• Chisel away any remaining high points
• Glue up the tabletop (need: bucket of water, rags, glue, mallet, paper, pipe clamps.)
• Hand plane while table top is long
• Trim it to size on the sliding table with a sharp crosscut blade
• Taper the legs,
• Make biscuit slots to accommodate the table top mounting hardware,
• Sand all parts with 80 grit, 120, 180 and 220 grit sanding discs and hand sandpaper.
• Give most edges the “Bob Robinson Bevel”
• Glue up the table (need: bucket of water, rags, glue, mallet, paper, pipe clamps or Jorgensen bar clamps. Toothbrush would be helpful for glue removal.)
• Wipe table with damp rag to raise grain and show up glue spots
• Resand everything with 220 grit sandpaper (by hand)
• Apply first coat of finish (I recommend Minwax Wipe-On Poly, satin finish, or Watco Danish oil.) Use plenty of the Wipe-On Poly, and don't "go back in" with the rag after a minute or so, as it will start to get sticky and mess up what you have done.
• The next day, sand entire table VERY LIGHTLY with 220 or 320 sandpaper folded neatly over an MDF sanding block, (do not sand through the first coat!!!) then apply a second coat of Wipe-On Poly.
• Apply the finish even to the undersides of the table legs-- they will take on and lose moisture faster than the rest of the table otherwise.• Install the table-top hardware using ½” #8 screws. Apply masking tape to drill bit to avoid drilling through table top, and screw in screws by hand.

1 comment:

Squerl said...

This is good to have the step by step directions all on one document.I am printing it out. Thank you! Only by the grace of God Almighty working through you, Phil and Aiden, (not to mention shop guys Steve & Jordan and my classmates,) have I managed to make this rather poor excuse for a table, but I have to say there were days when I thought I would never be able to do it at all. Your class made it possible and now I can be proud that I really did it. I want to make a better one some day. Laura aka Squerl