All the bits except the drawers were made, dry-fitted and (where possible) oiled. Early oiling is a lot easier than trying to get the stuff into nook or cranny after assembly. Also, the oil doesn’t become a little bleeder, from panel-grooves and other places where it wicks-in only to ooze out later, “drying” all sticky.
The dry assembly allows the dovetail housings to be accurately marked on the leg tops, where the top rails of the aprons will go:
Then the DT sockets can be sawn and chopped out. A Marples chisel plus the ekki mallet chops out most of the waste and them fine Blue Spruce DT chisels finish off the walls of the socket all neat-like.
The hayrake and bottom rails of the aprons all have to be wheedled into their various joints at the same time – something of a glue-up panick! One corner is lined up and glued then part assembled at a time; then the whole lot knocked home with a rubber mallet and clamped every which-way.
I made some small bracket clamp thingeys to allow the legs to be clamped up over the through tenons.
The outer drawer runners & rails then go in. These are glued to the bottom rails of the end aprons and have an interlock with notches cut into the long-apron stiles.
Then the central drawer runners and rails go in, along with the kickers. Brass screws are used to align the assembly and also as “clamps. There is also a small half-floor glued to the bottom of the drawer runners, wherein will hide a secret drawer, got in & out from underneath.
Then the glue blocks go in, just as an insurance and to stiffen the whole assembly (which is already quite stiff really). A Domino was used to put 8 slots into the inside faces of the apron top rails, for the buttons that will attach the table top to the frame.
The leg through-tenons have their wedges knocked in then cut off, with the tenon ends roughly chamfered using a chisel. The intended look is “rustic” so we don’t worry too much about being neat.
The ends of the tenons and any other bare wood inside the frame is now oiled too. The intention is to ensure that any moisture changes take place at an equal rate throughout the piece but I’m never sure this is a necessary step. Better safe than sorry though.
The table now awaits its drawers and the attachment of the top, which will be the next post in a few days hopefully.
Lataxe
Replies
Looks very nice Lataxe, I will be watching for your next post on this project.
Mike
Keep it up sir.. great work and I do know that doing tutorial type post can consume some serious time with pictures and detailed explantion. Your over the through tenon thingy is just like the one's I use for that and I did come up a few short on my last inventory.. Surely the economy is not that bad to tempt a man to row the Atlantic to pick up some over the through tenon thingy's. :>)
Sarge..
Bravo Sir Lataxe,
Wonderful photos and a fine looking base for your table. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Bob, Tupper lake, NY
Lataxe,
Shaping up nicely .
Tom.
Damn fine work! It has shaped up beautifully.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Nice piece of joinery. Any possibility that it's a bit over-engineered? That's a lot of very stiff oak, and a lot of connectivity.
Malcolm
Malcolm,
That table framework is somewhat over-engineered, as I've been using it as a joiner's plaything as much as building a piece of furniture. Happily this won't detract from the intended look, which is perhaps best described as "lightly decorated agricultural".
If the table was larger scale - a large dining table or full size library table for instance - all that connectivity and glue-blocking would probably be justifiable on construction grounds, as such large tables may be dragged about, leant on and so forth so need to be strong with anti-racking built in.
It would be a lot easier and quicker to make the joinery entirely with machines. It isn't really clear to me whether the agricultural hand-made look would suffer if machines were used for the joinery aspects but not for surface preparation, decoration and so forth. Perhaps the handmade joinery imparts that subtle degree of wonk that somehow adds to the "crafted" look? Or perhaps not and only the "skin" of the piece needs to show tool marks, irregular surfaces and so forth?
****
The most interesting aspect of making this style, for me, has been the experience of seeing how hand tooled aspects impart various aspects to the piece. Not just the irregular facets of chiselled chamfers, handcarved motifs and planed surface but also the tactile aspects. When the table is lifted, moved or otherwise touched, the irregular surfaces evince a more pleasant feel than do those of machine-perfected surfaces. The feel goes with the look.
Some of the Gimson and Barnsley pieces from the Cotswold tradition of A&C are deliberately exagerated in terms of this agricultural, heavily chamfered, hand-wrought look & feel. The agricutural implements and vehicles from which this style is taken have heavy chamfers on all their parts to reduce weight. The chamfering is very irregular - done quickly with a big drawerknife and with no thought to aesthetics. Yet it is that very look which has become the aesthetic of the Gimson-Barnsley style; along with the heavy-duty engineered look.
I now have a fancy to make a frame & panel chest with every frame member chamfered with great scoops and perhaps even chiselled-flat panels. This Cotswold A&C thang has bitten me, no doubt. Perhaps some Greene & Greene is needed as an antidote. :-)
Lataxe
Well, first: Fantastic work! Great joinery and all around pleasing sincere design.
On this chestnut:
Perhaps the handmade joinery imparts that subtle degree of wonk that somehow adds to the "crafted" look? Or perhaps not and only the "skin" of the piece needs to show tool marks, irregular surfaces and so forth?
Personally, I've come to the conclusion that it is not so literally the tools that make the difference, but the process and speed requirements that go along with the different tools. I'm not certain how it happens, but the differing processes often impart very different "feels" to the piece and not just because of imperfections with hand tools and whatnot. I think it more has to do with evidence of focused attention. Where we have devoted close attention, it leaves an imprint - it is like the breath that stokes a spark to a flame. Your table, sir, is on fire.
Well said.
Samson & Boss,
Nutt'n to say but 'ere 'ere!
Splendid,Lord L.
Robin
What I admire about craftsman-made objects, whether they be Norman cathedrals or agricultural implements, is the 'rightness' of the actions of the hands. Chip carving, where you can see each stroke of the chisel and knife - sure, confident, never quite the same but always just right, is something that only comes from man and boy, cradle to grave, traditional craft training.A talented amateur can reach that surety, but rarely at commercial speed. The men who, for example, made wagon wheels with hand tools, muscle and native skill achieved prodigious outputs, in dirty, cramped, often cold conditions, from dawn to dusk. I can see why one would try to make objects that respect and even reflect those skills and that heritage. In another life, I'd like the opportunity to reach those levels of native skill.Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
Outstanding woodworking. Kudos. You should be proud of that project. Well done.
And I see you use wooden pegs to align and glue things...
My kind of woodworker@
Aye, lud, aye. Aye.
Champion, like....
Clearly you are at peace with wood, decent tools and even a machine or two. And the photography has taken a quantum leap as well.
What be next project?
And have you enquired into availability of the Queen of timbers that I recommended (Imbuia)?
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled