There were distractions this week so progress was a bit slow. But now the hayrake is finshed, with all its shaping, chamfers, M&Ts, plugs,wedges and general fiddling to make everything join up well.
Chamfers on the hayrake stretcher need to be “agricutural” so they were applied with a curved drawknife then tidied up a bit with carving chisels and finally some Abranet on a sponge, to soften the crude scallops.
All that sanding even destroys Abranet, which is tough stuff.
That leather with someTormek honing compound and a bit of camelia oil is enough to keep a razor sharp edge on the tools, which means the chamfers are clean-cut even if they are crude.
It isn’t easy to clamp up a straight to a curved piece but I dragged out some specialist edge-clamps from the loft (I use them once per bluemoon) and these did the job. Once the glue is dry a dowel also pins the M&T, as a belt and braces measure and also for the agricultural “look”.
The arms are attached to the central stretcher with 2 X 10mm through-dowels each. These are capped with square plugs, again for the agricultural look.
The plugs ate made from a bar of exact size to match an old mortiser square chisel. I made a number of these bars long ago using the drum sander, which can size them to +/- arounf 0.2mm if one is careful. The end of a bar is first chamfered with a chisel, freehand in the vise, then the right length cut for the square plug hole, which is made like this:
So now the hayrake stretcher is completed and ready for the legs to be wedge-M&T’d to those four tenons.
The legs have all been shaped and mortised and now I’m busy carving them with lambs tongues and diamonds. I’ll attach them when the carving is complete and when the top rails of the aprons have been made, as these will ensure the legs stay square when they’re attached and glued-up.
Carving a lambs tongue.
Lataxe
Replies
Lataxe, I am curious as to why the peg appear to be in different locations on the ends of the curved piece of the stretcher. One is in the angled rail and one is in the curved piece. Or are my eyes deceiving me?
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Bruce
Bruce,
Your eyes only deceive you slightly.........
When I drilled for the pin-dowels through the M&Ts of the curved-pieces to arm-pieces, I stupidly drilled in the wrong side of the joint - not through the parts where the M&Ts are. Happily I noticed (but only after doing the first two) so I ended up drilling/dowelling eight holes rather than just the four through the M&Ts, so the dowelling would look symmetrical.
You can't easily see both of the dowel-ends in each pair because of the way the camera flash has bounced off the wood - but they are there. Doh! Still, it looks even more rustic now. :-)
Tom,
The top is 120cm X 56cm (4 ft X 1ft 10ish) with the legs 2 / 4 cm inboard from the sides/ ends respectively. The aprons will be 1 cm inboard of the legs. The tabletop breadboard ends will be slightly convex, as will be the rails of the end aprons.
The table is 50cm (1ft 8in) high, which is a bit tall for a coffee table but this allows the hayrake to be easily seen and also gives plenty room for the drawers, which will be 7.5cm (3ins) deep in 12.5cm (5 in) aprons. The table is to function partly as a low library table, but at a height to be used when I'm sitting in that easy chair in this room, where the table will be living:
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Lataxe, who is now incommunicado for a week (birthday bash and general family-gathering week).
Lataxe,"When I drilled for the pin-dowels through the M&Ts of the curved-pieces to arm-pieces, I stupidly drilled in the wrong side of the joint - not through the parts where the M&Ts are. Happily I noticed (but only after doing the first two) so I ended up drilling/dowelling eight holes rather than just the four through the M&Ts, so the dowelling would look symmetrical.You can't easily see both of the dowel-ends in each pair because of the way the camera flash has bounced off the wood - but they are there. Doh! Still, it looks even more rustic now. "Not stupid--I believe you simply imparted a personal design change. An artists prerogative.Boiler
I understand now. I was pretty sure that you did not put them where there were no tenons to pin, I just couldn't see them! I understand why you added the extra pins after drilling in the incorrect place, you have to keep it balanced. It's no crime to make a mistake, as long as you hide the mistake or make it look like it belongs there, everythings good!
That room looks like a great place for the table. It will fit right in. Show us a picture in situ when you have it completed.
Have a great time with your birthday bash and family get together. The table will be waiting for you when you get back to it. "A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan
Killer, D. Love the show. Sweet work.
Sean,
As you know, it were your examples of this and that you've mde which inspired me to post a sequence of "how I made this" . It probably bores the erse of most lads but even so, I find the knowledge that I will be posting makes me think even more about the design and construction, as I will be having to explain myself.
Lataxe
What handsome work. I'm looking forward to the coming attractions. What will the size of the table top be? Tom
Looking GREAT David, it must be a bit of relief to be doin' the carving thing for a bit! A little excitement at this end with the arrival of the hand hewn greaseproof paper...
Many thanks, will report in due course.
Robin,casting about for the perfect site.
Very fine looking work , I admire you and your determination .
A lambs tongue and Diamond ,,, is that one of those piercing in the mouth the young in's sport .
learning from teaching and sharing is a fringe benefit so to speak don't you think ?
thank you for sharing dusty
and general fiddling to make everything join up well.. I do that alot!
And the picture of that draw knife.. What did you sharpen it with. Surely NOT 8000 grit water stones, from the scratches I see in the picture~ :>)
Looks like a few strokes from some very well used, very old, bastart file. Or maybe a mill file that had some flaws from constant use.
I love it!
Was LadyWife cheering you on?
Edited 3/7/2009 8:45 am by WillGeorge
WillG,
That drawknife is a Frenchy and came with a curve to the whole blade but also two bevels which are belly-shaped. I haven't altered the bevels as the bellies provide a great deal of control when cutting. However, the cutting edges have been honed to 1200 grit with small diamond files.
That degree of sharp is enough and, with the bevel-bellies, allows one to hog-off or to take very fine wafer-thin cuts indeed (and every kind of cut in between). The overall curve of the blade also allows one to concentrate a cut on a quite small spot.
This configuration of a drawknife seems a well though out one to me. I have another modern drawknife with a straight blade and a single flat bevel on one side. Whilst this cuts well on things like round green oak or ash chair parts, it is much less versatile with cabinets and other dry-wood items.
The flat side of the blade hogs too readily; the bevel side is either cutting (finely) or not. I'm thinking of maybe putting a belly-bevel on at least one side; perhaps also another of lesser-belly on the other side. I'll not be bending it into a curve though but. :-)
Lataxe
Lataxe,
Your description of that drawkiife with the belly shaped bevel sounds just like the small drawknife I have. Don't think it came that way but rather the previous owner shaped it that way? It's olde rthan me. :-)
As you said the control whilst using it is great. I used it to make cabriole legs (BOOH!). If you skew it slightly when drawing it shears the wood and you can ride the bevel for very fine cuts.
Regards, Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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