One of the joys of woodworking is the variety of solutions to the problems we encounter – or, as some would say, “there are many different ways to skin a cat.”
Recently I decided to make what is called a Candle Stand from a 24″ diameter round I had “8-part veneered” as an exercise in a class. I recalled there had been a story in FWW about such a project. When I asked asked for the reference in Knots and I was referred to TWO articles – the first by Christian Becksvoort: Issue #110, page 70 and the second by Mario Rodriguez: Issue #173, page 72.
A. The first task, after turning the central leg, is to rout the dovetails to hold the three curved, tripod legs at the bottom. Christian used a box-jig mounted on his lathe bed to hold the router while the leg was stabilized with the index pin; Mario made his own indexing box-jig to hold the leg. I liked Christian’s idea better.
B. After bandsawing the three legs to approximate shape, Christian taped one side together and smoothed the package with a pnuematic drum sander mounted on his lathe. He then taped the other side and repeated. Mario placed the three legs in a vise and used a spokeshave and card scraper to bring them to a true line. I ganged them with carpet tape and used my BOSS oscillationg, spindle sander attached to my Festool shop vac.
C. Each of us used the router table to prepare the legs to meet the central column but Christian completed the task freehand. Mario made a sliding dovetail jig to hold his legs in position while them moved past the bit. I tried Christian’s freehand bit but got way too much breakout on my cherry when I did the ‘against the grain’ side. Therefore I got out my marking gauge (the one with a round cutting wheel) and pre-sliced the cut-line. This time when I did them freehand there was no splintering.
D. The legs are scheduled to taper from 3/4″ to 1/2″ at the foot end. Christian did the jointer bit – with the jointer set for a 1/8″ cut, lay the head of the leg behind the rotor head and joint to the small end; repeat on the other side. Mario made a sled to hold the leg. With a 1/8″ shim under the small end, he fed the combo through the planer. Repeat on the other side with a 1/4″ shim. Based on the splintery nature of my cherry, I think I’ll go with Mario’s sled.
And I bet you guys and gals out there would do these same tasks six other ways. It;s a great sport we engage in, isn’t it?
Frosty
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
Replies
Frosty,
A most interesting post, especially the title, which Korky our cat has noticed. Even now he plans a pre-emptive strike on your person. I cannot be explicit but imagine a ball and clawed foot then re-arrange the thought to visualise Korky's foot, with claws applied to your.......
But back to the subject in hand. I've made a few single pedestal tables with the legs (and sometimes the table supports) DT'd into the column top/bottom. As you note, there are many potential methods, each having the danger of destroying the delicate joint or not getting the shoulders to match neatly.
Some flatten the area of the column where the DT mortises are so that the flat shoulders of the DT'dleg tenons sit aright. Others take the trouble to curve the shouders of the legs' DT tenons to match the curve of the column - not easy to get right, I should imagine. (You will have gathered that I favour the former method).
I have a strange tool made by Trend called a router-lathe. It allows a router to mount on a carriage with guideways over the workpiece, which is held as in a lathe. Various wires and indexing ystems allow the router to travel up and down the workpiece as it rotates underneath in synch. Thus spirals and things can be easily made on a column.
One other method is the use of the router in the RL using a DT bit to cut three or four DT mortises exactly one third or one quarter way around a table column such as that of which we speak. The indexing pin allows the workpiece to be secured whilst integral stops on the carriage and router limit the travel of the router and hence the depth/length of the DT mortise. The same arrangement uses a large, bottom-cutting straight bit to make corresponding flats over the DT mortises for the leg tenon shoulders to sit agin'.
There are indeed many ways to roast a dog.
Lataxe, animal lover, especially beefs, lambs and piggies
Ouch!Your mention of Korky's reaction - and desire for retribution - reminded me of the FWW back cover of some ages past: On one leg of a chair the ball had escaped the claws which were (angrily) reaching to recover - or inflict damage on said ball. Again Ouch!.But back to the business at hand. Yes, I believe that I have seen ads for the Trend RL It would be the perfect solution for routing the pedastle DTs accurately. I am currently struggling with the fit of legs to shaft because, apparently, the "slot" was not machined as precisely as it should have been (See other posts on mistakes.)Give my best to Korky. My title derived from a figure of speech in the Colonies. No offense to felines intended.Frosty
Hiya Lataxe and All ,
Coming from the big city in So. Calif, to the rugged Pacific North West about 30 years ago I met a friend who worked in the woods and he told me he was a choker setter ( I had no idea what that was at the time) .
Later he introduced me to one of the old timers he worked with who's name was Roy, he told me Roy was a "Cat Skinner" well ,,, you never want to sound stupid when your new and ask too many questions , the thoughts that were conjured up in my head were frightful . Korky would have shivered in his timbers .
" till the lake pipes roar " hmmm !
regards dusty, the cat skinners friend
Since I have been in Mississippi, I have been FIRMLY told that saying is in reference to skinning catFISH.
Skin first then clean..., clean and then skin..., nail the head to a tree and then...
Edited 7/22/2007 11:26 pm by spf
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