Commemorative Oak Table WIP

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Dodge

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This little project is a bit different so I thought I would share it as I havn't had time to do any WIPs recently.

A short time ago a client came and saw me and was looking for a small table to be made in memory of his late wife. The table was to stand in the entrance/reception area of the family rooms at a local church where his wife had been a very active member. There was already a small table in there which was 32" wide, 18" deep and stood 16" tall and I was asked to make the table to the same sizes.

The other details of the brief were that he would like to have robins featured on it as his late wife loved the birds as well as space for the application of an appropriate brass plaque.

After discussing various options and having made a few sketches I was commissioned to make the table but other than the sketch I had drawn the client was happy to leave it to me so yesterday afternoon I made a start on it.

this is the basic sketch and the intention is that the top will have a raised section at the rear where the robins will either be carved in relief or alternatively done in an intarsia - Not yet decided on that yet.

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I started by try jointing a couple of boards together for the top and once dry they were sanded and the leading corners cut round on the bandsaw and sanded on the belt sander

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A groove was in the back of the top ready for the up stand

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The upstand was then cut and a long tenon formed on the bottom of it to slot into the groove, this was simply formed using a rebate cutter in the router.

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The top was them loose assembled for further attention later - The robins will be created in the middle of this section

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The frame to sit below the top was then made in quite thick section timber as this will in turn be shaped in due course, the front corner sections were biscuited for additional strength

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The front corners were marked with a curve common to that of the top

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Which was then cut on the bandsaw and cleaned up on the belt sander

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Each side of the table will have four curved legs tenoned into both the top and bottom rails and the mortice holes were cut using the hollow chisel morticer. I know it seems a bit backward but I morticed the frame after it was assembled as I wished to get the spacing/proportions right.

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With the top and under frame made it was time to look at the making of the curved legs

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Now normally I would look to laminate curved legs but on this occasion decided to work with solid timber as I had quite a lot of 2" thick oak off cuts from another project so it wasnt that wasteful. The basic section was machined to 60mm x 50mm. Initially I formed the tenons on either end whilst in the square section using the radial arm saw and bandsaw

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With the tenons formed I then cut the curved shape into one of the legs to use as a template for the others

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Each leg was then cut to shape on the bandsaw

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Before sanding them on the belt linisher to remove the bandsaw marks - I bought my linisher about a year ago and would highly recommend to anyone and find it far superior to the bobbin sander it replaced

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When I left tonight the legs were cut and sanded and slotted into the upper frame but at this stage there is no other shaping done so its looking a little harsh at the moment

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I will crack on with this tomorrow and update again when I get home.
 
Mcluma":k8fg7tsf said:
16" tall - that is a very low table

love the wip photo's

You seem to be using the sander quite a lot

It was requested that the table is the same height as one presently there, it is intended to have a large vase of flowers on it.

Regarding the sander, yes I am using it alot as it saves a huge amount of time against the use of a spoke shave/scrapers to remove the bandsaw marks , but will be blade finishing at the end.
 
Well what have I been up to today??

I started by making the lower slat supports and having rough cut the timber cut the mortice holes to reflect those on the upper frame section

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Obviously cutting the mortice holes on the curved sections meant that I needed to pack the section and used the off cuts as these had the correct curve already cut and just applied the correct straight edge. To ensure that the mortice holes were cut in the correct position I made a paper template by effectively making a rubbing of the upper half.

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As the upper frame sections were thicker I decided to reduce the width of the lowere rail supports and therefore trimmed them back on the bandsaw before sanding off the saw cuts left from the bandsaw

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The edges of the lower slat supports were them moulded on the router table using a hand rail cutter to cut a deep cove into the timber

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Whilst this cutter was still in the router table I used it to form a double cove cut arount the upper rail as well stopping this where the brass plate will be inserted in due course. The cutter was then changed to a four flute round over cutter and all the upright slats had their square edges rounded over to remove their sharp appearance.

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With them all cut they were loosly fitted into the lower supports prior to the table frame being re-assembled

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Tow I believe I mentioned earlier that the client requested that a robin be either carved or let into the timber but he was keen that this was coloured so instead of carving it into the oak and then colouring the timber which could result in colour bleed I decided instead to make an intarsia of the robin and then let this into the oak upstand.

I started this during the afternoon having made a sketch which I then cut out and transposed the corresponding parts onto timber with the right grain pattern/colour characteristics.

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I used walnut for the back, lacewood for the lower body, mahogany for the breast, ebony for the eye and beak and a piece or brown oak for the branch. This is in its rough form and still need to make the holly leaves and berries before letting the whole ensemble into the oak upstand. To check its appearance I stuck the intarsia on with a bit of double sided tape.

On leaving the workshop the table was looking like this

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Having a day off tomorrow so will update this thread again later in the week.
 
houtslager":3vpbuqjy said:
you going to spray it or french polish it ?

K

As it is likely to have vases of flowers stood on it and splashes likely will finish the top with acid cat to give a real moisture resilience. The rest will be finished with the same whilst I am at it probably
 
Oh fantastic and a fantastic WIP Rog. Would you please give us plenty of details on inserting the robin into the back panel as I may have an intarsia job coming up in the future. :D
 
Oh Rog, I absolutely love your work and the fact that you put so much time and care into it - and still have the prescence of mind to take WIP photos.
Craftsmanship, with a capital C
 
Yes thats right but the different timbers are stepped to give 3D to the image.
 
Well there was a bit of a change of tack on last Friday - My client called at my workshop to have a look at the table and whilst he loved it said that they had been at the church rooms and now decided that it would be better placed in another position and guess what - yes you guessed it "can we have it 12" taller" despite his specific request for the original height.

Anyway I have been busy today and have re-made all the uprights increasing the table height to 28" instead.

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I have also cracked on with the intarsia, and having routed out the aperture for it to drop into I nearly got it finished but will finalise tomorrow.

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CUSTOMERS! Doesn't it make you want to bang your head against the wall?! looking great Rog but where is the details on routing out the Robin shape? i have been waiting with baited breath for this! :cry:
 
mailee":2jb1ug2d said:
CUSTOMERS! Doesn't it make you want to bang your head against the wall?! looking great Rog but where is the details on routing out the Robin shape? i have been waiting with baited breath for this! :cry:

Sorry Alan, will put some info up later when I get home
 

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