How to make a round dining table with hand tools?

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Make boards up, scribe circle, chop the corners off and make an octagon, then plane it round.

All done by hand....




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Before carving.

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Very nice!
Is that "segmented" in the way I was trying to describe above for a table apron? Except the larger veneered table version would have twice as many segments and just be plane sawn, smooth finished just enough for veneer.
OTOH why not make a round table apron neatly from well finished solid wood - I've got a project on along those lines - a reclaimed 44" diameter mahogany tabletop short of an apron or pedestal etc.
 
Thanks.

It's segmented in two layers, as you mentioned up thread, which makes it makes it very strong and I screwed them together in the end, as I had to take it apart to get the mouldings right after carving it and didn't fancy a glue up.

It's a copy of a French piece of paneling from the 17th century that my friend was given and I fancied doing some circular work. There's a big floral cornice to go on it which I'm still in the middle of, as I carved it green and it's drying out first before I finish it. It's more complete than this, but it's the last picture that I took.

Nice wood to use, that Baltic oak.

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I do not want to go that way. The sound of a router kills the enjoyment for me, but everyone is different. Morticing with a router is a breeze compared to a chisel, so it has large benefits, but it is just not for me.
I'm with you on there. I hate the router; I think it's one of the worst power tools for me. Are you planning on gluing up the panel and cutting it in one piece or shaping each board individually? You say you have a jigsaw; if speed is more important than the process, I'd go with that and tidy up with a spokeshave/rasp. If you have more time, then I'll add another vote for Jacob and Adam's suggestion.
 
..... The sound of a router kills the enjoyment for me,
Me too. I hate them (but they do have their uses!)
Morticing with a router is a breeze compared to a chisel, so it has large benefits, but it is just not for me.
Up to 1/2" a mortice is probably quicker with a trad OBM but only if you know how to use it. If not then it's a wasted chisel!
 
All I can say is that it is definately posible because people have been making round tables since before we had electricity, even King Arthur had one!
 
All I can say is that it is definately posible because people have been making round tables since before we had electricity, even King Arthur had one!
Helped by crazy sharpening tricks with Excalibur apparently.
He invented the mythical ruler trick - no coincidence that he was a mythical ruler himself. :unsure:
 
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I'm with you on there. I hate the router; I think it's one of the worst power tools for me. Are you planning on gluing up the panel and cutting it in one piece or shaping each board individually? You say you have a jigsaw; if speed is more important than the process, I'd go with that and tidy up with a spokeshave/rasp. If you have more time, then I'll add another vote for Jacob and Adam's suggestion.
Yes, I will glue all the boards together, then draw a circle and cut around the circle and then finish up with the spokeshave.

I have decided to build this project with hand tools only, just to figure out how to pace myself and also to find out if it would be feasible for me to continue working without power tools on my next projects. So I will probably omit the jigsaw.

Because I have decided to build it with hand tools only, I first need to make myself a pair of saw benches, because sawing vertically in a vice is not always the best option. I am after this design
1659120988318.png
 
Yes, I will glue all the boards together, then draw a circle and cut around the circle and then finish up with the spokeshave.

I have decided to build this project with hand tools only, just to figure out how to pace myself and also to find out if it would be feasible for me to continue working without power tools on my next projects. So I will probably omit the jigsaw.

Because I have decided to build it with hand tools only, I first need to make myself a pair of saw benches, because sawing vertically in a vice is not always the best option. I am after this design
View attachment 140604
I understand the hand tool approach. Good for you! Let us know how it goes. Is that the Stumpy Nubs' design for a sawbench? I saw something similar on one of his videos recently and really liked the concept.
 
I'm late in and might have missed reading some posts. To do with the rounding - the blank having been glued up to width from solid boards? - just use anything that you have to hand as seems appropriate! But once the blank's roughed out by any means, I'd be using handplanes to get down to the circular line - more heft in the hand than a spokeshave, but effective on both long grain and end grain as you round the circle. Only necessary to gauge the stroke direction to the grain direction!

Of course a spokeshave would work - generally I prefer to use one on the pull stroke with arms stretched out - I seem to have more power and control that way. The arms are in tension and the upper body is doing most of the work, which seems more natural / easy / comfortable ...

My feeling is that the weight of a handplane confers a certain momentum to the stroke that smooths out the effort.

The work, of course, is held vertically in a vice and rotated as the work proceeds ... :)
 
I understand the hand tool approach. Good for you! Let us know how it goes. Is that the Stumpy Nubs' design for a sawbench? I saw something similar on one of his videos recently and really liked the concept.
I think that the design was not developed by Stumpy Nubs, he is just one of many people, who adopted it. For example, design by Tom Fidgen is also interesting, but I do not like the upper rails, because I would certainly cut into one sooner or later.
1659125105241.png
 
I'm late in and might have missed reading some posts. To do with the rounding - the blank having been glued up to width from solid boards? - just use anything that you have to hand as seems appropriate! But once the blank's roughed out by any means, I'd be using handplanes to get down to the circular line - more heft in the hand than a spokeshave, but effective on both long grain and end grain as you round the circle. Only necessary to gauge the stroke direction to the grain direction!

Of course a spokeshave would work - generally I prefer to use one on the pull stroke with arms stretched out - I seem to have more power and control that way. The arms are in tension and the upper body is doing most of the work, which seems more natural / easy / comfortable ...

My feeling is that the weight of a handplane confers a certain momentum to the stroke that smooths out the effort.

The work, of course, is held vertically in a vice and rotated as the work proceeds ... :)
Thanks rogxwhit, I will do it that way. I will try the no.4 plane, and in case I will not handle it well, I can still use spokeshave.
 
If that's a ripping bench how do you keep the cut in line with the gap when it's out of sight beneath the board being cut? Unless it's a shortie board?
 
Yes I meant to say, a no.4 or a no.5. The no.5 being heavier has the greater momentum in the cut, but is light enough to still be wieldy (the opposite of unwieldy!). And I might prefer it. :)
 
If that's a ripping bench how do you keep the cut in line with the gap when it's out of sight beneath the board being cut? Unless it's a shortie board?
I draw a line and both ends of the line should be in the gap (like 1/3 of the gap is on the cut side and 2/3 on the waste side). I want to make gap 30 mm wide, so I will have enough space to saw next to the line on the waste side and still not cut into the top board of the saw bench. I will make holdfast holes, so I will hold the work with holdfasts if possible. It would prevent the work from moving ( should be more reliable than kneeling on the board). Also clamps could be used, if holdfasts will overreach the work.
 
Yes I meant to say, a no.4 or a no.5. The no.5 being heavier has the greater momentum in the cut, but is light enough to still be wieldy (the opposite of unwieldy!). And I might prefer it. :)
I have sold no.5 and I have no.6 instead, which is way too big, for this purpose, I think.
 
I wouldn't rule it out! Try it! You might be surprised!

But if I was to have just one plane in the whole world, it would be a no.5 ...
 
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I wouldn't rule it out! Try it!

But if I was to have just one plane in the whole world, it would be a no.5 ...
I will. but I do not think that I will start the build sooner than in October, November. Now I fored myself to have a rest from the workshop until 1st of September, as I was spending too much time in the workshop to finish some previous projects and I do not want to burn out. Then I will build 2 saw benchces, probably too by hand only and then I will start the round dining table with a single drawer. I am now thinking about the proper design, that I will like.
 
If that's a ripping bench how do you keep the cut in line with the gap when it's out of sight beneath the board being cut? Unless it's a shortie board?
It's like a good deal of the modern woodwork stuff, on sharpening and so many other things - it sort of makes sense but it was never a problem in the first place and the older ways are much easier, but sometimes less obvious.
Nobody needs a "ripping bench".
 
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