Rorton
Established Member
Thanks you to everyone who helped and encouraged this project, not something I had done before, and all the help and advice went a long way 
My brief from the wife was a to make a couple of side tables for the lounge to be in keeping with the current fireplace/mantle we have.
Oak was chosen as the timber, and some test staining of Liberon Dark Oak (Ethanol based) and OSMO to check what the finish would look like.
Timber purchased
Blanks cut for the legs, using consecutive pieces of timber on the board so as to keep the grain as close together to hide the join
Legs glued up, and thicknessed
Working out the glue up for the top - first time using biscuits
Clamped up
Initial sanding to clean up
The fun part came working out cutting the mortises for the legs, 8 legs, 16 mortises, plus another 4 spare legs just in case! The mortises were not dead centre of the leg, so whatever method of stops etc I used to cut mortices needed to be repeatable when I turn the legs the 'other way around' to cut the others (hope that makes sense!?)
So, I offered the legs upto the router table, worked out where I needed to stop and start the cut and put some lumps of timber for stops - then cut some scraps so I had something to reference the distance between the bit and the stops that was repeatable
This way, I could put the end of the leg butt up to the stop on the right, lower the leg onto the cutter, and move it across till it stopped at the left stop - then raise the bit, and do it again
So, because the mortises were not dead centre, I needed to turn the legs around to cut the second set on the second face of each leg (this way I didn't need to move the fence on the router table) - back out with the scraps, and setup the stop blocks in the opposite direction and carried on cutting...
Mortises all cut, not 100% perfect, but perfectly good enough for a first try!
to be continued, can only post 10 pics
My brief from the wife was a to make a couple of side tables for the lounge to be in keeping with the current fireplace/mantle we have.
Oak was chosen as the timber, and some test staining of Liberon Dark Oak (Ethanol based) and OSMO to check what the finish would look like.
Timber purchased
Blanks cut for the legs, using consecutive pieces of timber on the board so as to keep the grain as close together to hide the join
Legs glued up, and thicknessed
Working out the glue up for the top - first time using biscuits
Clamped up
Initial sanding to clean up
The fun part came working out cutting the mortises for the legs, 8 legs, 16 mortises, plus another 4 spare legs just in case! The mortises were not dead centre of the leg, so whatever method of stops etc I used to cut mortices needed to be repeatable when I turn the legs the 'other way around' to cut the others (hope that makes sense!?)
So, I offered the legs upto the router table, worked out where I needed to stop and start the cut and put some lumps of timber for stops - then cut some scraps so I had something to reference the distance between the bit and the stops that was repeatable
This way, I could put the end of the leg butt up to the stop on the right, lower the leg onto the cutter, and move it across till it stopped at the left stop - then raise the bit, and do it again
So, because the mortises were not dead centre, I needed to turn the legs around to cut the second set on the second face of each leg (this way I didn't need to move the fence on the router table) - back out with the scraps, and setup the stop blocks in the opposite direction and carried on cutting...
Mortises all cut, not 100% perfect, but perfectly good enough for a first try!
to be continued, can only post 10 pics
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