Nest Of Tables : Will they last more than a week ?

[DarrenW]

Hi
Not posted a project for ages, mainly due to work pressures but had this one on the burner for a while.

Now I know the design is a bit of a risk, but you learn from your mistakes. Maybe it will last, maybe it won't. I've done what I think is enough to protect the short grain, but I'm a just naive/optimistic amateur so no guarantees (hammer) .

It's part one of a nest of tables but I'll give this one a bit of time (just incase) before I tackle the other one.

Its made from air dried english walnut from http://www.woodbypost.fsnet.co.uk/. It has some sap wood running through it.

The finish is Fiddes Hard Wax Oil which I have never used before and is fast becoming my new favourite finish. It's nice and thin and comes up with a nice sheen. Just to finish off I've added some Neutral Liberon Paste Wax on top to give a nice smooth finish to the touch.

Legs are glued with standard PVA, but the cross members are glued with Liberon Pearl Glue, just incase the glass is the first to go (optimistic!) I can still separate and put in a replacement.

Glass is 8mm toughened. It's maybe not clear from the pics but the front and back faces are curved slightly, they bulge out by 5mm across the width which takes the 'squareness' off the sheet. I had massively different quotes on the glass from £26 to £230!. I went for the cheapest with no issues.

All the pieces have some kind of curve including the leading and trailing edges of the uprights. All done with hand tools (spokeshaves and scrapers) after initial shaping on the bandsaw.

So, less chat and to the pics. First a pic of the finished item. You can see that the short grain where the glass intersects with the uprights will need some kind of strengthening.

Shot of the glass-wood intersection. The detailing is ebony.

So to strengthen things the ebony is hiding the metal fixing embedded into the wood. Its a C shape of aluminium which has been screwed and glued (epoxy) into the wood. This has then been encased with ebony to protect the glass from the metal. This is a very snug fit, so there is no play in the glass at all and all the pressures 'should' be on the metal fixing and not the short grain above. Thats the theory anyway :shock:

Also to help grip the glass some black sponge is added before final gluing.

Now some general shots of the details.

Curved Tenon Shoulders

Top view where you can pick out some of the 'curvy-ness'. They aren't hugh, but it takes the 'edge' off the overall structure and makes it less blocky.

Bigger pics can be found on Flickr

So there you go.

Darren

 

[cambournepete]

I like that design

 

[Saxwood]

Very Danish looking, like something out of a Bang & Olufsen photo shoot, i like that alot
My Beogram 4000 record deck with the teak detailing would look fab on it but would it take the weight i wonder :?:
Excellent work :wink:

 

[Modernist]

Nice design and nicely made. You may be OK with the glass joint but a neat idea either way.

Curves is what it is about................man

 

[Tomyjoiner]

Simple nice clean lines.

 

[AndyT]

Very ingenious design! Did you try a strength test first? I especially like the neat M+T on the curved line - any special tips for how to make the two pieces fit so nice and tight?

 

[Woodchips2]

It looks lovely Darren but I'd be worried that somebody would try and sit on it!

Regards Keith

 

[monkeybiter]

Some projects are so well made that the detailed photo's could almost be cad renders, this is one of them. Everything lines up perfectly. Nice design, brilliant workmanship.

 

[DarrenW]

>> My Beogram 4000 record deck with the teak detailing would look fab on it but would it take the weight i wonder

Well both Cats have sat on the edge and survived, so looking promising.

>> It looks lovely Darren but I'd be worried that somebody would try and sit on it!

Thanks to Darwinian evolution it wouldn't happen again :wink:

Darren

 

[woodbloke]

A nice piece of work with the glass ingeniously fixed in place...very neat :wink: However, I do query the 'practicality' (if that's the right word) of the design. If something heavy were placed on the very edge of the glass, or if someone leant on it, or even fell by accident on it, I could see the whole thing collapsing with disastrous and possible dangerous consequences if the glass were to break.
As I said, nice design and well executed but :-k ... - Rob

 

[stoatyboy]

I think it's great - I designed a desk with a similar approach but reckoned the glass would need to be 25mm thick to be strong enough, and then it got silly...

so well done for making it work - looks brilliant

Cheers

 

[DarrenW]

Hi Woodbloke

I understand your concerns, they also match some of mine, and I was expecting someone to bring this up. I guess because I am making this for my self and not to sell or give away I'm more inclined to not over worry about what may hypertheticly happen.

Lets face it, some one can slip, fall and bang their head on the corner of a standard sturdy square dining table you can buy from anywhere and still end up in a pretty bad state. Likewise with those canterlevered 'floating' glass staircases you see on Grand Designs. Can you ever remove every possible method of injury from anything?

This is me being pragmatic and not argumentative, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.

Darren

 

[paul-c]

hi darren
i really like this table
unfortunately so does swmbo #-o
luckily i can just say that this is beyond my capabilities - sadly she agrees far too quickly.
i think the fact you used toughened glass should get rid of any safety issues.
thanks for sharing this great job
cheers
paul-c

 

[woodbloke]

Hi Woodbloke

I understand your concerns, they also match some of mine, and I was expecting someone to bring this up. I guess because I am making this for my self and not to sell or give away I'm more inclined to not over worry about what may hypertheticly happen.

Lets face it, some one can slip, fall and bang their head on the corner of a standard sturdy square dining table you can buy from anywhere and still end up in a pretty bad state. Likewise with those canterlevered 'floating' glass staircases you see on Grand Designs. Can you ever remove every possible method of injury from anything?

This is me being pragmatic and not argumentative, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.

Darren

Darren, I take your point and am not offering any sort of damning critism of the piece 'cos it's a stylish and well made table, but I can see that from a practical point of view the 'form' is excellent but I query the 'functional' aspect. For example...can you imagine the scenario if there were boisterous small children (or even my son, who's now 25 and still puts his feet up on coffee tables :evil: ) around with toys etc etc? Toughened glass will still shatter into a gazillion bits if it's hit in the right (or incorrect) place.
As I said, it's a good design, but not something I would make - Rob

 

[JakeS]

Toughened glass will still shatter into a gazillion bits if it's hit in the right (or incorrect) place.

Isn't it toughened glass which breaks into lots of little tiny chunks rather than sharp shards, though? It's true that you're still left without a tabletop, but it shouldn't be nearly so dangerous to life and limb as plain old un-tempered glass, as I understand it.


(If you want to be completely careful, wood can also split and splinter into some very sharp pieces which can be quite painful/damaging if you hit the wrong end...!)

 

[deserter]

I like the design and build quality, I wouldn't be overly worried about the glass. Toughened glass normally only breaks if it's hit on an edge hard. My shed windows are all 6mm toughened and my neighbours kid has fired and air rifle at them once with no breakage to the window, although it did nearly result in his neck breaking when I caught him.

 

[philb88]

I have to say that I'd make those all day for my own home! They look stunning. Shame I don't have a clue or the skills to make one!

As long as you know not to put huge pressure or weight on the edges should be fine for personal use. I'd have to think twice about supplying others, but as long as they knew the risks and the way it should be used then guess it would be fine!!

 

[woodbloke]

I like the design and build quality, I wouldn't be overly worried about the glass. Toughened glass normally only breaks if it's hit on an edge hard.

Not my experience. My greenhouse glass is 4mm toughened and when I was installing the glass I very carefully picked a pane up by the edges and the thing just shattered. I didn't knock it, bump it or give it any sort of rough treatment...it just shattered as I was holding it. It is good stuff, but I'm a bit more wary of it now that I was before. I did mention it to the company I was dealing with and got it replaced FOC, so it may have been faulty - Rob

 

[JakeS]

Not my experience. My greenhouse glass is 4mm toughened and when I was installing the glass I very carefully picked a pane up by the edges and the thing just shattered.

That sounds faulty to me, but I would agree that it's not so tough as a lot of people seem to assume.

My parents' shower screen exploded into a million tiny chunks a few years back, because my father had taken the bottom rail off for cleaning, and accidentally bent it a little; apparently the 8mm glass is more likely to give than the metal rail is to bend back when it's forced onto the bottom of the screen...