Fecn
Established Member
Spurned on by success with my nappy changing table a few weeks ago and my subsequent purchase of a jonter/thicknesser, I managed to convince SWMBO to come with me for a trip to SL Hardwoods to choose some timber for a pair of bedside tables. We ended up getting a little bit of Aromatic Cedar, Light Oak and Tulipwood. I also found a nice chunky slab of what I think is Mahogony in the shed.
I thicknessed the cedar to match the oak, ripped it all into 45mm strips on the TS, jointed the edges and then glued up four panels made of alternating sripts of Oak and Cedar.
Once the panels had been given a day or two for the glue to dry, I cut them on my SCMS and very quickly worked out that the SCMS didn't cut at 45 degrees when I set it to 45 degrees. I don't have a tool for measuring 45% angles - only a set-square, and my set-square is so small that it couldn't detect the bad angles when two pieces were butted up together. A few failed attempts to re-cut and correct the bad angles and I decided it was time to walk away for the evening and think about how to fix things before doing any more damage.
Over the next few hours, a few things gradually dawned on me - it all seems so obvious now. My set square was too small to detect the errors - and besides which it can only measure 90 degrees and I needed 45. I thought long and hard for where I could find an accurate sqare at a larger size (without leaving the house or spending money), considered making some kind of jig, and grabbed a sheet of paper. It was round about that moment that I realised about a dozen things at once.
Paper is cut very accurately and the edges are always square. A sheet of A3 paper makes a decent sized square. A sheet of A3 paper folded correctly gives a very accurate 45 degree angle over a long distance. A CAD package can print accurate lines and angles on a sheet of paper which can then act as a template for any angle you cold ever desire. Suddenly I had a whole new arsenal of disposable angle-measuring devices. This probably sounds totaly obvious (or totally pointless) to anyone who does woodwork day-in day-out, but it was a revelation to me.
The next day, I headed back to my workshop armed with a folded sheet of paper, and aligned my SCMS to cut very accurate angles. I made a table extension for it out of 1/4" ply so that I could line up with the cut line, and then corrected all my mistakes from the day before. As a final touch, I added a mark on the SCMS so I'd know where 45 degrees really was next time. (It seems to be around 44.3 degrees on the scale)
I did the glue-up last night without clamps because I coulnd't work out how to clamp the pieces - It came out very well, without any significant gaps between the pieces. (There's a couple I might try and do something with)
This morning, I sanded things flat with my belt sander, and then smoothed things off with my vibrate-things-to-pieces 1/3 sheet sander.
Now... onto the questions. Some for design, some for finishing.
Design: This is actually about as far as I'd planned in my head for these - I made the tops to see if I could - I haven't planned whether these are bedside tables or cabinets. Given the Light Oak and Cedar on the top, what do you all thing would look best on the bottom... Legs or cabinet? Drawer?, Shelf? - SWMBO is away right now, so I thought I'd collect some opinions. If cabinet, which wood for the sides
Finishing: I want something that preserves the look of these tops, but it's got to be utterly waterproof - I'm often have a pint glass of iced water on by the bed, and the condensation runs down the sides like mad. Is some kind of PU varnish the best option?
I thicknessed the cedar to match the oak, ripped it all into 45mm strips on the TS, jointed the edges and then glued up four panels made of alternating sripts of Oak and Cedar.
Once the panels had been given a day or two for the glue to dry, I cut them on my SCMS and very quickly worked out that the SCMS didn't cut at 45 degrees when I set it to 45 degrees. I don't have a tool for measuring 45% angles - only a set-square, and my set-square is so small that it couldn't detect the bad angles when two pieces were butted up together. A few failed attempts to re-cut and correct the bad angles and I decided it was time to walk away for the evening and think about how to fix things before doing any more damage.
Over the next few hours, a few things gradually dawned on me - it all seems so obvious now. My set square was too small to detect the errors - and besides which it can only measure 90 degrees and I needed 45. I thought long and hard for where I could find an accurate sqare at a larger size (without leaving the house or spending money), considered making some kind of jig, and grabbed a sheet of paper. It was round about that moment that I realised about a dozen things at once.
Paper is cut very accurately and the edges are always square. A sheet of A3 paper makes a decent sized square. A sheet of A3 paper folded correctly gives a very accurate 45 degree angle over a long distance. A CAD package can print accurate lines and angles on a sheet of paper which can then act as a template for any angle you cold ever desire. Suddenly I had a whole new arsenal of disposable angle-measuring devices. This probably sounds totaly obvious (or totally pointless) to anyone who does woodwork day-in day-out, but it was a revelation to me.
The next day, I headed back to my workshop armed with a folded sheet of paper, and aligned my SCMS to cut very accurate angles. I made a table extension for it out of 1/4" ply so that I could line up with the cut line, and then corrected all my mistakes from the day before. As a final touch, I added a mark on the SCMS so I'd know where 45 degrees really was next time. (It seems to be around 44.3 degrees on the scale)
I did the glue-up last night without clamps because I coulnd't work out how to clamp the pieces - It came out very well, without any significant gaps between the pieces. (There's a couple I might try and do something with)
This morning, I sanded things flat with my belt sander, and then smoothed things off with my vibrate-things-to-pieces 1/3 sheet sander.
Now... onto the questions. Some for design, some for finishing.
Design: This is actually about as far as I'd planned in my head for these - I made the tops to see if I could - I haven't planned whether these are bedside tables or cabinets. Given the Light Oak and Cedar on the top, what do you all thing would look best on the bottom... Legs or cabinet? Drawer?, Shelf? - SWMBO is away right now, so I thought I'd collect some opinions. If cabinet, which wood for the sides
Finishing: I want something that preserves the look of these tops, but it's got to be utterly waterproof - I'm often have a pint glass of iced water on by the bed, and the condensation runs down the sides like mad. Is some kind of PU varnish the best option?
