Dining Table build-40x60 inch

Hey Allen, Don't feel like the "Lone Stranger",:eek: 'cause we ALL have days like this sometimes. (I just chalk it up to the "Moon" not being Right or something,:rolleyes: and quit for the day). About a month ago, I had TWO of those days in a row, then things smoothed out again. It's frustrating, but ya can't let it get ya down.:thumb:
 
Oh ya, there has been more than a few times I have came up from my shop scratching my head wondering what I had accomplished :huh:, pile of wood on the floor unusable. It happens, blow the dust off, better days to come, i still know when your done with the table, it will be a fine one :thumb:

Tom
 
Allen, like everyone else has said, we have all been there. Now I just walk away from the project for a while. It seems to help. Curious as to what your problem is on the table saw. I am fortunate that I have hand planes, which allow me to fine tune any edge problems during glue ups. I would have used my jointer plane to re-joint the edges. I could not imagine doing without my hand tools. They don't replace the machines (like table saws), they compliment them.
 
I believe if the opportunity comes up, I will make a valid attempt to attend classes with hands on training how to use certain hand tools, planing is sure something Id love to understand and work with.

I find the difference between making an adirondack chair and trying to glue up a table top straight and gap free is almost like night and day for me.

I havent gone back out to the garage at all today, figured let it sit for a day or two.
Im fighting cold weather now. As soon as the temps drop below freezing, its going to be difficult for me to get much work time with any real commitment.(I hate to leave things undone and sit all winter)
 
Hang in there Allen, WW is supposed to an enjoyable hobby!

My moment was during a simple picture frame. I had plenty of stock prepped before the first miter cut. I had made frames before without issue. By the time I got the miters working I had wasted too much of my stock. The stock is still sitting on a table in the garage. I should just offer a sacrifice to the wood gods and burn it in the fire pit.

Keep posting your progress on the project.

Cheers

Jim
 
Hey Allen, I feel for you. Its times like this when I thank my teachers at school in shop class. But like everyone has said we all have days like this. It is also a lot easier when one has all the space, clamps and shop comforts.

If it makes you feel any better I had a similar time doing drywall. Nearly got myself killed. Two sons and no help so in typical stubborn John Wayne style figured I will do it all on my "Pat Malone". That was until 10 sheets of 5/8 drywall came crashing down on me and the only thing that save my life was a folding leg table which I had rescued off the side of the road from someone elses garbage. I have never registered the exact weight of 54"x 12ft x5/8 drywall...all I know is if the table had not been there for me to fall under I would be pushing up daisys. Table leg too the hit and broke but it stopped the drywall from crushing me. Just had the table leg welded by a friend of mine this weekend.

Moral of the story we all have days like this. As Larry says get hold of some of the taunton books. I have seen them at our local library so you need not have to buy them. Best of luck when you get back out there.
 
Things started off better today, then sunk as fast as the titanic.
I couldnt change out the blade in the TS.
I noticed the first time the wrenches supplied arent the greatest, but I must have over tightened the nut(I never had this problem), and I could not loosen it. I had the inside nut strip a drop, so I finally just jammed a piece of wood under the blade and tugged till I got it loose.
Right before I switched to the wood under the blade, the wrench slipped off and I took out a chunk of my right pinky as my arm flung back and my hand got caught on the teeth.(freud doesnt kid around with blades)

My wife came home for lunch, told me I need a stitch, cause after over an hour it wouldnt stop bleeding. (yeah, I did take a picture, of the blood coming through the bandage, but decided it doesnt need to be shared)

My buddy who shuts down my sprinkler system came over,(he is a contractor first, does alot of side jobs), he looked over the TS and the nut and arbor, said it looks ok, just not to over tighten it.

I put a butterfly on the booboo, Im not sitting in an emergency room for 8 hours on Long Island waiting for a stitch.

I was very close today to junking this project, and shutting down my work area till Springtime. Very, close, I still couldnt get a new board straight.
Managed to get one straight, and realized if I want to build tabletops of even poor quality, I will eventually need a jointer to stop killing myself and getting frustrated.
Im going back to do another glueup. If ya hear any wrenchs smashing through windows, well, at least I didnt give up.

Who said this is easy?(I told my wife dont be so fast to give away our table yet, Im far from being in Schaeffer City)

I didnt do much better with the planer today, still suffered a bit of snipe and wood getting stuck halfway, but I got smooth surfaces eventually.
 
Allen,

Any chance you could borrow the use of a jointer? Maybe a cabinet shop near by that would allow the use of theirs? I forgot that you did not have one. You amaze and inspire me with your determination to move forward with your projects. I am going to hit the projects hard when I get home tonight. Thanks for inspiration.

On those stuck arbor nuts, I use a soft impact hammer and gently tap the end of the wrench to break the nut free. It does not take much action with the hammer. Make sure you wedge the blade with a stick. I could not help but wince when I read the part of your hand slipping onto the blade!
 
Last edited:
Allen,

We've all been there. I'm *still* there most days. To the untrained eye, it all looks so simple, I mean, what is there to cutting a few boards straight and gluing them up? ;)

I went through some of the exact same problems. My table saw kept tripping the breaker... didn't solve that one until a ran a subpanel to the shop. That took many days that might have been better spent working wood, but at least I don't have *that* problem any more... and now all the shop power is GFCI'd. Then, even when I'd aligned the sawblade and the fence to the miter slot, things kept coming out bowed or crooked. No, I didn't have a jointer, so I made a jointer sled.

Not perfect, but closer. Got even closer when I made some magnetic featherboards for the opposite rip cut. For me, those aren't safety devices, they're accuracy devices. ;)

Don't tell anybody, but I ended up putting a little wax on my saw arbor. It's probably a really bad idea, but since I did that I stopped cutting myself every time I changed a blade. I actually put it inside the nut, and then screwed the nut back on. On the other hand, my biscuit cutter has sat on the shelf for the last couple years. Never could get the durned thing to align properly, and one time I slipped with it and almost had one of those horrific accidents we hear about. Haven't picked it up since! :doh:

I often have the impression other people don't have these problems. But if you take them down to the local pub, and prod them a little, by the third beer they'll likely confess to even worse... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Last edited:
I already asked my buddy that was here this morning, if he knows anyone around, a contractor, or a cabinet maker that would let me rent some time or me pay them to joint a few pieces of wood now and then.
Im sorry about the complaining.
Its looking at the amazing work here, that drives me foward.

I had a talk with the wood today:)rofl:) and told it flat out if it doesnt start cooperating with me right now, its going to be heating someones home shortly.
I recut, yes, I must have recut 1/8th off this wood 27 times, but I got a glueable edge finally, with a touch of very light sanding to get out 4 or 5 burn marks.
Only time will tell.
I only have to glue up the two pieces now.I glued the 2 pieces today to one of the other glueups.
I did not cut the final two 3.5 inch, I just left them at 6 and 5 inches approx since I needed to make a final width of or near 40 inches(whether Im an inch or 1.5 inch narrower, will not make any difference, the client is easy)

with everything in the middle of the garage, and everything out, its very time consuming to have to shift from one operation to another. I dont have table space to just put everything on, so its a constant shift of everything, and I try to plan 4-5 steps in front so I only have to move stuff around minimal times.
This cuts my actual work time a couple of hours each day I devote to woodworking. That and cleanup, which I have to do a little every day to keep the garage in breathable condition.
 

Attachments

  • wood stuff 323 (Medium).jpg
    wood stuff 323 (Medium).jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 33
Last edited:
By George(Allen)

i think you got there !!! see i told you that you could ride again :D:thumb: allen the next thing you should look for is a space heater to keep you comfy in your shop.. do you have propane or natural gas? i got a small electric space heater that looks like a old style raditor that i thinkis filled with oil any way they heat pretty nice and dont have open flame to cause trouble.. might be a good way to take the chill off... that sure looks like a table top to me now there allen:D:thumb:
 
I have two of those radiator/oil filled heaters.
They take way too long to heat a cold area like the garage, and the pull is like running a table saw all day long, the cost and everytime I plug in and run a tool, I get blacked out.
Giving up 10-12 weeks a year is ok, I have so much other stuff to keep me busy.
 
I got started very early today, had tons of errands, no work, so its most of the daylight hours devoted to messing up all that mahogany.
Glued up the final 2 pieces, the tabletop is all glued, and although I wont call it anything but a second hand glueup, its holding, and looks good.
I got some good news this morning, the guys will be digging the trench for my new wiring in around 2 weeks, The damage is 100 bucks, but it will be my pleasure, since its 32 feet of tough tree roots and I know its miserable work.(Ill even be able to plug in a new dust collector by next springtime)

Cut the mortises on the legs, and decided I wanted to off center them ever so slightly, maybe 1/16th to one side so I can cut the tenons a bit longer.
Visually, it wont make much difference.
But being the dufus I am, I cut them all to match on the short end, and I cant even figure out how I made such a huge error. so the tenons will have to be around a inch long instead of one and an eigth.
Cut the aprons, spreading the legs approx 6 inches from each end of table, both length and width wise, I dont know any better, I do it by looking at what looks good.

Ill put up a few pics, I left the camera downstairs, I should have the tenons cut and fitted mostly, even with the slight errors I made, but I have to do some cruddy work like throwing out all the mums and flowers that are dead.
Gotta clean out all the pots and planters, and get that nonsense out of the way while Im cutting Dado plates and tenons.
Just keeping the flow of the table updated.
 
:) table top is all glued and ready for next step.[/ATTACH]wood stuff 325 (Medium).jpg IM keeping it all as simple a design as possible.

I like the new fence, its solid and every tenon came out perfectly straight.wood stuff 328 (Medium).jpg

Some dry fittingwood stuff 329 (Medium).jpg

the problem I mentioned, cutting mortises on inside , the tenons were too long, so I cut them downwood stuff 330 (Medium).jpg

all fixed up, ready for gluewood stuff 331 (Medium).jpg

PUt it back for another daywood stuff 333 (Medium).jpg

but I got most of what I wanted done today(and the flowers and plants are gone, and I scraped off all that moss, need to go buy that clorox stuff)

I also cut an extra support apron piece for center, where I have the level laying. Im not sure if I need additional support in center of table, I was going to MT joint it to lengthwise aprons. (the top is one inch thick, and its heavy)

Hey, Im sorry if I bore any of the pros, but Im having some fun now. (at least until I have to start sanding and finishing.
Didnt they eat on raw wood tables 500 years ago?)

I am a bit sorry about the quality of the pics, its a decent 5 megapix camera, but I cant hold a camera steady, and if I put a tripod in the garage, well, I just dont have the patience, Ill try to rest camera to improve the shots for more detail.
Its a very attractive wood. Id like to share more of it in the raw, unfinished, unsanded, it just looks great.
 
Last edited:
Glad you had a "Good Day" in the shop today, Allen.:D It's looking good.:thumb:

When you said before that you had to cut the tenons off, I'm sorry it didn't register with me at the time, :eek: so I'll give you a tip for "Future Reference". If the mortises intersect with each other, you just bevel the ends of the tenons at a 45* angle so they fit against, or just clear each other inside the mortises. A lot of folks used to make them this way intentionally, (and some still do), just not as much now as in the past I think.

Another tip I have is that in your picture where you show the fence setup for using the dado making the tenons, you have the mdf that is attached to the fence going full length past the blade, Buuuuut....... if you will only clamp a short block to the fence to reference the length of the tenon against, (that stops "Before" the wood would get to the sawblade), it will eliminate any "tendency" for the tenon to "Drag" on the fence and possibly skew the workpiece as it passes through the cut and cause you to not have a perfectly square "Shoulder" on the workpiece which could leave a gap between the workpiece and the leg on one side or edge of the tenon when it is fitted into the mortise. (Hope I described this so it is understandable).

Keep up the good work.:thumb:
 
Last edited:
thanx tom, norman, 2 hours too late, and cutting the tenons that way, well, not a tuff thing to do, Ill keep it in mind for the next one.
Ill be cutting tons of tenons with all this wood I bought, and Im going to change that mdf tomorrow. Thats probably why I had the few tenons snag up and that rounded off type of shoulder mistake on the ipe chairs.
Hey, what I dont know could fill a book, so I greatly appreciate these little tips, anything to improve my work.
Thankyou sir.
 
I have to cut a straight edge on each end of the table, and cut it down to size............do I have to build a giant sled?
(Is there a reason I cant use a metal straight edge and a circular saw?)
 
I have to cut a straight edge on each end of the table, and cut it down to size............do I have to build a giant sled?
(Is there a reason I cant use a metal straight edge and a circular saw?)

Not a reason in the world, Allen. Just be sure when using the Circular saw that you place the Top (face) side down so any splintering would be on the bottom side, (unless you are going to use a router to put a decorative edge around the top side edges, then you would put the bottom side down and the routing would get rid of any splintering on the top edge of the cut).

(I almost always use a Circular Saw and a straight edge to cut off the ends of table tops) I do lay out and mark the cut line, (and sometimes scribe that line to prevent tearout) before making the cut with the CS.

PS: Use a GOOD SHARP crosscut blade in your CS.
 
Top