Cherry Side Table – Limbert Arts and Crafts Style

Frank Pellow

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Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
(post 1 of 5)

I built two different items from plans that I found in the September 2009 issue of Wood magazine. One of these was the jewellery/music box that I described in the thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17385. The other was this side table: Cherry table 00 -Arts and crafts table from Wood magazine -small.jpg

The one in the magazine was made out of oak. I made one out of cherry. As usual, I will describe the project by extracting entries from my weekly journal.

2009, Nov 22:

This week I started a couple of Christmas projects. The first one is a small table that I am going to make out of cherry. I am going to make the table for Margaret and I am going to use cherry instead of oak. I have a lot of cherry that I bought last year from a guy in Pembrooke. Below is a picture where I am starting to prepare the cherry on my jointer: Cherry table 01 -Starting to prepare the wood -small.JPG

In preparing the cherry, I am finding that the wood is not very good. :( It is hard to get a continuous straight piece and there are twists and punky places that are creating difficulties.

2009, Nov 29:

Work continued on the cherry side table:
Cherry table 02 -Glueing up the top -small.JPG Cherry table 03 -Glueing up a leg-side -small.JPG Cherry table 04 -Sanding a glued together leg-side -small.JPG
 
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(post 2 of 5)

2009, Dec 13:

On the cherry side table front, I tested various dyes and stains in order to see if I wanted to “improve” upon the colours provided by Mother Nature:
Cherry table 05 -Testing dye shades -1 -small.JPG Cherry table 06 -Testing dye shades -2 -small.JPG

In the end, I decided that the dyes and stains revealed too many imperfections in the wood and the finishing of same. As I observed two weeks ago, the cherry I am using is not very good. For instance look at the curve in this glued together piece and also notice the “punky” section of wood: Cherry table 07 -The Cheery wood is less than ideal -small.JPG

aside: I admit that this was probably partly due to my inadequate glue-up technique and I know of ways to improve upon this, but you get the point.
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I first trimmed all the pieces to rough size making use of my Incra crosscut sled: Cherry table 08 -Trimming the pieces to rough size using Incra sled -small.JPG

then cut the four legs/sides utilizing a jig that I made specifically for the purpose of making cuts that were both 45 degrees and tapered:
Cherry table 09 -Taper jig 1 -small.JPG Cherry table 10 -Taper jig 2 -small.JPG
 
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(post 3 of 5)

2009, Dec 20:

It was time to get back to the cherry side table. It needs to be completed by Christmas.

Using the drawings from the magazine certrefold, I created a pattern side/leg from a piece of plywood.
Cherry table 11 -Preparing a plywood template of one of the four sides-legs -small.JPG Cherry table 13 -Using jig saw on cutout in a side-leg -small.JPG

Next I used a pattern bit in a hand-held router to make the cut-outs in the four sides/legs. Cherry table 14 -Pattern-routing a side leg -small.JPG

I tried smoothing the cuts with my spindle sander, but it is quite aggressive, so I used it sparingly and did not attempt to smooth things completely. Rather, I completed the job using two different profile pads with my linear sander:
Cherry table 15 -Smooting a side-leg cutout witha spindle sander -small.JPG Cherry table 16 -Completing the sanding with a Festool linear sander -small.JPG

Next, I rounded over most the edges of the cutout areas:
Cherry table 17 -Rounding over the cutouts -small.JPG
 
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I had alot of mahogany that had stubborn twists in the wood.
Instead of gluing up the wider boards(6-8 inches), I cut them all down to 3 inchs or so and got a much straighter top, with less bend or tension.
 
(post 4 of 5)

2009, Dec 27:

I managed to get the cherry table to the stage where it was possible to give it to Margaret on Christmas morning. First of all, there was the sanding, polishing, and waxing the interiors of leg-sides & the shelf parts: Cherry table 18 -Sanding and polishing the interiors of leg-sides & the shelf parts -small.JPG

Assembling and gluing the joints between the sides were tricky because of the angles involved and the difficulty of using clamps. I glued up the first joint using a generous amount of long open time white glue with masking tape to protect the interior surfaces from glue squeeze out. Masking tape was also employed to temporarily clamp the joint in some places:
Cherry table 19 -Leg glu-up -1 -small.JPG Cherry table 20 -Leg glue-up -2 -small.JPG

I next tried to fit in the shelf but could not get it into place with the cleat in place. So, I had to chisel off the glued-in-place cleat. Cherry table 21 -I had to remove the cleat in order to fit in the shelf -small.JPG

Eventually, I managed to glue and clamp all the sides/legs together with the shelf in place. But the plans called for nice sharp edges and mine were anything but sharp (as can be seen in the detail shown to the second photo that follows): Cherry table 22 -Two legs glued at joint leaving crack at outside of the seam -small.JPG Cherry table 23 -Two legs glued at joint leaving crack at outside of the seam -close up of top p.JPG

This particular table was obviously destined not to have sharp edges. So, I made a slight modification to the taper jig to accommodate the protruding shelf and proceeded to I bevel all four edges on my table saw: Cherry table 24 -Bevels were cut along all the leg joints -small.JPG

Next the table top was shaped, sanded and polished, top, sides and bottom then the bottom side was waxed:
Cherry table 25 -Sanding and polishing the top -small.JPG Cherry table 26 -Waxing the top -smal;l.JPG

I used Town Talk Orange Wax which is a combination of beeswax carnauba wax and orange oil.

The top was attached to the base as shown below:
Cherry table 27 -Attaching the top to the base -small.JPG
 
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(post 5 of 5)

I did not have time to sand, polish and finish the outside of the base before Christmas, so this is what I presented:
Cherry table 29 -Almost finished -small.JPG

I managed to finish the table on Boxing Day and here it is in place beside Margaret’s chair:
Cherry table 30 -Finished and in place in living room -small.JPG
 
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Nice work Frank. When I saw these plans, the clamping came to mind as well. I envisioned making some plywood slip over clamps (square pieces of plywood with a square hole cut out of the middle). Using 4 or 5 of these in decreasing size, slide these down the tapered shape to clamp it....if that makes sense. I can't remember where I saw this before but I'm sure it's not an original idea. :rolleyes:

Any thoughts on if this would actually have helped tighten up the joints or not?
 
Frank thats a real great table. At first in some of the pics i thought it was looking like a 6 ft tall table but seeing it next to the tree and chairs all finished i got to realize it was just and opticla illusion in the pictures.

Nice project sure enjoyed following along and seeing the finished project.

Thanks for posting
 
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