first project for 2010 - closing in on finish

after taking another mental health day, more progress has been made. a handful of hours have been used finessing the tenons to the mortises. then there was a full up test fitting of almost all the parts. the bottom will be set up once i have everything properly aligned. tomorrow i am going to take the top to the shop where i bought the lumber and have them run it through the new sander they picked up, to get it nice and flat.
 

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top boards

Help my ignorance here, I am just learning. It appears your boards for the top are flat sawn? Can you give some thought on that and is that possibly why you kept the thickness of your stock what it is on the top? Would it of been better to have quarter sawn or? If you made comments concerning this in earlier post, I just missed it. Sorry.
Thanks for input.
 
don't worry don, all the boards are flatsawn. it's the only way they came. when i bought them, they were the full, rough cut 1", and i had them planed down to 7/8". all the parts, aside from the panels, are a touch over 13/16". when i started, i planed everything but the top boards, and the doors to this thickness. the top boards are between 13/16" and 7/8", i only took off enough to remove the last of the rough areas that the first planing didn't get. the doors, since they were good on both sides, are closer to 7/8", for some reason i thought this would be good. the side panels were good to go on both sides, and i left them the full 7/8", and resawed them in half for the side and back panels, and planed them down to 1/4". starting out, each of the 3 boards i used were a little over 30 lbs each. brazilian cherry has a weight of 56 lbs per cubic foot, and i'm using 1.6 cubic feet. finished out, the whole table weighs in at about 71-73 lbs. good thing we're going to have those felt pads under the feet, or this thing would be a bear to move...:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
i took the top in yesterday to the lumber supplier (they're also a cabinet/furniture shop as well), and had them run the top through their new 3 head sander. 3-4 passes on each side, and smooth as a baby's bottom. best $5 i've spent to date. :D:thumb: holding off until after i receive my new rabbeting plane on the first, to really finesse the tenons.
 
the new rabbet plane showed up today, and made short work of the unruly tenons.:thumb: then, tragedy struck.:eek: i went to fit the bottom, and found that the panel had bowed up in the center, or from down from the center if you're looking at it upside down, by a quarter of an inch. luckily enough, i still have that fourth board as insurance.
 
such a nice day again today! almost 43 today.:D after i cut the parts for the new bottom, i found i had enough left over for 4 sets of arched candle holder blanks. i'm leaving the bottom in the clamps until i need to trim it up and install it. then i set to work on the notches for the bottom in the legs. all 4 cut by hand.
 

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after a couple of rough days, finally posting again. a really odd thing happened the other day. i took the candle holder blanks out of the clamps, and left the bottom in the clamps, didn't even touch them. then i worked on the rest of the table. the next day i was all set to work on the bottom, and i found that all the clamps were loose.:eek: not just one or two, but all of them. the wood didn't shrink, the handles were all turned back about one half, to a full turn.:huh: i asked my dad about it, and he said no one has been down there, so i don't know what happened.:dunno: with the first bottom off to the side (bowed one), i went to work fitting the second one. for some reason or another, it wasn't fitting right.:bang: it was only after screwing up this bottom (attempted cutting to fit, only made it worse), i found out what the problem was.:eek: when i cut the rails for the front face frame, i made a real boo boo, i had measured the tenons from the wrong side of the frame, and the front frame was about 1/8" shy of the back.:doh: well, i picked up a little bit more of the brazilian cherry(kicking myself for using up my scraps), and made a third bottom, and built an all new face frame. when the weather is a little more agreeable (right now 38 degrees, overcast and ishy), i'll be fitting the newest bottom and face frame.
 

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a really odd thing happened the other day. i took the candle holder blanks out of the clamps, and left the bottom in the clamps, didn't even touch them. then i worked on the rest of the table. the next day i was all set to work on the bottom, and i found that all the clamps were loose.:eek: not just one or two, but all of them. the wood didn't shrink, the handles were all turned back about one half, to a full turn.:huh: i asked my dad about it, and he said no one has been down there, so i don't know what happened.:dunno:
It's the menehune... ask Tony in Hawaii who they are he can tell ya
 
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well, after almost a week of constant rain, it had to happen. there wasn't any more rain in the sky, and finally we had blue skies, mild breezes, and best of all, almost 65 degrees.:thumb: finally i was able to get back into the shop, and without a coat.:D made some progress on the table today. reassembled the whole thing (without the top), and measured for the bottom's finishing cuts. all went well, and it fits like a glove!:D if we have more weather like this tomorrow, i'll be running the doors through the planer to final thickness, and start the sanding. :thumb:
 

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heavy it is rob. well, it didn't look too good this morning. gray, overcast, colder, so, after picking up the wife, i decided it was nap time!:D:thumb: (time change, not being able to sleep until 3 this morning, and back up at 7 all took their toll). lo and behold, after my 2 hour nap, it was all sunshine, blue skies, and 58 degrees and getting warmer. :D i got all of the sanding done today, and then glued this baby up, and left it in band clamps. after the sanding, while there was still daylight, i went after the odds and ends of the blocks of cocobolo, walnut, and brazilian cherry, and started cutting pen blanks. total for the brazilian cherry that i cut, 10 pen blanks, cocobolo, 23 stopper blanks and 12 pen blanks (there's also enough for other odd inlays and such), and the walnut, 15 stopper blanks, and 4 pen blanks. that chunk worked out really nice larry, thanks again!:thumb: all that's left now is to fit the doors and hinges, wipe it down a good one with a tack cloth, and start the finishing. so, if it rains tomorrow, i won't be too unhappy.
 

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closing in on the finish....

after leaving it sit in the clamps overnight, it was time to fit the doors, and start the finishing.:D:thumb: the doors went ok for a change, and when that was done, i started to apply the blo. in a couple of days i start the poly....:thumb:
 

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