Pembroke Table Class 2

Last night's class was a real fun one. As they say we are building this table backwards. That is to get the complex shape of the top to meet the legs perfectly, we will completely build the top first, then fit the undercarriage to it. We cut the rule joints and started to lay out the positions of the hinges. 

This is the top from the display piece, it has an amazing satin finish ant i really like the shape. Approximately 35" long and 32 wide I believe.
 

A mock up of the hinge fingers, these are mahogany on the real thing.

Sets of wood laid out for best color and grain match. There are 11 of us in the class.

Here's my set, my top is glued with liquid hide, everyone else has PVA, I can't stand the thought of PVA and it's future irreparable nature so I tend to never touch the stuff. Unless it's for cardboard mock-ups or quick and dirty jig work, even then I'll use hide sometimes.

We got a fairly lengthy instruction sheet on setting out the rule joint according to the hardware. It's fussy stuff but without the right spacing you wind up with a poorly supported table joint, too much gap, or binding/squealing when operating the leaf.
 

My lovely girlfriend is taking bits of the class with me and offered to shoot some photos, this is setting in the knife line that defines the outermost edges of the hinge. These are marked from a center line across the width. The hinge will be numbered, placed and the other edge of the mortice knifed in.  

More of the same.

A double square is a happy-maker.

There are the Rule-Joint hinges, as you can see due to the manufacturing process there is a slight taper, I was feeling antsy and decided to measure just how much. The long leaf has a .0101" taper per inch and  the short a .0168" taper per inch. The plan is to route a flat mortise and shim the thin end of the hinge with cardstock, I don't know if I like this yet. I'm going to experiment setting a hinge and using a specially made jig to get my router plane on the correct angle. Yes I expect to catch some for this, but I build for fun and I like being this fussy.

Walter Poole or some other similarly initialed fool decided he was important enough to be on a hinge, I don't think he deserves a spot on my hinges so I removed him with a machinist's scraper. Asaide from one goof there isn't even enough material missing to look like I fussed with it.

Finally here's a shot of the de-"WP"ed hinges in a sawdust and ammonia filled bag working on some patination. By the time next class rolls around it should look like I stole hinges off my grandmothers table, unlike some people they will be new.