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.

Waterbury Pembroke Table Class

It's been a while, oops, however I have started work on a project that will keep me posting at least weekly for the next eight weeks. You guessed it, I'm taking another furniture building class at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. As I like to call classes I take there, my apprenticeship (long overdue, I've been wasting time since age 14) I'm excited. This one is a mahogany Pembroke table, I hadn't been a fan of these, but I think that was largely due to only really having seen Federal tables with bandings, stringing and a whole lot of veneer-work. I fell in love with the top and am excited for the technical challenges of the rule joint, hinge, rule-joint hinge mounting etc.

I'm light on pictures, okay I have no pictures yet, but on the first class we milled up all the lumber for the top center glue up, and the leaves. We stacked off cuts for the apron stock and the mysterious 8/4 for the legs was not present. I suspect they still have it on order considering it's an 8 week class. I couldn't bear to glue up with PVA, so I went in the day after with some liquid hide, to make my top glue up. Mario busts my chops over this, but I'm fine with that.

 
Here's a shot of their showoff table. Nice.

Mahogany Writing Table: Beginning

This is a gloat, I scored some nice old mahogany from a guy clearing out his dad's garage shop. Looking at the stuff he tinkered with, I'm flabbergasted at what he might have used this nice stuff for. Mostly though, I want to hope that he was saving it for me. There was a 12 foot board of heavy 4/4 about 8 1/2 inches wide. This will become the apron parts, drawer fronts and some levels and other glitzy little things/tools. There was a 7 1/2 foot board of 4/4, 10 1/2 inches wide destined to become a two board top...I didn't realize until I cut the boards for the top, but this is quarter sawn. Excellent.

Here is a shot of the wide QS offcut, I've planed it a bit to see how it looks. I'm a happy camper. There is about 4 foot of the 8 1/2" wide behind it along with some other scraps.


Here is a scrap piece trued up with the jack and jointer (I broke down and brought my #7 down to my apartment, I just couldn't keep working without it) very smooth, very shimmery. This particular scrap will become a brass bound level.

Here is the 1/4 scale mockup of the desk... I'm borrowing heavily from Mario Rodriguez's Providence Writing Desk, I'm not sure if I want to do the same edge or moulding details he has, and I'm going with inside taper legs over his sabers. For reference the top will measure 20x33. I will also be using this as part of my model making class. We do a project on scaling dimensions from a photo, and building a scale model. This will be my teaching model. I have drawings and calculations to show along with the model. I like building a new piece for every class as it keeps me from getting bored with the same piece semester after semester.

The underside, showing the rudimentary web frame and drawer, it's only really important for my purposes to have one drawer actually function, I build both webs before I decided to do one drawer so, oh well.

Yes the drawer opens, you have to push it from inside, making small pulls that look worth anything are difficult to do, so I draw details like that on with pencil or fine pen depending. I have samples of a lot of things built in chip board, full drawer boxes and drawers, sliding panels, raised panels made from corrugated cardboard etc. They all go into a box as display samples for this one project.

Making Progress: Key Cabinet Door

Today I got some more walnut, The bit I or board I had left from cutting the case has too much sapwood to look nice. I milled it and ran grooves for the glass. Sorry I don't have a picture of that setup, but basically you dial in the fence to cut the groove you want in two passes, on both faces. What results is a really nice groove perfectly centered in the stock.

The first photo is cutting the tenons in the stile for the top rail. The sled I'm using only has one fence, the tenon is 1/8" thick, 1 3/16" long and 1 5/8" wide.

A slight trip with my new to me Record #073 (1 1/4" shoulder plane, Jeff), results in a perfect friction fit.


Clean.


With all the joints cut I had to mock up the door. I've been asked two things consistently with this piece: why are the rails and stiles "backwards", and why are they such interesting dimensions? The rails & stiles are backwards because there is going to be a shelf, I didn't want the stiles to "cut" into the shelf visually, as the shelf will go about 5/16" below the top of the bottom rail. The widths of the components are such that they are co-planar with the frame parts of the back.

The pine strips are just to mock up the muntins, I'll do another post about the various arrangements I'm considering, this one is winning so far.


For all the careful considerations above, I've goofed here and there. I cut the top and bottom a little close to the case sides and also a bit to tight in the front. This means I'm loosing out on the opportunities I gained by doweling the case, which in turn makes me wish I'd thought about that a little more or dovetailed the case. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with the project, but it's not as refined as I could have gotten it. Perhaps that comes from working alone, I have no one to call me on these things, I'll do a debrief and post-design the things I think this should have had. I'm so close to glue-up...

1. Cut and fit muntins
2. Fit lights
3. Glue door
4. Install shelf
5. Trim, fit and hinge door
6. Glue case, then back onto case
7. Make and mount hangers

Keepsake Box: Dovetail Excersising

After building a bench on bench to make the crappy Horror Freight "workbenches" my landlord loves (don't ask why) into something passably useful for serious cabinetmaking, I couldn't wait to dovetail. I was positively itching. I had some scraps around and Googled "dovetailed box" for some inspiration. I found some in a box by Rob Cosman. I think his are way overpriced, along with his ridiculous solid surface saw totes, but the box looks alright.

The woods are spruce and butternut for the case, poplar bottom and a spalted beech lid. Finish is (surprisingly, hah) shellac and wax.





I've also build a plywood drawer box to practice building and fitting drawers into. I'm excited to get on that, but my first order of business will be to work on the door for the Key Cabinet. The order for antique glass should be here any day, and I don't want to waste any time on the cabinet I've been building since March .

Finished Blanket Chest

Here is it, shellaced, waxed and full of stuff.

Bench On Bench

After brushing on the last coat of shellac, and getting ready to wax and assemble the blanket chest I started a very important thing, thinking about the next project of course.

After working on a real bench for a whole week, getting used to the bench on benches at PFW I really felt I needed to invest in some serious benching to progress further. While I'm still stuck with my landlord's "benches" I can at least tackle dovetailing and other workholding with this...


Okay, it's not as sexy as the bench on bench at the bottom of THIS page, I want. But it will do the job admirably. I've also started thinking of new projects, and ordered the piece of antique glass I want for the Key Cabinet, so after today I feel great. I'm also in touch with Mike Wenzloff about trouble-shooting my assembly of the backsaw kits I bought a while back. I really need a this fine dovetail saw and cross cut backsaw for some of the work I have planned.