Jeff Greef Woodworking

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Jeff Greef Woodworking

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Page 3, End Table
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Cut slots in the legs with the biscuit joiner fence in the 90o position as in photo 7. You can join the legs to the rails with dowels if you have a dowel jig that will locate dowels on a mitered edge. Few dowel jigs will do this, one that does is the Record jig. You could locate the dowels with a drill press jig that holds the rails in the right location for accurate boring.

Photo 7- Use the biscuit joiner in its normal 90o configuration to cut slots in the legs for the rails.

TOP AND SHELF

Edge glue enough pieces together for the top and shelf, to get plates that measure 24" square and 20" square. Your biscuit joiner will really help you out here, keeping the pieces aligned to each other during the glue up. For the shelf, use one of the rails to flush trim the shape into the edges. First trace the shape onto the shelf, and locate the corner surfaces that will join the legs as shown in the drawing. Then rough cut the curves on the band saw. Now attach one of the rails on the bottom of the shelf on one side with small finish nails. Drill three 1/16" diameter holes in the rail and place the nails in these holes. Flush trim this side of the shelf, then move the rail to the next. Later, fill the holes with putty.

Use a similar procedure to shape the top. Draw grid lines on a piece of scrap and trace the shape from the drawing. Cut this out and sand it smooth, then use this template to trace each side and then flush trim it.

Self-Centering Dowel Jig Kit

Milwaukee 1/2" Chuck Drill
One tough drill- not a cheapy.

Photo 8- Use a dowel jig to bore holes in the shelf corners and in the legs. Use 3/8" dowels. Shown is the Stanley dowel jig.

The Dowl-It brand jig will work well for this procedure. To see it, click here.

Bore holes in the shelf ends for 3/8" dowels with a dowel jig as in photo 8. Mark locations on the legs for the corresponding dowel holes. Do so at the point of the curve on the legs which is at 90o to the floor. Because of the round over, you may need to flatten this spot on the legs to get level areas for the shelf ends to contact. Do this with a block plane or stationary sander. Use the dowel jig to bore holes in the legs.

If you choose, put a router detail on the edges of the top and shelf, but stop the detail before it gets to the corners of the shelf.

Web Clamps

GLUE UP

Photo 9- Band clamps and bar clamps being used to pull the assembly together. Note the clamp blocks between the clamps and the rails. Don't squeeze too hard with bar clamps on a mitered biscuit joint like this or you'll tweak the biscuits.

To see bar and band clamps, click here.

Band clamps work wonders for glue ups like this (photo 9). But, they aren't always strong enough to pull the joints tight, so use bar clamps -gently- as shown to pull it tight. Another way to pull all this together is with nylon cord, which stretches a bit. If you wrap 100 feet of it tightly around the assembly, the combined squeeze of all the wrappings provides adequate pressure. Once out of clamps or cord install corner blocks with glue and screws as shown in photo 10 to strengthen the joints.

Tapered Drill Bits With Countersinks

Rockler Router Table Package
Includes table top with quality fittings, adjustable fence AND Porter Cable 690 Router. Good deal.

Photo 10- Biscuits are strong but adding corner blocks like this will tremendously lengthen the life of your table's joints. Miter them so they fit well and wet out the end grain of the miters with glue for 5 minutes before you put them in place to let the pores suck up as much glue as they can before it gets squeezed out. Otherwise the pores might pull the glue out of the joint, starving it for glue. Predrill for the screws.

To see tapered bits with countersinks for predrilling for screws, click here.
To see hand drills, click here.

ATTACHING THE TOP

Any wide wooden plate, like this top, will have substantial movement across the grain. Therefore, don't glue the top to the rails, but screw it on with blocks at about ž x ž x 4 inches or so. Make the holes in the blocks for the screw shanks that go into the top about twice the diameter of the shanks, and use washers to hold the screw head to the wood. This way the table top can move all it wants to, dragging the screws along with it within the large holes.

FINISH

Sand to 220 grit. On a table like this that will probably get exposed to moisture from glasses or flower vases, use a water resistant finish like satin polyurethane varnish. Sand lightly with 400 grit paper between coats, and finish up with paste wax.

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