Friday, May 30, 2014

Barnsley table finished

I think that this is the longest period without any activities on the blog. But as you probably all know, sometimes there are a lot of other things that needs to be taken care of, and this May had its share for me.

First our daughter had her confirmation at the church, we held the reception at home, so the house and garden needed to be groomed before that. Then I had a lot of work on the riding court and a clogged drain from the yard, so I have seen my part of shoveling for a long time. I did manage to get a bit of woodworking done, but I never found the time to blog about it until now.

I glued up the tabletop for the Barnsley hayrake table. I decided to make glue it all up at once which wasn't a very good idea. The result was more uneven than expected. I tried to flatten it by using a scrub plane, but larch has a tendency to produce some really ugly tear out even if the wood is traversed. Luckily I had started on the bottom of the tabletop, so I could change the strategy for the topside.
My solution was to purchase a belt sander and some grit 40 and 60 belts. That actually worked quite good. It was not as fast as planing, but there was no tear out.
After the belt sander, I used the random orbit sander with some 80 grit sand paper.

Instead of breadboard ends, I added cleats using a sliding dovetail. These were then secured with a single dowel in the center. That way any movement won't upset anything. The cleats were then secured to the top of the legs using some slightly wedge shaped pegs.

I called Charlotte who had asked me to build the table to come over and check the result. luckily she was very pleased with the result, so we helped each other load the table onto the trailer and we drove it to her place.

Charlotte wanted to do her own finishing, so that is why I have not described that part at all. I issued her with a lot of test boards out of larch, so she could test various methods before determining which one she would go for. I still don't know what finish she will chose.

The legs ended up looking a bit bulky and too close to the edges of the table. But that was because the stretcher and the legs were made first, and at that time the requested table size was 48" x 128". But I still think the table looks nice and sturdy even with the smaller top (40" x 98").

The table in the trailer.

The finished table.

Lower stretcher complete with Roman numerals.

End view of the table.

One of Charlottes' Kaare Klint Safari chairs ( Rorkhee chair).

9 comments:

  1. Glad to see you are back! The table is absolutely beautiful work! If I did work like that I would call myself a woodworker.
    Bill

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  2. Thank you Bill. My wife kind of hoped that Charlotte didn't want the table anyway. We have reached the conclusion that we could use a longer table in our kitchen, and this would have made a nice looking table. I guess that I need to make another one sometime. I would like to get my hand on some oak, or maybe I should mill some elm and wait a couple of years and then build it. I have to wait and see.

    Right now there are a lot of small projects that could use the final touch to be complete, and I also have to paint the windows of the house, so I don't want to start any new major projects. Besides I am going back to sea on Wednesday, so a little bit of relaxation wouldn't hurt either.

    By the way, I clocked every minute of the build, and it totaled 36 effective hours. This does not include the time spent for sawing the wood at the sawmill. But all the milling and surfacing of the rough stock, and the joinery and assembly.
    It was more than I had expected, but when all adds up, there are a lot of details that take time.

    Brgds
    Jonas

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    Replies
    1. My wife probably would have reacted the same way, but the difference would have been that she probably would have wondered why I was building such a table in the first place, and then, seeing the nice finished product, would not have wanted to part with it.
      Bill

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  3. Nice work, as always. I really like the look of your wedged tenons in the base. It adds a bit of finnesse to a country piece.

    That chair sure is cool. Did she let you sit in it? I haven't seen one in the wild yet. You should make one, They are fun to build. I wonder if one could be constructed out of a used pallet?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Brian Thanks for the nice comment.

      I didn't sit in it, but I am sure she would let me do it if I asked. She also have the original stool to go along with it.
      I actually posted the picture for you. I need to pull myself together and get some canvas sent your way :-)
      You are probably right, that I should try to build one. I really like the look of the canvas type. So I think that I would go for that solution.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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    2. Well, I'm honored!

      I have to say that building one will make you like it more.

      As a bonus, if you don't, the project only takes a couple of days. Not like finding out too late you don't like Chippendale highboys.

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  4. I guess I have to start finding the materials and stop the excuses.
    But right now I have started painting the doors and windows of the house, I have done the front door, so all I have left is 3 more doors and 17 windows and I think it would e wise to finish that project before starting a new one :-)

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  5. Hello! Excellent work, the final result is important. Cool. I wish you every success in your work. Projects and plans for woodworking https://tinyurl.com/y96oolpm

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