Melbourne Trip

Last week I set off to Melbourne to go to The Working with Wood Show. It was a really good trip. I couldn't believe how fast it was to fly to Melbourne. Almost as soon as week reach flying altitude we were heading back down for landing. The flight was 46 minutes. So the traveling wasn't bad at all.

The show was pretty good. It was like almost every show that I have been to, but a little smaller. It was full of different displays, things like people selling wood, to new clamps and router bits. To big machinery and small handheld powertools. The most interesting part of the show was the exhibition. The Victorian woodworker Asso. held an exhibition. It was really interesting to see the work. It really gives me a lot of hope. As I looked through what was there (being a furniture maker) I had a really critical eye. And what I saw gave me hope that I will be able to make it in this business. Most of the pieces were really good. But all of them except for about 3 had what I would call, "only because I built furniture" mistakes. A little chip out here or a joint not quite all the way in, cabinets not finished underneath. Little things that the normal eye wouldn't pick up.

My favorite part of the show was the schools booth. I loved talking to people and explaining what we did at the school. Showing off my box and explaining the details. I especially liked when people asked how much my box was and the look of disbelief when I told them. I was asking 1200.00 for my box. (only because I really didn't want to sell it.) I was told though that it should sell for around 800-1000.



It was really nice having a few days off. But now I feel so far behind on my Hall Table. I have to make up some ground this week. As of today, I have finished gluing up the back design and dry fitted everything except the drawers together. By the end of this week I hope to have the entire piece expect the drawers glued up and stained pure black. (except the top of course that stays natural) So until next week.

This weeks progress

This has been a really good week. I have been really worried about getting this project completed on time. There always seems like a lot to do and no time to do it. But this week things seemed to fall into place. The beginning of the week I made the top to my hall table. It's 1340 mm long by 400 mm wide by 19 mm thick. Which is about 5 ft long by 18 inches wide by about 3/4 inch thick. The top is made from MDF, of which I put a 8 mm lipping on all the edges and then veneered the top with some beautiful birds-eye Huon Pine. The top came out really nice.



Then I had to build a few frames to enclose the area that my drawers will sit. There are two frames, the top frame will be covered by the top on the hall table. The bottom frame will have panels in it so that you can't look under the table and see the drawers. I have yet to finish the panels, I cut them to size but still have to veneer them and cut a rebate into them so that they can sit in place.

I then had to rout a rebate into the back frame of the table. There is a panel that has to sit in the frame in the back so that you can not see into the drawer cavity. Also there will be a lot of decorative squares that will be inset into the back. So I had to make the room for those.


Next I cut the first half of all my little squares. They are made up of little pieces of timber that have two 45 degree cuts on both ends. Then 4 of these pieces will be placed like a cross forming the squares. These are called birds mouth joints. I had to come up with a couple of jigs to make the job easier and faster. The first jig is this one. It has a stop that is the exact length and a fence at a 45 degree angle. You place your piece of timber in and lock it place with the cam, and the over hang gets cut off at the table saw at a 45 degree angle. You then flip and cut the other angle to give you an arrow looking piece. Then you flip again and do the other side.


The Second jig is for cutting a groove on the ends of the pieces. This groove is there to accept a floating tenon. Which is a piece of timber that will be glued into the 4 pieces to hold them together.


I fly out to Melbourne on Thursday for the working with wood show. The school is going to have a booth there. So my box will be on display at the show. I'm happy about that. Hopefully I will be able to get as much done in the upcoming week before the trip and keep on schedule.

I'll tell you all about the show next week.

Kaleo

Hall Table Progression

Well things have been really busy these week. I finally got started on my hall table. And when I say started I mean that I got to start making it. I guess I really started about 2 weeks ago. But with the timber sitting for the week, it feels like I just got really started. So I spent the week first planning out a timetable. The project is meant to be finished by the 7 of November. Which is about a month away.

So this week I got all the mortising and tenoning done and made the entire frame. I actually got it standing this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the table so far.