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