Earlier this week I worked on the birds nest section of the table. I decided to make the lower section of this round and the upper section square and then separate with small turned columns. So that is where I started, I needed 4 little columns and I really like doing detail work on the Jet mini but of course in the middle of everything the power switch broke for the second time. Fortunately it broke in the on position so I just used a power strip to turn the lathe on and off.
I also turned the lower section and did some soft beading on it. Nothing is attached yet just dry fitted.
I also designed and made the cleats that will attach the top of the table to the birds nest.
Yesterday I spent the whole day just making the fixture for cutting the slots in the spindle. Pretty slow going but I am pretty particular about things so I take a lot of time and check and double check everything. The way I figure it I got one shot in making this right else I start over with a new spindle and it does not help that I have never made a sliding dovetail in my life! I attempted to replicate a fixture that I had seen in Fine Woodworking magazine but I decided to make some modifications to it as if you have ever tried making something from that magazine they leave quite a bit to the imagination. Also I ran into issues with the directions for making sliding dovetails since with all the router bits I have I do not own the 11 degree dovetail nor the 7/16” strait so I had to improvise (Kind of a plug for Brian but I got to tell you those Holbren router bits did great!) . Anyhow I got the dovetails done and they look pretty good, could be a bit better maybe but I think they will be ok. Here is a view from the bottom;
The fit is not bad at all and it takes a bit of effort to get the legs in. I then shaped the legs and fitted them in. Here is a picture of the legs installed. I kind of got crooked with the camera when I took this one. I left the legs cut to where they extend between a 16th and an 8th of an inch from the bottom of the spindle so that I can finish size them by hand. I have found taking wood off is easy but putting it back on sucks.
The next step is to shape the legs to the final form. As I said I have no plans so these legs came from a drawing I did on the computer but I think so far they are ok.
Thanks for taking the time to look and tell me what you think.
Ken
I also turned the lower section and did some soft beading on it. Nothing is attached yet just dry fitted.
I also designed and made the cleats that will attach the top of the table to the birds nest.
Yesterday I spent the whole day just making the fixture for cutting the slots in the spindle. Pretty slow going but I am pretty particular about things so I take a lot of time and check and double check everything. The way I figure it I got one shot in making this right else I start over with a new spindle and it does not help that I have never made a sliding dovetail in my life! I attempted to replicate a fixture that I had seen in Fine Woodworking magazine but I decided to make some modifications to it as if you have ever tried making something from that magazine they leave quite a bit to the imagination. Also I ran into issues with the directions for making sliding dovetails since with all the router bits I have I do not own the 11 degree dovetail nor the 7/16” strait so I had to improvise (Kind of a plug for Brian but I got to tell you those Holbren router bits did great!) . Anyhow I got the dovetails done and they look pretty good, could be a bit better maybe but I think they will be ok. Here is a view from the bottom;
The fit is not bad at all and it takes a bit of effort to get the legs in. I then shaped the legs and fitted them in. Here is a picture of the legs installed. I kind of got crooked with the camera when I took this one. I left the legs cut to where they extend between a 16th and an 8th of an inch from the bottom of the spindle so that I can finish size them by hand. I have found taking wood off is easy but putting it back on sucks.
The next step is to shape the legs to the final form. As I said I have no plans so these legs came from a drawing I did on the computer but I think so far they are ok.
Thanks for taking the time to look and tell me what you think.
Ken
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