Three tables

[Black wallnut]

Some work-in-progress pics of my current project. More details to follow.



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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bill in Buena Park]

Hey Mark - those look great!

[Black wallnut]

Legs are maple, rails and tops are cherry. I started the tables a few years ago. Progress stopped with the tops glued up then each joint smoothed to remove the glue squeeze out and slight mis-alignments.

I stalled because I was wavering on exactly what to do for legs. Thought about using 4/4 maple, somehow this just did not seem to be the stock to use.

Fast forward to a month ago when I spent a week in Spokane going through my late fathers hobby room. It needed a bunch of organizing and cleaning. He first had dementia which started the decline in his house keeping standards. He'd lose concentration is seems in mid-project and just leave stuff laying. His dementia progressed into Alzheimer's which progressed until his death late November. Since I was the son that was most knowledgeable about his hobbies and such it was my duty to clean up, organize and take stock.

While I was there I decide that I'd take a trip to the lumber yard I use and pick up some appropriate thickness stock to finish the tables. I found some 6/4 maple. Seemed like a good choice.

Ever since I started woodworking I've liked the sliding dovetail as a joint. Strong and easy to cut with a table mounted router. I choose this joint for the rails to legs. each rail has a 1/8" dado that a rabbeted block gets screwed to the under side of the top to join top to base. I decided to taper the legs, this time actually doing it correctly and on the inside edges only. I need to come up with a better technique to avoid the saw marks in the future. It took a bunch of scraping with a card scraper to get rid of them.

[leehljp]

Looking Great! Show us the finished tables too.

[cwsmith]

great work... I like that you documented the individual cuts and the assembly.

Really great, Thanks!

CWS

[capncarl]

What is the dimension of the tops?
Could you explain the sliding dovetail? (sliding dovetail as a joint. Strong and easy to cut with a table mounted router. I choose this joint for the rails to legs. each rail has a 1/8" dado that a rabbeted block gets screwed to the under side of the top to join top to base)
Looks great, good design!
capncarl

[footprintsinconc]

looking very nice!! love the dovetail jointing!

[tfischer]

The tables look great! I haven't tried a sliding dovetail for something like this... that's a great idea. I built a bunk bed set a few years back and used that joint for the ladder rungs and it worked out great.

Sorry to hear about your father's death and prior situation. Getting old sucks... we're dealing with some of the earlier stages of that sort of thing with my mom now.

-Tim

[Black walnut]

What is the dimension of the tops?
Could you explain the sliding dovetail? (sliding dovetail as a joint. Strong and easy to cut with a table mounted router. I choose this joint for the rails to legs. each rail has a 1/8" dado that a rabbeted block gets screwed to the under side of the top to join top to base)
Looks great, good design!
capncarl

I'll have to measure them up. I'll also do a post about the sliding dovetail joint and how to make it. When used in tables it is hidden. The basics are the leg gets a stopped dovetail slot. the leg gets a dovetail tenon full width minus the diameter of the bit so the edge is flush with the top of the leg.

Thanks for the kind words.

[atgcpaul]

Looks great. I've never done a sliding dovetail but this seems like the perfect application for it. The table should never rack or fall apart. And agreed that 6/4 was the right choice.

[capncarl]

I like your sliding dovetail joint. When I first started making the Tiny Tables I "explored" using dovetails instead of mortise and tenon for the leg/apron connection. For my purposes I found it to be way too time consuming and created too much scrap with my constant size change and boo-boos. After settling on mortise and tenons, I evolved to mortise and floating tenons to speed up the operation and not have to cut tenons on the end of each apron. After it is all glued up it is extremely durable. The tables that I sell don't have enough profit in them to warrant the time and labor required by sliding dovetails. In 2016 I built over 30 tables.
capncarl