I've become interested in woodworking recently, so I'm really excited about this, Rick. Somebody we know is going to have to pick up masonry. And we desperately need a plumber, too.
Any explanation of sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from epilepsy.
Mostly Poplar. The top however, is a birch plywood with birch vainer to cover the layers of wood. Birch and Poplar are both light colored woods that stain very similar to one another so I don't feel that mixing the woods in this instance is going to make that much difference. I would never try that with say pine and oak though.
Ty,
I've been really interested in masonry too. A passing thought has been to work a part time job as a brick layer just to learn the trade. Though I kind of doubt however they would hire someone who's never done it before.
What I love about the things that Rick does is they all make a kind of personality. Makes his own beer...check. Designs and constructs his own furniture...check. Climbs mountains...check. Picks up trash in state parks as a public service...check. Interested in masonry (not the fruity Knights Templar variety)...check. Has fallen from the sky (fafrotsky-like) in the last year...check.
It makes you think you could fill out a few more items on the list. Shops at the online L.L. Bean site, has dreamed at least once of owning a kayak, has had complex conversations about rope, etc...
You are officially a character, Rick, and I mean that in the best possible way: It's YOUR image and activities that define a certain form of existing, at least for me.
I'm not going to turn the board into "The New Okie Workshop." I promis. But I'm going to from time to time put up picts of my work in progress. So with that said: I have an update on what I've taken to calling my "Pub Mirror Table." The name come from the fact that I intend to put the table bellow a small pub mirror I made last year that's next to the front door.
Anyway Sunday, as you know, was my birthday. I went to church did some dishes and spent the rest of the day outside working away on my table.
To start, I used a tapering jig to trim down some 1.5" X 1.5' stock for the legs. Then using my drill press, I maticulesly drilled 4" of holes down the middle and an inch from the top of the leg to form the mortis for the two side rails and the back rail.
The 4" Mortis:
On the front 2 legs I had to hand chisel two dovetail mortises on each side to accept a dovetailed top divider.
The dividers take the place of a front rail and add support for the the table, while allowing space for a drawer. See the drawing at the start of the thread for reference. A dovetailed mortis and tenon is a significantly stronger joint than is a non dovetailed joint. As this is a weak area of the table I chose to use the dovetail. The bottom divider will be a strait edge mortis like the back and side rails. Here's the finished mortis.
I decided Friday to take today (Monday) off, so I had an extra day to work on my table. I started by ripping a 1" X 8" poplar board down to 6" and then cutting the that down to size to make the front and back rails. I then cut the tenons into the rails. These of course will fit into the mortises on the legs. I then ripped the 1.5 X .75" leftover stock from the 1" X 8" down to 1" X .75" and cut that to size to form the top and bottom dividers. I quickly cut the tenons on the bottom divider using my table saw. Then using my chisel again, I cut 2 tails on either side of the top divider to fit into the dovetail mortis. At this point I got brave and decided to dry fit all of the pieces together to see how it looked.
here is a close up of the mortis and tenon joint for the side and back rails into the leg.
And here's the top and bottom dividers in there leg for the front.
Another shot of the table dry fit.
So the rest of the day was spent doing measurements for the shelf and the table top, then searching for some hold down clamps and a plywood blade for my table saw. I hope I can get to cutting the shelf and the top next weekend after I get back from the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. If not it will probably be a couple of weeks before I can work on it.
