Hoping I can pick all of the knowledgable brains around here to let my upcomming project go a bit smoother.
I’m a pretty raw amature, though I’ve made few pieces of furniture in the past. As we have had to return our borrowed kitchen table to it’s owner, this Christmas my present is to make us a kitchen (harvest) table. I have a few specific questions – but any advice would be appreciated.
As with all of the projects I try, I am hoping to use it as an opportunity to learn some new techniques.
1) For the top, is there any reason I shouldn’t go to a lumber store and pick through the 2×6 studs to find enough with one good face? We want a fairly “rough” look. I would plan on using a table saw to cut off the rounded corners.
2) I want to make the legs square, but slightly tappered. Whats the best way of cutting the tappers?
3) Is using a mortise & tendon to join the skirts the legs the best way to go?
4) What’s the best way of attaching the top to the skirt & legs?
5) My wife would like a drawer on each side “built in” to the skirt. What’s the best way to support the drawer?
6) To “spice up” the top a little bit & avoid having end grain showing, I’m think of running the boards on the two ends perpendicular to the rest of the top & mitering them at the corners with outside boards. This will effectively create a “frame” around the interior of the top. What’s the best way to glue this up? I’m thinking a two stage process – first gluing up the “interior” and then glueing the “frame” around the outside.
I am fortunate to have a father in law with a complete shop & a who is a very compitent amature.
Thanks in advance.
Replies
1) There are more reasons than you can shake a stick at not to use 2x4 studs to make "fine" furniture. Given the piece and design you are describing, I would definitely stay away from the studs
2)Use a tappering jig on the table saw. Woodcraft has them on sale for $14.99. Or you could make one
3)There are other ways of doing this, but M&T's are the way to go.
4) You could use "buttons" that slip into dados cut in the skirt and are screwed to the bottom of the table, or any number of hardware options such as the "figure eight"
5)a good book from Taunton publishers will get you going on drawers. It's just a system of runners and guides.
6) Sounds good, but you have to watch for things like your miters opening up over time. Also be careful how you glue the thing up. You will essentially be creating one huge floating panel. Don't glue the panel to the frame. I might consider a breadboard end.
I hope you have a good relationship with you're father-in-law. Sounds like your going to be seeing a lot of him! Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.
This is alot of information needing to be gleaned from a forum, but here are some short answers.
1. There are a couple of problems with using 2x lumber. First, it's not nearly dry enough from the lumber yard to use as furniture. The lumber has considerable mositure in it and is only kiln dried to a certain point, not nearly enough to be near the equilibrium mositure content (EMC) of the climate. To use it in furniture, you really need to let it air dry for a year or more, depending on how humid your climate is. Most of the drying will occur in spring months. The high moisture content leads to distortion as it dries and the boards will need to be stacked with strips of wood between each board (called stickers) placed every 10" or so. If you do not bring the boards to EMC before construction, they will be very unstable and it will cause you huge problems, not to mention the fact that for PVA glues (yellow glue) to work really effectively, the mositure content needs to be somewhere lower than 12%. Obviously, if you did this, the wood will not be ready by Xmas. The second problem with 2x lumber is that it is made from immature trees and is full of defects. If you do use 2x lumber, make sure that the center or "pith" of the tree is not in the board as this will distort alot. It's easy to tell the center of the tree by the growth rings.
2. I usually cut tapers on the tablesaw with the jig mentioned in the ealier post, but I'm not sure how safe this is if you don't have a good deal of tablesaw experience. You can use a bandsaw or hand ripping saw and then clean the faces up on a jointer or with a handplane.
3. Using M&T is definitely the best way to go, but not the only route on something that doesn't need to last 100 years. You could use biscuits or metal brackets that join both aprons to the leg. These work surpisingly well and some of them also have an area for attaching the top, which is one of your questions.
4. On tables, I often put boards across the table going the short way. I dovetail these boards into the aprons. I put elongated holes in the boards to attach the top. Elongated holes allow the top to expand and contract. I don't know how wide your top will be, but an 1" long elongated hole should be sufficient. Screw through the center of the hole into the top. The center of the boards will not need their holes elongated as both sides of the top can still expand/contract. Using boards to atatch the top helps to keep the top flat and still allows movement and you will need all the help you can get keeping the top flat by using 2x lumber.
5. I'm going to skip question 5 as I think the answers may be confusing without seeing pictures, maybe you could do a little research at the library for this question.
6. Won't work. Don't do it. Puting a frame around the top will not allow the top to expand/contract and at best the miters will open up with huge gaps and at worst the top will crack and distort.
Good luck
Hi Caleb,
1.) as other have noted don't go this route. Would suggest finding a hardwood at the locale store and head that route. You should be able to pick through the wood to find some with figure. You can also achieve a bit of the 'rough' look when it comes down to finishing the piece. Some folks aren't big fans of distressing pieces, but there's no reason you can rough the top up with a scrub plane to take out some gouges, smack it around with a chain or pick the top a bit with an awl to give it that old world feel.
2.) I like the Bandsaw if you don't feel comfortable on the table saw. You need a gig on the table saw for sure. You can also do them on the jointer to achieve the taper. Don't taper the entire leg! leave a space at the top (depending upon how big your aprons will be) where you can cut the joinery on a straight, square piece of stock. if you taper the entire thing you won't be doing so hot come mortise and tenon time.
3.) Mortise and tenon is ideal. Remember that if your tenon is really big you shouldn't cut one massive tenon, break it into two smaller tenons to reduce stress of wood movement.
4.) I'm a big fan of glue blocks with a screw via an elongated hole to allow for wood movement. I also like cutting a small mortise for my glue blocks so they have some of the apron to bite into but that's just me. Remember grain direction at this point. the blocks should be in the same grain direction as the aprons. The screw holes (elongated) should allow the top to expand in the grain direction, so when the top expands the screw should move in that direction. General rule here...whatever direction the top moves should be the same direction the screw holes length are. Make sense?
5.) Check out some books on these. You could do a few different ways but the end design will pivot on the size and design of the table.
6.) Use breadboard ends. Don't glue that top inside of the frame or it will crack in the spring. You can't restrict wood movement with glue. It has to float inside of that frame, plus, miter joints will fight you in the seasonal swings too. I really like the breadboard option instead.
Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. They've been very helpful. I've got a couple of follow up questions:1) Does anyone have any specific books or magasines that would have examples or plans for supporting the drawers? 2) A couple of you have mentioned breadboard ends this is a new term to me. Doing a bit of googling, it seems to refer to a perpendicular board across the end of the table. There seems to be several techniques for attaching the "breadboard". Any suggestions for which one is best? Should it be glued to the rest of the table or attached in a way that allows it to "float"?Thanks
There are many sites that offer complete plans for furniture of all types. Two good sources are Wood Magazine and the New Yankee Workshop. Since your FIL has a complete workshop, he is probably a good source of information.
As an aside, I strongly urge you to NOT use a $14.99 taper jig. They have got to be one of the most dangerous jigs on the market.
If you can get a hold of a Matthew Burak catalog or check out their web site they have several types of Harvest table kits that gives dimensions and sizes. This will be useful for you on designing your table enabling you to discern how long to make the aprons, how many people it will seat depending on size built, how tall to make the legs, how long and wide to make the top, etc...
Good Luck.
Robert
Caleb,
Your project can be a lot of fun but your going to need a lot of help from your father-in-law...and determine what you can build based upon his skill and tools. The harvest tables I'm familar with usually have double drop leaves with rule joints and no breadboard ends. Drawers are doable but usually quite shallow so that the apron does not interfere with legs...the joinery around the drawers takes some skill and precision.
It might help if you bring along a friend for an initial discussion with your FIN...may I suggest Johy Walker or Jim Beam..they are great conversation facilitators....lol
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