Round Side Table: Inlay a Square Peg

Comments

1. 
   fiftyohm | Mar 13, 2019 01:30pm | #1

   To the square plug video, why not just mark the hole centers with a punch or awl, and drill the hole with a drill and a brad point bit? Seems to me, while certainly more precise with the router, the difference is completely invisible, and the drill method requires no set up at all.

2. 
   Kelly_D | Mar 13, 2019 02:58pm | #2

   Please, please, please, use a tripod for the video camera. Hand held camera in this video rendered an excessively wobbly picture. This is especially important when zooming in for an extreme closeup.

3. 
   user-7318628 | Mar 13, 2019 07:01pm | #3

   I'll echo that the video is close to unwatchable.

4. 
   CFreeborn | Mar 13, 2019 10:29pm | #4

   Seems like a lot of work with the router jig. I'd use my self - centering dowel jig - tuck a couple of equal thickness shims under each end to get it to sit tangent to the radius and then hit it with a brad point bit. Then I'd hand hold a hollow chisel mortise bit to square them up. Different strokes for different folks I guess..

5. 
   ssrochon | Mar 14, 2019 10:24am | #5

   Whilke I'm a big fan of GR since reading his book, I have to agree with the above comments. In a hobbyist's shop, that jig takes too much time, but in a commercial shop? Not worth that level of involvement. Carefully drill a hole with a brad point bit, then punch the hole square with my preferred method, a cheap mortising bit. I do this for G&G ebony plugs all the time.

6. 
   Muscleguy | Apr 01, 2020 02:36pm | #6

   Agreed, the router is OTT. I might turn the table on my drill in drill press then just clamp the top to the side of my bench (it has an apron) and drill. Or use my eggbeater hand drill with a bit and depth stop/tape on it.

   It's a mortise and tenon after all and the chisel work at the end is as you would for a through mortise and tenon to pretty it up a bit. Last I did throughs on kitchen stools I wedged them with a darker wood then chiseled them flat before working on them with cabinet scrapers until they were polished. Then I carefully hand painted them with sanding sealer (shellac) before staining to stop the end grains getting dark. The end result has depth and shine still two decades later.

7. 
   user-4880951 | Apr 02, 2020 05:18pm | #7

   I enjoyed this video. There are lots of ways of doing this. Each to their own. I would cut the holly stick so that when inserted it was not end grain showing. Easier to level off and better and less porous grain. Also it avoids sanding. I started pruning some holly bushes years ago. I now have long lengths for inlay. Also, I always oil walnut before finishing it, so I would use oil then shellac and acrylic on the walnut and then add the holly plug. I use clear twin pack acrylic on table tops. It would leave the holly white.

1. 
   phantomtrapper | May 17, 2023 10:19pm | #9

   If you change direction of the plug grain you'll have to chisel down to get your facets. Chiselling up would catch end grain and possibly lift the top of the plug off.

8. 
   user-6046562 | Apr 21, 2021 03:32pm | #8

   To drill the hole I use a dowel gig