I had a couple of hours to work on my table the other night.
Most of the time was spent sanding my Mahogany with my homemade thickness sander. I love the figure in this mahogany but it is hell to work with. If you plane or even scrape it the surface becomes as furry as a cat because the grain is so wavy. It will still require many hours of sanding by Random Orbit Sander and Palm Sander before it is glassy smooth.
Then I biscuited the top together:
And glued it up. The smaller clamps on the end are to keep it flat:
Now time for the tenons. I love my little Incra marking square:
I set up my Radial Arm Saw with a stop block to cut the tenons:
The blade “floats” above the table to just the right depth:
Here is the finished tenon cut completely on the RAS. This method is very efficient to set up and I had all my tenons done in about 10 minutes.
Here is a video of the process:
Checking for fit here… I left it tight because I still have some trimming to do inside the mortises:
That’s all for now… Total project time: 6 hours
-- Happy woodworking! http://www.blakeweber.us
8 comments so far
grovemadman
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556 posts in 1572 days
#1 posted 1308 days ago
Blake, I thought I’d drop you a line! Nice work lately, I’ve been watching from the shadows. I see your shop is improving!!!
Not a lot of time lately, trying to keep my ship afloat. thanks again for the kind words of encouragement a while back! I’ll be back…LOL
peace,
Chuck
-- --Chuck
OutPutter
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1194 posts in 1790 days
#2 posted 1308 days ago
Looking good so far. If the top comes out like the box and the legs like the sewing table, you’re gonna have quite piece there. I also love my Incra marking thingy. I also use it for measuring to 1/64”. Cool.
-- Jim
Bill Akins
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381 posts in 1498 days
#3 posted 1308 days ago
Looking forward to the big finish!
-- Bill from Lithia Springs, GA I love the smell of sawdust in the morning.
Karson
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33903 posts in 2200 days
#4 posted 1308 days ago
Looking great Blake. A beautiful piece of mahogany.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
bfd
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482 posts in 1607 days
#5 posted 1308 days ago
Sweet progress man. And congratulations on 1 year at LJ. I like how during the middle of what some consider the most stressfull part of a project the glue up, you stop take a few action shots and then calmly proceed to clamping up the work.
-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com
trifern
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8112 posts in 1567 days
#6 posted 1308 days ago
Thanks for the update. I can’t wait to see the groomed cat.
-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.
mjlauro
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244 posts in 1561 days
#7 posted 1308 days ago
Two things Blake, first can you put a dado on the RAS? If so would that be a better setuo for the tenons? And, cauls from old scrap would work well for keeping the top flat during a glue up.. I usually put some plastic wrap under them so they don’t get glued…..anyway, nice work.
Dorje
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1761 posts in 1797 days
#8 posted 1307 days ago
Just caught up on all the blog entries…you continue to do an excellent job documenting your work!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
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