Post 18 in a series describing the design and construction of a pair of tables in bubinga. First post can be found here, with each subsequent entry linked at the bottom of the page.
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Onward and upward with the side table build. Last time out, I was working on the joints between the apron pieces. Those are now done.
When the four were fitted up, I had the apron frame sitting in front of me:
I thought I’d share close up pics of the four corners. Here’s 1:
2:
3:
And 4:
I try to get a good fit all around, not just on the exposed surfaces (though I do fuss them a little more of course). Here are the undersides of the four corners, this portion sits atop the post so nothing on the surface is visible:
2:
3:
And 4:
The apron frame could be put to one side and I could start working on the tenoned and double-mitered upper post ends. Here’s one at an early roughing-out stage:
I used a chop saw and bandsaw to define the tenon and miter shoulders, and then it was a bunch of chisel work after that.
Four posts now roughed out to the same point:
In the above view, two of the tenon surfaces on each post are to the line, while two are not. The miters are cut about 1/16″ (1mm) fat at this juncture.
After a bit more work, the post tenons were shaped, and I could fit the stretchers to the post – here’s one assembly:
Once the stretchers were fitted up, I could assemble them to the posts and put up the lower portion of the frame. Now it was time to see how the apron assembly fitted to the post tenons:
Further down:
As far as it will go down at this stage:
There’s plenty of material to trim out of these miters yet, as you can see:
I had originally planned to use 1/4″ (6.35mm) side panels with a raised field, however I have changed my mind and decided a sunken field in the panel would be nicer, so I made the dado wider to fit a 3/8″ (9.525mm) thick panel:
Unseen in the above view is that dado continuing along the underside of the apron.
The through tenons came out acceptably I thought:
Another corner:
The apron front face will be proud of the post face by about 1/16″ (1mm):
The mortises in the apron for the post tenons were given just a bit of extra room to ease fitting. An overly tight fit, with the amount of material removed from the joints, would invite potential problems. There will be a pillow block crossover assembly fitted over the tenon as well, and this will be fitted more tightly:
This tenon had perhaps more room than needed, but all good:
Another one:
Last but not least:
Next up will be the layer of pillow blocks – – or maybe I’ll work on the drawer and runners. I’ll see what I feel like tackling when I get to the shop tomorrow. It was nice to put an assembly together today to give a sense of a piece of furniture, instead of joint after joint.
Thanks for dropping by the Carpentry Way. On to post 19.