A Square Deal (38)

A series of posts describing the design and construction of a pair of tables in bubinga. Currently working on table two.

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‘Apron’ is a curious word as it comes from the French word naperon. Over time the term ‘a naperon’ became ‘an apron’,  an example of what is termed ‘juncture loss’ or ‘consonant migration’ by the linguists.

I’ve been making good progress on another kind of apron, namely the one for the coffee table:

Another view:

A bit of trimming and fiddlin’ later, I was able to start assembling the pieces to one another:

At this point there was still some junk in the mortises, left behind by the hollow chisel mortiser, bits of crud that were holding up the works:

A bit of clean-out allowed the parts to slide closer together, though the front miters were still long:

A little while later, the fit was improved:

 

Constant checking for square ensured no ill-informed conclusions were reached about the fit:

Another corner fitted:

And another – a hair shy of fully together, but it will do for now:

I think the miter is a hair long and when the parts are pressed together it causes the mitered flap to get pushed out a little bit. Just 0.01″ of interference can do all this in a wood which does not yield much.

Another view:

The top surfaces aren’t quite fully flush to one another, especially right at the tip of the miter, so a little skim with a plane will be needed soon. Seems like one of the pieces has moved very slightly out of square. I’ll check and assess when I’m feeling mentally fresh and alert — another day.

Another corner:

The principal miters, as viewed on the other side of the apron corners, will abut the post’s mitered portions – still a good 0.5~1.0 mm fat of the line at this point:

Another one:

With the apron frame joinery 99% of the way there, I thought I should introduce the meek and unassuming posts, the apron’s new neighbors. The post tenons needed a little chisel action to get smooth their path into the apron mortises:

I think I need to get a Barth assembly table at some point, though the jointer table seems to do in a pinch. With the posts on their way, it was getting to where the light was fading and the stomach was grumblin’, so I packed it in for the day.

Next day at the shop – probably tomorrow – should see the stretchers fitted to the posts and the apron assembly fitted to that. Then it will be on to pillow blocks. I figure about one more week of work should see me through cut out on this piece. How about a mosey over to Post 39?

All for now – thanks as always for your visit to the Carpentry Way.