[231] TRESTLE TABLE Part I (Base)

Posted: jueves, 15 de septiembre de 2011 by Superhero!! in
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Today is a holiday here in México. Tonight we celebrate our Independence day. I'll eat pozole and to drink lots of tequila: Viva Mexico Cabrones!!!. So, tomorrow I will not be able to write any post, or hold a saw, chances are I won't be able to get up from bed.
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The trestle table project will be in standby... The table top is already assembled, but in the middle of the finishing process. However, the base is already done... And only the base is enough to write a post.
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Trestle table (the base)
Each end of the trestle table has a foot, leg and brace. And these end assemblies are joined by a long stretcher. The leg and foot are joined by a wedged through-tenon. The brace and leg are joined by a bridle joint. And the two end assemblies attach to the stretcher with a big wedged through-tenon.
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13 months ago a company built a new lane in the street where I live. Unfortunately, a huge mahogany tree was in the way of this new lane. Bad news was that the company decided to remove such a beautiful tree instead of build the new lane around it. Good news are that the company threw away the log and I was able to reclaim lots of lumber... For free!!. My friend Rosalino brought a chain saw and helped me a lot.
After 13 months I decided to use that lumber... and to build a trestle table.

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My first major challenge was to cut that timber into manageable pieces. It has an odd shape and was too heavy for my ridiculous benchtop table saw. So I used a circular saw to start with a kerf as deep as the circular saw was able to cut. Because the odd shape of the timber I wasn't able to cut another kerf from the other side (faces not parallel). So, there was almost 1.5 inch left to be cut with hand saw. That was tough, and I finished that job riding like a cowboy.

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Once I had a manageable size, the next step was to flatten one side. I used my fore plane (jack plane) to plane off the high spots until the board was reasonably flat. Then I pass it through the thickness planer with the approximately flat side down. After that, flip the board upside down and pass it through the thickness planer again to smooth out the approximately flat side.
Once the faces are true and parallel, I worked on one edge to get it straigth and squared -but I forget that picture.
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With one edge straight and square I was able to pass it trough the table saw to cut the workpieces to width. I considered 1/16th wider because I like to give a final light pass through the thickness planer to smooth it out. After that, I cut the workpieces to final lenght with my miter saw.

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From left to right:
1. The brace and leg are joined by a bridle joint
2. The leg and foot are joined by a wedged through-tenon.
3.  End assemblies dry fitted.

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At this moment, the end assemblies looks like a simple "H". It needs some details to transform it into something more interesting to look at. I cut tapers on the feet and brace. Then I crosscut the ends of the feet at 25° using a miter saw. I also cut a relief on the bottom of each foot to create two pad feet on each foot -not pictured.
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Wedging a mortise and tenon joint is something I have never tried before. And I found that it is something really easy to do. Wedges: First I need to make some wedges, I selected Dzalam wood because it can take a beating without spliting. The wedges are 8° taper, thats really easy to do, just set the miter gauge in my table saw at 4° and turn the blank upside down after each cut.  Kerfs: I cut two kerfs in the tenon located 1/4" in from the edge cheeks and run 3/4 of the way down to the tenon's shoulder. Mortise: There is a slight trumpet shape in the mortise so the wedges will spread the tenon at the wider opening. Simply chisel away a little from the two ends of the mortise where the tenon exits. Cleaning. I let the glue dry overnight, then I cut the waste using a chisel to get the tenon flush matched

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After a roundover on every possible edge I do a final dryfit just to be sure every thing is ok before gluing the long stretcher.  The two end assemblies will be attached to the stretcher with a big wedged through-tenon. At this time a pair of small hands came to help  :)
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As you can see in the top first picture, I decided to dye the table base. Why?
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This mahogany wood came from an urban tree -as I mentioned above. Urban trees usually grow under a lot of stress, and that is reflected in the wood. I found some injuries, and a very wild grain. The wood shown too many details that may distract the attention from the main element: the table top. So I decided to standardize the color of the table base and make it more discreet
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The tabletop will feature two gorgeous boards from the same mahogany tree, a beautiful Ziricote end trim and breadboard ends, so stay tunned.
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Nos vemos luego!!
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[230] MAHOGANY

Posted: jueves, 8 de septiembre de 2011 by Superhero!! in
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During the last two weeks I have been working on a Trestle Table. A proffesional woodworker would say that this is a medium size project, but I'm just a hobbyist woodworker, for me it's a huge project and I'm taking my time to work with no hurry. The trestle table will be finished next week, so I hope to write a post about it soon. As usually, I'm using local Mahogany wood.
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I live in Quintana Roo -that is at southeastern's Mexico. In this area we have acces to a lot of tropical and exotic wood: Ziricote, Chakte-viga, Katalox, Dzalam, Machiche, Sapodilla, Chechen, Granadillo, Jabin, and the list can go on and on... However, the most used and most popular is Mahogany wood.
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I know that the name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties. To be honest, I always slept during my biology class. I don't have any idea about wich varieties of mahogany trees are growing in my area. I only know that people call it "Mahogany".
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Couple of days ago we had the visit of our Governor here at the instalations of the Ministry of Education - I have my office job there-. There was a meeting in which the Governor made the symbolic delivery of furniture to public schools. He told us that this is a special project to create local jobs, to exploit our natural resources and obviously to provide quality furniture to public schools. He noted that only local companies were contracted.
The message was that the money stays at home and that all benefits are for our community.
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He told us that 3,500 pieces of furniture were made with mahogany wood. Dimensions and spec were provided by the Ministery of Education to ensure durability and comfort to students. This was a total investment around 6 million pesos ($480,000 USD). He also noted that he was very pleased with this project, so that authorized another $480,000 USD to build another 3,500 pieces of furniture in the coming months.

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When the meeting ended, I was glad to have a chance to inspect the pieces of furniture. I like the polyurethane finish, It looks nice but I'm afraid that teenager students can be tempted to register their marks on those nice wooden surfaces. I hope that these nice student chairs will find a careful owner .
Student chairs
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In general, I think the design of these furniture is austere. There is no ornamentation, and I think that's fine. School furniture doesn't need to be more expensive because ornamentation, but should be strong and sturdy because they are likely to be abused.
There is no plywood on these furniture. All panels are solid mahogany wood.
Teacher desks
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Bookshelves
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 Kindergarten, Table & 4 chair
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I have heard some folks in the U.S. who have bought Mahogany at incredible high prices up to USD $9 / BF.
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The highest price I have found for mahogany here in Quintana Roo is USD $3 / BF for standard quality wood. However you can also find mahogany in lower quality for just USD $2 / BF, at this price you can also get the standard quality but in shorter lengths.
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I apologize for the poor quality of the images. My digital camera stayed home and had to take pictures with my cell phone camera.
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Nos vemos luego!!!