September/October 2012 Archives - Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To

PROJECT: Civil War Officer’s Chair

A.J. Hamler — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 18:00:02 +0000

One item of furniture that seemed to be everywhere during the Civil War was a particular style of folding chair that was very popular with officers. These chairs were common before the war — they were the mid-19th century equivalent of the folding chairs nearly everyone today has stashed in a closet — but once the army started moving, officers both North and South took these chairs with them. By war’s end, thousands more were manufactured to meet the demand. It’s no wonder we see them so frequently in the photographic record.

Usually made of oak, these chairs featured a carpet or tapestry seat and, while it might not be apparent, it was that fabric seat that held the chair in its upright position — remove the fabric and the chair collapses. The chairs folded flat for storage or transport; pivoting joints were anchored with mild-steel rivets, the most common method of the day. As a Civil War reenactor, I enjoy making authentic reproductions of the period and got lucky a few years ago when I found a rather battered mid-19th century chair on eBay. It was more than a little wobbly after 150 years, and a layer of red tapestry fabric had been added over the original carpet seat; both layers of fabric were quite weak. But everything else about it was intact, and it would act as the perfect guide to making an accurate reproduction.

Changing History … Just a Little

These chairs look identical in wartime photos, but there were some subtle differences — number and location of rungs, whether the legs curved out or curved in, back slats that ran either vertically or horizontally, etc. — but the most obvious difference is the shape of the armrests. Some were nearly straight with only a suggestion of curves, while others took on a very distinct S-shape possible only with steam-bending. The curves on the armrests of my original chair are about halfway between the two extremes, but still a bit on the sharp side. But, with a bit of tinkering, I eased the sharpness of those curves a bit, so no steambending is needed to create armrests with a graceful curve that you can cut from solid stock.

I also opted to make the stock just a hair thicker. The main components of my original chair are all 7/8″. However, people were generally a bit smaller and lighter 150 years ago, so I increased the stock thickness for the project chair to a full 1″ (which also makes those armrests just a bit stronger).

Finally, I refined the backrest. My original chair has only two very widely separated vertical slats in the back with nothing in the center, and whoever reupholstered the chair with red tapestry also covered that open space on the backrest with poor results: still not much support and not very comfortable. I decided to eliminate the tapestry on the backrest, which wasn’t original anyway, then move those two slats a bit closer together and add a center slat. The result is far more comfortable.

The original chair on which the project chair is based had a layer of tapestry applied over the original carpet seat.

For everything else, however, I stayed with the original historical model: The chair features hand-peened rivets at all pivot points for the folding action, 100% cotton tapestry for the seat, and a shellac finish matching the original.

Lay Out and Prepare the Components

Lay out the component patterns to best match grain direction. The author used an awl punched directly through this pattern to accurately mark the locations for rivet holes. Time taken to make patterns is time well-spent.

This project begins with a lot of preparatory work to get the components ready; in fact, nearly every part has to be cut and/or shaped before any assembly can begin.

The best way to get identical parts for the pieces that come in pairs is to cut them simultaneously. Holes for the screws that hold the pieces together during machining are located where rivet holes will go later.

Start by milling your stock for the legs, backrest and armrests. I found a nice piece of red oak perfect for this chair that I first cut into manageable lengths, followed by planing to a uniform 1″ thickness. From that, I cut smaller pieces, selecting for the best grain orientation, and I traced the pattern pieces onto them. The pivot locations are somewhat critical for the chair to fold properly, so you might find it easier to use an awl to mark their locations right through the patterns.

With all components cut out, refine the curves smoothly by sanding down to the marked line.

All of these components are in identical mirror-imaged pairs. You can create these most effectively — and easily — by doubling up the workpieces and cutting them simultaneously, using the pivot locations as anchor points. You’ll drill those out later to accommodate 1/4″ rivets, but for now drill smaller pilot holes at those locations and attach the workpieces together in pairs with screws. In this manner, create four sets of components: a pair each of outer legs, inner legs, backrest sides and armrests.

A benchtop disc sander easily handles outside curves, while an oscillating spindle sander takes care of inside curves.

Cut each set out on the band saw, cutting just shy of the line. Follow this up with a good sanding, smoothing all curves right up to the cut line. A disc sander handles all the convex curves, while a spindle sander takes care of the concave curves. Finish-sand everything to remove any machine sanding marks; a combination of a random orbit sander and a sanding block make short work of this task.

Following that, do the finish sanding by hand in combination with a random orbit sander.

The last thing to do before separating your paired workpieces is to drill the 1/4″ rivet holes. As with cutting, it’s best to drill both workpieces in each set simultaneously, which guarantees that each component matches exactly. Apply some clamps to each of your sets, then remove the screws. Rest the clamped-up workpiece sets on some scrap (which both raises the workpieces off your worktable to make room for the clamps, and prevents tearout on the back side), and use the screw holes as guides to drill your rivet holes.

To make the task easier, clamp the component pairs together before removing the screws. To improve accuracy, use the screw holes as guides when you drill the rivet holes into the complex shaped pieces.

Separate the workpieces and, using the patterns, pencil in the mortise locations on the inside face of each backrest piece. You can cut these 3/4″-deep mortises by hand, drilling out the waste first and then finishing up with a sharp chisel, but it’s hard to beat the accuracy and efficiency of a benchtop mortiser for this task. With the mortises complete, drill the rung and seat stretcher holes 3/4″ deep into the legs, per the patterns.

A benchtop mortiser makes short work of cutting mortises into the backrest components. It’s easy to cut on the wrong side of mirror-imaged components like these, so it’s important to mark everything clearly.

The components you’ve made so far play a direct role in the chair’s folding action, so it’s a good idea to check that action before going any further. Slip rivets into the holes and assemble the four pieces making up each side of the chair. Now verify that the folding action is smooth and that no parts rub against each other. The tolerances on this chair — as on the original — are pretty close, so cutting just slightly off-pattern can create a bind in the action at one key point.

Temporarily insert rivets to check the folding action to be sure nothing binds.

You can see how the bottom of the backrest side piece comes very close to one of the legs about midway through the folding action. If you’ve cut either component slightly too large at this key point, you won’t be able to fold the chair. If that’s the case, remove the rivets and sand these spots out a bit until they clear each other smoothly without rubbing. Remember that you made the components in pairs. If it rubs on one side it’s likely to rub on the other, too, so check both sides.

The author cut the end of one leg just a hair too wide, causing the lower tip of the backrest to rub at the penciled in arrows. A little more time on the spindle sander refined the leg to allow for clearance.

When you’re satisfied that the folding action works perfectly, give the leg, backrest and armrest components a soft roundover on each angled edge.

A roundover bit mounted in a router table is used to ease the edges of all the chair’s components. All four edges of each leg and armpiece receive the roundover; it helps the chair look, feel (when you sit) and work better.

Now, let’s move on to the backrest by tracing the curve patterns onto the upper and lower stretchers. The first thing you’ll want to do is create the tenons; it’s essential that you do this while the stock is still square. Make your measurements carefully, and cut the tenons by your preferred method. Mill the 3/4″-deep mortises for the back slats on the inside edges of the stretchers (top edge of the bottom stretcher; bottom edge of the top stretcher).

To give you more control and to allow the workpiece to run squarely over your table saw’s dado cutter, mill the tenons on the ends of the backrest stretchers before cutting them to the curved shape.

Moving back to your band saw, cut out the curves on the two stretchers. For the lower stretcher, simply cut the two face curves, and that workpiece is done. The upper stretcher will have a curve on top, but cut just the two face curves for now.

Cut the curves into the stretchers on the band saw. With all the curved parts on this chair, your band saw will get a workout. During the Civil War era, these curves would have been cut with a bow saw by hand.

Finally, cut out the three back slats from 1/4″ stock to the dimensions in the Material List.

Begin Assembly — The Backrest is Key

Don’t use glue when installing the slats between the backrest stretchers. These parts must remain “floating” so they’ll provide some flex (and comfort) when an occupant begins leaning back into the chair.

Back when we checked the working action of the components, you saw how the two leg sets and the backrest worked together to perform the folding action (the armrests pretty much just go along for the ride). To do this, the inner leg set must fit perfectly inside the other, while at the same time fit inside the completed backrest. The two leg sets are easily adjustable — the length of the dowel rungs and seat stretchers determines the width — but the mortise-and-tenon construction of the backrest isn’t quite so forgiving. For that reason, we’ll begin assembly with the backrest, and fit everything else to that.

Slip the three back slats into their respective mortises in the lower stretcher. Don’t use glue in the mortises; when the chair is complete, leaning against the backrest will cause those slats to flex slightly, so they need to be free to move a bit.

After a proper test fitting for the entire subassembly, the author glues the stretchers into the backrest side pieces, taking care to orient the pieces correctly. Care is needed; glue-up is nearly impossible to reverse.

Slip the top stretcher into place over the three slats. If you’ve cut everything correctly, the fit will be snug enough to hold everything together. Apply glue into the backrest side mortises and slip the stretcher/slat assembly in place. Put glue into the other backrest component and slide it into place. Clamp up the completed backrest assembly.

While the glue is drying, cut the rungs to length for the inner leg set per the dimensions on the Material List. It’s best to err slightly long on the rungs; it’s easy to shorten them to the exact length in the next step, but you can’t make too-short rungs longer. Remove the clamps from the backrest. Dry-assemble the inner leg set, and place it inside the attachment points in the bottom of the backrest. You need to allow for 1/8″ on each side of the leg set for washers, so if you’ve cut your rung and seat stretcher correctly, you should have exactly 1/4″ of play here.

With glue applied to all joints, clamp up the backrest subassembly. When the glue has cured, you’ll use the chair’s completed backrest as a guide when you begin assembling the rest of the project.

I like to use a piece of 1/4″ scrap as a feeler gauge to determine the fit — a cutoff from one of the back slats works well. If it slips perfectly into the gap you’re done. If it’s too tight, remove the rungs, shorten them slightly and try again; if it’s too loose, cut new rungs a bit longer. When the inner leg set fits perfectly, glue the rung and seat stretcher in place.

Now, the outer leg set is the exact same width as the backrest assembly, so we’ll use the inner leg set to size the outer one in a reverse of the procedure we just did. Dry-assemble the outer leg set and place the inner set inside it. As before, the clearance should be 1/4″ to allow 1/8″ for washers on each side. When you’re satisfied with the fit, glue and clamp the outer leg set till dry.

Final Assembly

Sizing the leg set to exactly fit between the backrest members is critical. To allow for 1/8″ on each side for washers, use a piece of 1/4″ scrap as a feeler gauge. Adjust the length of rungs to give the leg set a perfect fit.

Let’s see how everything works by slipping rivets into all the holes and assembling the chair. My original chair had a 1/8″ washer at each pivot point, but I doubt you’ll have any better luck than I did finding washers of that thickness. Instead, just double up a pair of washers — they’re usually 1/16″ thick — to achieve the right gap.

Use braces clamped to your work surface to keep the chair upright when taking seat measurements. Note the string tied around the stretchers — it’ll keep the chair from collapsing should it slip out of the braces.

You’ll remember that I noted earlier that it’s the seat fabric that holds the chair in its upright position. Since we haven’t made the seat yet, you’ll need to brace the chair at the feet to keep it upright while you measure for the seat fabric. The fabric on my original chair was so rotten and stretched that it didn’t hold the seat very high — the longer the seat fabric, the lower the chair will sit. You can alter this a bit to suit your own preference, but I found that with the two seat stretchers at 15″, measured from outside edge to outside edge, it makes the chair seat about 16-1/2″ high at the front and 15-1/2″ at the back, which suits me perfectly. If you want your chair higher, make this distance a bit shorter. Make your measurement and add 2″ at the front and back to allow for wrapping the fabric around the stretcher. (The fabric for my chair came to 19″ long.)

Because the fabric seat supports the chair, you can imagine the stresses on those seat stretcher dowels. Disassemble the chair and reinforce those stress points exactly as they did back then, by drilling through the leg tips and through the dowels and installing a 3/16″ rivet on each of the four seat corners.

Drill a 3/16″ hole through the ends of each seat stretcher, then install a rivet to create a rock-solid joint that simply won’t come loose. This is the exact same joinery system that was used in the Civil War-era chairs.

Reassemble the chair, beginning with the two leg sets. Slip a rivet through each side of the outer leg set, add a pair of washers, then continue the rivet through the inner leg set. Top this with a single washer and peen over the tip of the rivet till solid. Attach the backrest in the same manner — rivet slips through from the outside, a pair of washers between, slip the rivet the rest of the way, top with a single washer and peen over the tip. Finally, attach the two armrests, again with a pair of washers between moving parts.

A row of steel tacks secures the seat fabric in place. Note that the author used a piece of scrap to solidly support the seat stretcher while tacking. There are two layers of fabric on this chair to improve its strength.

Finish your chair any way you like. Originals were either stained or not depending on the whims of the maker — I opted for a dark walnut oil stain. For the highest protection, you can then top with a few coats of polyurethane, but for an authentic appearance, use amber shellac instead. The combination of amber shellac and walnut stain makes for a nice golden brown that’s very striking.

Best Seat in the House

To keep the chair authentic, I used 100% cotton tapestry fabric for the seat. Tapestry fabric isn’t strong enough by itself, plus it’s really stretchy, so I backed up the tapestry with a layer of cotton duck.

For a chair with a 15″ spread across the stretchers, cut a piece of tapestry and a piece of heavy cotton duck to 19″ long. The fabric width should match the width of the exposed portion of the stretchers (14-3/4″ at the front, 12-1/2″ at the back) plus 1/2″ on each side. This results in two 19″ pieces of fabric that are 15-3/4″ wide at one end and 13-1/2″ at the other. Pin the two pieces together with the “good” side of the tapestry facing inward, and put a row of stitching 1/2″ from the edges down both sides. Now, turn the seat right side out so the good side of the tapestry is showing, and run a double row of stitching across each end.

Attach the seat with 1/2″ to 5/8″ steel, brass or copper tacks. Keep in mind that the seat will begin to stretch a bit immediately upon use, so attach it a little “tight.” That is, fasten it in place so the stretcher distance is a bit less than you measured. For the 15″ stretcher distance I wanted here, I actually made it more like 14-1/2″ — the seat quickly stretched with applied weight to the desired size.

Speaking of size, keep one last thing in mind. This project reflects the exact size of an original 150-year-old chair, which offered about 17″ seating room between armrests (a hair less than the typical airline seat). If you’d like a bit more room, you’ll need to extend the length of pieces 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 by an equal amount. All of the other parts remain the same.

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings

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PROJECT: Walnut Game Table

Rob Johnstone — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 16:55:50 +0000

Of late, portable game tables that you can find at a retail store are predominantly plastic and metal versions with folding legs. They are lightweight, which also means that if you bump them while you are playing a game, they jump and slide around. Drinks and other stuff tip and spill, you can’t put your elbows on the table safely; they are real lightweights in every sense of the word. They are also, well, let’s say it — ugly.

But it was not always that way. Recently, my good friend Mary picked up a vintage bridge table at an estate sale. It had folding legs and a solid top … all made of curly maple (it was not a lightweight at all, but it was portable). Which got us to thinking about what we at the Journal could do to update the game table concept: a portable, storable table of the right height and size, that’s easy to set up — but is not so hard on the eyes. So publisher Larry Stoiaken, art director Jeff Jacobson and yours truly put on our thinking caps and got busy.

The challenges before us included that, while the table had to be easy to store, it also had to be sturdy enough that regular game playing wouldn’t cause it to wiggle and wobble. The solution? A pull-apart X-stretcher and leg design. The top, which is thick to add mass (to help fight wobble and bounce), sits on top of the legset and is secured by tenons that go through the top and are exposed for decorative reasons. To fight “the ugly,” we made the table out of walnut and added maple accents. The top has gently curving edges that harmonize with the curved stretchers, inlay and the turned legs — it’s a nice look for a modern game table.

Preparation is the Key

Tenons on the legs come all the way through the tabletop.

While this table only has a few parts to make, there is a surprising amount of preparation that is needed to avoid annoying challenges later on. Start out by getting all your lumber into your shop and letting it adjust to your shop’s climate. The top of this table will not have any support to keep it from warping (like attached aprons, for example), so letting it stabilize is important. Also, this table has 1/4″ maple inlay strips set into the top and matching maple sections in the legs. Before I started, I selected a 1/4″ router bit I would use to plow the inlay grooves, and I cut a groove into a piece of scrap lumber. I used that groove as a gauge to be sure my leg laminations were the same dimension as the inlay. That’s important, because the tenons on the legs pierce the tabletop, standing proud just a bit. The maple inlay will meet the leg laminations, and they should be the same size.

The legs are joined to the stretchers by large mortise-and-tenon joints that provide a solid connection.

The next point to make is that the diameter of the tenons on the ends of the legs should match a drill bit that you have in your shop. So either find a bit in the 2″ diameter range in your collection, or get one before you start turning the legs — so you can match the tenon to an actual hole. Once again, I made a gauge of sorts by boring a hole with my bit into some scrap lumber, then I bisected the hole by cutting the scrap with a miter saw. That became my test piece as I was raising the tenons on the ends of the legs.

The ends of the legs present wide, flat feet that help to keep the table from wobbling when in use. Plainsawn walnut with a clear finish applied gives this modern-looking game table a classic feel.

With those steps behind me, it was time to start preparing the lumber. I wanted to glue up an oversized blank for the tabletop and let it sit for a while, so that’s where I started. Using 1-3/4″ walnut lumber, I started harvesting the parts by selecting the most attractive sections of the lumber and cutting them roughly to length and width from the larger boards. I face-jointed the pieces to make certain that they were perfectly flat and then ran the whole lot through the planer to ensure that they were of uniform thickness as well. From there it was back to the jointer to edge-joint perfectly square edges onto each piece before hauling the pieces over to the table saw and ripping the non-jointed edges exactly parallel to the jointed edges. One more trip back to the jointer to prepare the ripped edge for glue-up, and I was ready to compose the top.

What I mean by “composing” the top is that, by aligning the various pieces of prepared lumber next to each other in different combinations, the look that the figure of the wood grain will present changes dramatically. While there is no hard-and-fast, right or wrong, way to put the top together, by taking time to try out various arrangements of the boards, I was able to greatly improve the look of the top. This is one of the subtle but important ways that a home shop woodworker can improve the look of any project.

When I was satisfied, I marked the top with a triangle and glued it together. Then I set the top aside until later.

Making the Laminated Legs

Four substantial turned legs support the tabletop. Chop the mortises into the legs before turning them; they are easier to cut on a squared-up blank than on a round leg.

Each leg is built up of three laminations, two pieces of walnut and one of maple, as you can see in the Drawings. I made the maple pieces by resawing 3/8″-thick slices from a thicker board and surfaced them in my planer. (I also saved the extra to make the inlay strips later.) The walnut pieces started out at 1-3/4″ stock (the same as the top), but as the legs would end up at 2-7/8″ in diameter coming off the lathe, I did not need to use them at full thickness.

The author prepared the stock for the tabletop through face-planing the walnut.

After face-planing the walnut, my plan was to make leg turning blanks that were exactly 3-1/8″ square, so I ripped the walnut to 3-1/4″ wide and then resawed the pieces to 1-7/16″ thick instead of just turning the extra thickness to wood chips in my planer. (I kept the falling stock to use another time.)

By examining how the various boards look in relationship to one another, he formed an attractive top.

I then glued up the three-piece hardwood sandwich with the 1/4″ maple in the middle. When the glue had cured, I took the leg blanks to the jointer and created two dead-flat and perfectly 90° adjacent surfaces on each blank. Then I grabbed the blanks and took them to the table saw to square them up to 3-1/8″.

Plow a groove with the router bit you will use to recess the tabletop inlay. Use it to test the maple pieces’ thickness.

With the blanks straight and square, I cut them an inch or so overlong on a miter saw, with the ends true and square. Next, I set up my mortising machine to chop the 1/2″-wide mortises in the legs. I find it easier to do this accurately with the legs sticked-up before they’re turned round. You can find the location and dimension of the mortises in the Drawings. With the mortises completed, it was time to get going on the lathe. I located the center of the leg blank ends and used an awl to make a dimple to help mount the legs accurately between centers on the lathe.

The author resawed the 13⁄4″ walnut leg blanks down to size and saved the drop pieces for another time and another project.

The legs roughed out very easily and, because I made the blanks so exact, as soon as they were round, they were basically ready to be smoothed out. Although I confess that I am not a great hand with a skew, I used one to smooth out the barrel of the legs. Following that step, I stopped the lathe and marked out a few details on the leg.

Using a mortising machine, the author chopped out the mortises when the legs were glued up but still in rectilinear form.

I marked the tenon shoulder at 2-1/4″ down from the end. This leaves it overly long, but I would need to get rid of the marks from the drive center, so I chose to cut off the extra bit later. I also marked the exact length of leg, measuring from the shoulder of the tenon, and where the recessed accent segment would be.

After roughing out the leg blank and then smoothing it with a skew, raise the tenon at the end of the leg where you’ve chopped the mortise.

Then I spun up the lathe and formed the tenon, using the sizing gauge I mentioned earlier to get the right diameter. When that was done, I used a parting tool to establish the bottom of the leg, and then switched to a square-end scraper to form the decorative accent.

At the other end of the leg, the exact length of the leg is established, and then you form the recessed detail using a square-end scraper.

Sanding was the next task, and the leg was nearly done. I decided to apply a coat of shellac-based friction finish on each leg, so I stopped the lathe and put masking tape inside the mortise to keep it free of finish. The friction coat went on smoothly, and I was ready to take the leg off of the lathe. (Later, I trimmed the bottom of the leg on the miter saw, using the groove I had made to locate the cut.)

Creating the Stretchers

The author used a tenoning jig on the table saw to raise the tenons on the ends of the stretchers.

The stretcher stock is the only 3/4″ material used in this project. I cut my blanks to length and width and then reached for my table saw’s tenoning jig. I used some cutoff pieces from the stretcher to prepare the jig, adjusting the cut to fit the mortises in the legs. After setting the depth of the cut, I raised the tenons. Then I used the table saw to cut the short shoulders at the top and bottom of the tenons. The tenons fit the mortises nicely, but I still undercut the long shoulders of the tenons with a chisel so they better fit the rounded legs.

The author clamped the legs to the stretcher with V-blocks as cauls.

It was time to mark a gentle curve on the bottom of one of the stretchers and cut it using my band saw. Using the first stretcher as a guide, I transferred the curve to the second stretcher and cut it to match. Clamping the two pieces together, I used a random orbit sander to fair the curved edges, then sanded the faces of the stretchers smooth.

Then he placed clipped nails in the recess made by the turning center to mark the legs’ locations on the top.

To complete the stretchers, I stepped to the table saw to form the half-lap joint into the middle of the flat edge of one stretcher (see the Drawings), but used a Japanese handsaw to cut the half-lap on the curved edge of the other. I completed that cutout with a chisel. After final test fitting, I clamped and glued the legs to the stretchers, using shop-made V-block clamping cauls. While the glue cured, I turned my attention back to the tabletop.

Detailing the Top

Holes for the tenons were bored in the tabletop.

After taking the top out of its clamps, I scraped all the glue squeeze-out from both faces of the workpiece. Despite taking considerable care to align the pieces during glue-up, I needed to flatten both faces of the tabletop. You can do this a few different ways, but I find using a large hand plane (I used an 07) and planing across the grain to be the fastest and most effective technique. You could also use a belt sander as well (also sanding across rather than with the grain) and get good results. After both faces of the tabletop were flat and smooth, I followed with a random orbit sander up to 150-grit and then cut the tabletop blank to 37″ square. Now it was time to locate the holes for the tenons.

The author marked them first with a knife to indicate the level of the tabletop on the tenon.

I suppose it would be possible to mark out the exact locations to drill the tenon holes using geometry and careful marks, but I am a bit lazy by nature. So I clipped off finishing nails and tapped them into the hole left by the drive center. Putting the tabletop on my bench (top side down), I drew an X from corner to corner. Then I clamped the leg subassembly together and placed it, tenons down, on the top. With the tenons on the X, I simply tapped the bottom of each leg, driving the clipped nails down to mark the center of the tenon into the tabletop. Drilling the holes was easy using the Forstner bit that I had sourced earlier.

Then he marked them with a saw — with a 1/4″ spacer taped to one face — to establish the top of the leg and cut the legs to length.

Now it was time to test the fit of the top on the legs. It fit well over the tenons, but due to inconsistency in the way I turned each tenon, the ends did not stick up past the top exactly the same amount. I solved this challenge by using a knife to mark the level of the tabletop on each tenon, and then I attached a 1/4″-thick spacer taped to the face of my Japanese handsaw and used it to scribe a line around the exposed tenons.

Then he gently rounded them using a sander.

This gave me the marks I needed to trim the legs to their final length. That done, I rounded over the ends of the tenons with a random orbit sander. The curve of the dome-shaped ends stops at the knife line. I sanded the ends of the tenons up through the grits, and then applied shellac to seal them up.

Inlays and Shaping the Tabletop

The author figured the perfect arc between inlay marks, then transferred it to a piece of 1/2″ plywood for a template.

The end of this table’s construction was fast approaching, but some tricky details remained. Once again, I put the top onto the leg assembly. What I needed to do now was mark where the inlays needed to terminate on the tabletop. Using an 1/8″ bench chisel, I clearly inscribed two marks that plotted the width and the orientation of the maple leg section on both sides of the exposed tenon.

With the inlay’s arc machined onto the forward edge of the template, he used a router with a rub collar to plow a groove for the inlay pieces. Switching to a pattern-routing bit, he used the same template to cut the curved edges of the tabletop.

Next, I used an old trick to form a gentle but consistent arc. I ripped a piece of clear pine to 1/4″ thick, flexed it in a clamp and found the right shape on the tabletop. I transfered that shape onto a piece of 1/2″ plywood that was about 43″ long and 12″ wide and made the arc consistent across the length of the plywood. Cutting the shape on the band saw, I used a benchtop disc sander to fair it to the marked line. Chucking my 1/4″ straight bit into a router, I set up for the inlay cuts. Using a rub collar, I could set the router down on the plywood with the bit in the leg hole, and then peek to see if the bit was aligned to the marks in the tabletop. I clamped the plywood jig in place and then routed a groove 1/8″ deep. Alignment here is critical, because if the inlay and the maple segment of the legs don’t touch, it would look pretty wonky. I carefully plowed the remaining grooves.

Applying spray lacquer as the final finish over a shellac base coat added durability to the finish. A game table will get a bit of abuse in the natural order of things.

The reason that I made the plywood jig 43″ long was so that I could use it to shape the edges of the table by template routing. This way, the curve of the table edge matches the curve of the inlay perfectly. Once again, I drew an X corner to corner on the top to help align the jig. Centering the plywood jig on the tabletop, I clamped it in place with the forwardmost aspect of the jig flush to the edge of the top and scribed the shape making sure the measurement on each corner-line was the same. Grabbing a handheld jigsaw, I rough-cut the curve, taking care to stay outside the line. With that done, I mounted a 3/4″-diameter pattern-routing bit in my router and, with the plywood jig clamped back in place, I cut the edge of the top to shape. My pattern-routing bit was about 1/2″ too short to cut completely through the tabletop in one pass, so I took the jig off, and completed the operation with the bit’s bearing riding against the cut I just made.

Using the extra 1/4″ maple that I had surfaced earlier, I ripped strips to 3/16″ wide. Taking them to the tabletop, I flexed them to shape and then cut them to approximate length. Then I did a bit of final fitting on both the grooves and the strips with 100-grit sandpaper. When they fit properly, I put a small bead of glue into the groove and spread it around with a small paintbrush dipped in water. Pushing the inlay in place with my fingers, I followed up with a mallet and a small chunk of wood to drive the inlay home in the groove. No clamps were needed as the glue cured.

I reached for a hand plane to take off the excess inlay and then sanded the top through the grits to 220-grit on the upper surface and 150-grit on the underside. I applied three coats of shellac to all faces of the tabletop using a good quality brush, denibbing between coats, and then sprayed two coats of lacquer to complete the film coat. I also sprayed the legs with lacquer. When that cured, I applied paste wax to the inside of the leg holes and to the shoulders and around the tenons, to keep the finish from welding together in use.

With that, the project was completed, and that meant game time was just around the corner!

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

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PROJECT: Rolling Kitchen Island

Chris Marshall — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:52:50 +0000

You can never have too much counter space. This kitchen island workstation project plan features a thick maple butcher block top that should be ideal for serving, cooling baked goods or carrying out chopping tasks. Underneath, there’s a spacious drawer for kitchen utensils that’s mounted on full-extension drawer slides. The island is substantial without being too heavy to roll around on its casters, while adding almost 15 sq. ft. of counter and storage space, if you include the top and both fixed shelves. I used cherry lumber, accented with brushed stainless steel drawer pulls, which adds a touch of sophistication to what will surely become a well-used addition in our kitchen. Here’s how to build one for your home’s chefs.

Making the Top

The author built his butcher block top in two sections, which made the multiple laminations easier to assemble and flatten in a planer.

Let’s get this kitchen island project rolling, starting from the top. Notice in the Material List that the top’s overall width is 20 inches. Since this is a glued-up butcher block, where the stock is face-glued together so the edge grain is oriented vertically, you’re going to see all of those individual edge laminations every time you use the island. It’s important that they’re of equal thickness, or the top won’t be visually “balanced” across its width. I had a few planks of 8/4 hard maple on hand, so I knew my laminations could be up to about 1-3/4″ thick, but again, I wanted them to be of uniform proportion. After some simple division, I determined that if I planed my stock to just shy of 1-11/16″ thick, I could create that 20″ slab with 12 matching laminations.

After jointing and planing my stock to thickness, I ripped a dozen strips to 2-9/16″ wide and left them about an inch longer than needed. You could proceed to facegluing the whole works together, but that would introduce 11 slippery glue joints all at once — an awfully squirrelly animal to clamp flat. Here’s an easier approach: I glued up two subgroups of six laminations instead. They’re much simpler to manage and still narrow enough so I could run them through my planer to flatten the top and bottom faces.

The final glue-up involved a single “wet” glue joint down the center, and no unexpected hassles or unnecessary panic.

In this regard, here’s a word of caution: my planer has a helical cutterhead with inserts that cut at a skewed angle. If yours has conventional straight knives, I’d advise taking your top to a cabinet shop or high school woodshop and have it flattened and thicknessed on a wide drum sander. Or use a belt sander or hand plane instead. There’s a chance that a few of those laminations might have reversing or interlocked edge grain, which could tear out if power-planed.

Once my glued-up blanks were fully dry, I brought the two together easily with a single glue joint. That done, I turned to a card scraper to level the seam, then sanded the blank’s faces up to 150-grit.

Squaring up the ends of the top also posed a bit of a challenge: you’d need a big crosscut sled to do this safely on a table saw, and the top is pretty heavy to boot. So, I opted to use a clamped straightedge guide and my Festool TS 55 track saw. Two carefully made crosscuts per end — each partially cutting through the blank’s thickness — did the job I needed. More scraping and sanding erased the remaining saw blade marks.

Our design calls for 1/4″ chamfers all around the top, so I routed them in this order: corners first, then top and bottom ends, and finally the long edges. Once this is done, do your final sanding up to 180-grit and set the top aside.

Building the Lower Framework

Mortises for the stretchers and aprons all were milled on the router table with spiral bits.

The legs for my project started out like the top — as two face-glued laminations that form the 3″-thick blanks. Once those were jointed and planed square, I chamfered their three outside edges and then cut the legs to final length. Study the Drawings and you’ll see that both the aprons and shelf stretchers attach to the legs with mortise-and-tenon joints. I laid out and cut the 1″-deep, 1-1/4″-long stretcher mortises with a 1/2″ upcut spiral bit at the router table in a series of deepening passes. Mark your workpiece and either the table surface or the router fence to help you start and stop these “drop cuts” accurately. Then switch to a 1/4″-diameter bit to mill the 3/4″-deep apron mortises — these pass straight through the tops of the legs; you can make them with one setup of the router fence, but you’ll need to change the orientation of the legs on the table so the mortises either start as a drop cut from the stopped end or as a run-in cut through the top end of the leg.

Squaring their ends is simple chisel work.

When the mortises were all machined, I chopped their ends square with a chisel. I think it’s easier than rounding all the ends of the tenons. Now go ahead and make up blanks for the side and back aprons and four stretchers. Then head to the table saw and mill tenons to fit the leg mortises, using the method and blade you prefer best. The stretchers have 1/8″ shoulders all around the tenons, but the aprons have a single 1/2″ shoulder at the bottom end and two 1/4″ side shoulders.

We’ll use conventional wood tabletop fasteners later for attaching the top to the aprons, so plow a 1/4″-wide, 1/4″-deep groove along the inside top edges of the aprons while you’re still at the table saw. Position these button grooves 1/2″ down from the aprons’ top edges.

The three aprons received shallow grooves to fit wooden tabletop fasteners.

Give the legs, stretchers and aprons a thorough sanding to 180-grit. When that dust clears, it’s time for some assembly. For convenience, I “stepped out” the subframe assembly this way: first, I joined the long back apron and two stretchers to the back legs with glue and clamps, then repeated that process with the two front legs and their corresponding stretchers. For both of these assemblies, I cross-pinned the apron tenons to the legs with angled 1″ brads and used longer 1-1/2″ brads for locking the stretcher tenons. The brads create a mechanical connection if the glue should ever fail, but they also allowed me to free up my long clamps as soon as the glue was set.

While those cure, prepare the 18 shelf slats. Here, I crosscut some wide cherry blanks so I could chamfer their ends more efficiently at the router table before ripping the slats to width, two per workpiece. I also drilled a single counterbored screw hole 1″ in from their ends at the drill press to keep the holes neat and uniform. Final-sand the slats now before attaching them.

The back legs, apron and two stretchers became one framework, followed by a second glue-up of front legs and stretchers.

Two of those slats will help give the subframe more stability and squareness when you bring the front and back leg assemblies together with the side aprons. I first glued and clamped the aprons into their mortises in the legs, then screwed two shelf slats flush against the ends of the upper stretchers where they meet the legs. Give them 5/8″ of overhang, and secure them with 1-1/2″ wood screws. Pin the apron tenons with more angled brads.

I’m a believer in finishing a project as you go along and when it makes the most sense. In this case, I’d advise finishing the island framework now before all of those other slats are in place. It’s much easier to finish while the part surfaces are mostly accessible. I actually started the finishing process by setting the framework and slats outside on a sunny day for an afternoon. The UV light “jumpstarted” that warm, cherry patina. I top-coated the framework and bottom faces of the slats with clear dewaxed shellac to add some grain depth, then followed that with water-based poly for durability. Keep the top faces of the slats bare for the moment.

Then the two frames were brought together with the side aprons and a pair of shelf slats.

When the finish cures, install the remaining shelf slats. You should be able to use 5/16″-thick spacers between each of the slats to spread them evenly across the lower shelves. Once they’re screwed down, install 3/8″ tapered wood plugs with glue to hide the screw heads. Trim and sand the plugs flush, then finish the top slat faces. I mounted the short side handles next, centering them on the side aprons to wrap up the island framework.

Assembling the Drawer

Shelf slats — spaced 5/16″ apart and secured with screws — form the lower shelves.

Jeff and I decided to keep the corner joinery of the drawer box simple but sturdy. It’s just rabbets on the ends of the drawer front and back that fit into corresponding dadoes in the drawer sides. Actually, the larger issue for me was sizing this drawer box accurately to fit between the drawer slides — their outer housings are a tad shy of 3/4″ thick.

A scrap of matching cherry stock provided the raw material for shop-made tapered wood plugs. They are secured with glue to cover the screw heads and then trimmed flush.

To size the drawer parts accurately, I started by fastening the slides to the legs to get a true calculation of the span between them. Position the slides so the bottom edge of the hardware is 4″ down from the tops of the legs and the front ends are 1-1/4″ in from the leg faces. I held the slides in position with scraps and clamps to help align them accurately.

Before the author cut the drawer parts to final size and created the corner joinery, he mounted the drawer slides to the legs to determine the actual span between the hardware.

You can cut the drawer sides to size straight off the Material List dimensions, but measure carefully between the drawer slides before cutting your drawer’s front and back pieces to final length. Subtract 1/2″ from the span between the slides (this accounts for the drawer side thickness that remains beside the corner joint dado cuts) and add 1/16″.

That distance impacts the length of the drawer front and back workpieces. For a perfect fit, the drawer box was built slightly wider than necessary.

That last tidbit of length will make the drawer box fit slightly tight between the slides. Go ahead and make your drawer front and back pieces, cut the rabbet-and-dado corner joinery and mill the drawer bottom grooves. Cut the drawer bottom to size. Sand all of the parts, and assemble it carefully to be sure the drawer is square.

Then the sides were “shaved” incrementally at the jointer until the box slid easily into position.

After the glue dries, set your jointer for a whisper-thin cut. Take an equal number of passes off the outside faces of both drawer sides until the box slips easily into place between the slides; doing this gives you precise control and prevents the drawer from binding the slides during operation — either because it’s slightly too wide or too narrow.

Use clamps to position and fine-tune the drawer face location on the box. Attach it with short countersunk screws driven from inside.

Screw the slides to the box to check the slide action, and leave it in place. Make your drawer face from a nice piece of cherry stock, apply finish and mount the drawer handle to it, countersinking the screw heads. Clamp your drawer face to the drawer box; position it evenly between the legs and just shy of their top ends to form even reveals all around. Attach the drawer box to the drawer face with screws.

Wrapping Things Up

Tabletop fasteners are a sturdy way to join tabletops to aprons. Make them from scrap.

Use a wide dado blade buried partially in a sacrificial fence to make the 1/4″ x 1/4″ tongues on the ends of some 3/4″ scrap for your tabletop fasteners (see the Drawings). Bore a single and centered countersunk screw hole in the “thick” portion of each one before cutting them to width and length.

A thin tongue on each fastener engages a slot in the apron, and a screw secures the connection.

Now carefully turn the island frame over and screw the swivel casters in place — the front pair lock; the back set doesn’t. Then invert the butcher block top on your worksurface and center the frame on it. Fasten the aprons to the top with eight fasteners. Place two on each side apron butted inside and against the legs; spread the other four out evenly along the back apron. Secure them all with screws.

Since our family will make this island a functional part of meal prep, I’ll be treating the top with butcher block oil often for a food-safe and replenishable finish.

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

Hard to Find Hardware

16″ Full-Extension Drawer Slide (1 pair) #45908

Stainless Steel Bar Pull 494mm (1) #58102

Stainless Steel Bar Pulls 270mm (2) #54463

Casters (2) #37882

Locking Casters (2) #30705

Butcher Block Oil (1) #15950

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PROJECT: Shop-Made Band Saw Fence

Reader Submitted — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 14:40:12 +0000

A good fence can make your band saw one of the most useful machines in your shop. This fence can be made in a weekend for around $20, and it will do a great job on your band saw. It easily adjusts for drift (the front stop pivots) and it has a handy extension for ripping longer stock. It is easily removed, and it can be used on either side of the blade (necessary when making beveled cuts).

You can adapt this fence to any band saw, but the dimensions given here are for my 14″ Delta. You may have to vary them to fit your machine.

I used hard maple for my fence, but any straight, stable hardwood will do. But before you start, the first thing you will need to do is create a flat surface on the front and rear of your saw’s table. If your band saw table has flat surfaces, you can skip this step. If not, make two 3/4″ battens and bolt them to the front and rear of your saw. Again, this may change the length of pieces 1, 2 and 11 in the Material List, because it might require your fence to be a little longer than the dimensions shown. Recess the bolt heads so the fence will ride over them. Once these are attached, you can get the measurements needed to make your fence.

As you can see from the Drawings, construction is simple and straightforward. The important thing is to keep everything straight and square. For that reason, when building the “channel” for the fence, I found it made the glue-up easier if I ran a shallow rabbet down both sides of the top cap to receive the sides (pieces 1 and 2). This greatly facilitated keeping things in alignment. The end blocks (pieces 3 and 4) will need a hole through them to accommodate the threaded rod (piece 11) . It is essential that these holes be exactly in the same place, front and rear. I cut these pieces to a snug fit and glued them in place after the “channel” was finished.

The front end block will need a hole for the pivot stud (piece 12, made from 1/4 x 20 threaded rod). The stud will need to be securely glued in place. I used epoxy and it worked well. I attached narrow inner guides (pieces 5) to the inside of the side pieces for the clamping foot (piece 6) to ride within. This probably wasn’t really necessary, but I thought it would keep the clamping foot contained in the channel when the foot was tightened. If you do install them, remember to leave room at the front of the fence for inserting the clamping foot (see the Drawings).

The clamping foot should be a close fit, but not so tight that it is hard to move easily in the channel. So that the foot would move smoothly back and forth on the threaded rod, I epoxied a threaded coupler (piece 14) to receive the threaded rod into the foot (see the Clamping Foot Detail). The pivoting front stop should have a piece of sandpaper glued to it (pieces 9 and 10) to ensure a secure lockdown after the fence is adjusted for drift.

I found the outfeed support (piece 7) to be a nice touch. It adds just a little extra support for longer stock that I may be resawing or ripping. When you size your fence, make sure you leave enough overhang to accommodate this attachment. It is secured to the fence with the support cleat (piece 8).

Once that piece is attached, go ahead and put a spray finish of some sort on the fence. A spray can of clear finish is only a few dollars at the hardware store and it makes short work of this task.

With the finish cured, you can assemble the components of the fence and secure the long threaded rod with the aviation nut and washer (pieces 15 and 16). Attach the star knobs (pieces 13), and you are ready to put it to use. You will need to square the fence up to your table and then tighten the pivoting stop. If your blade drifts as you are ripping, the pivoting fence stop can be adjusted to accommodate the drift.

I have found this fence to be very handy. I hope it works just as well for you.

Click Here to Download a PDF of the Related Drawings and Materials.

– Tom Flader is a Journal reader from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

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September/October 2012 Issue Preview

Matt Becker — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:44:09 +0000

Practicality is a good way to sum up the theme of our projects in our new September/October 2012 issue, which is available on newsstands September 4th. If you’re looking for a sensible, yet challenging piece of furniture to build for your home this fall, this issue has you covered.

Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll find in the issue.

Then, swing over to our online store to buy your own copy of the September/October 2012 issue!

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Cutting Rabbets with a Piloted Router Bit

Bill Hylton — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:48:25 +0000

Routing a rabbet is usually not difficult. Use a piloted rabbet bit in your router and guide it to cut perfect rabbets.

The first choice for the average rabbeting operation is the rabbet bit, which has a pilot. It minimizes setup: The only adjustments you can make are the depth of cut and the angle of attack. The measurement between the bit’s cutting edge and its pilot governs what I call the width of the rabbet. (A lot of bit manufacturers call this the depth of the rabbet.) You insert the bit, adjust the depth setting, and rout. It is simple.

To alter the width of the rabbet with such bits, you can do two things. One is that you can change your angle of attack, as shown in the drawing. This can be a useful approach, since it can change the dimension over which you have control, while preserving the simplicity of setup and operation that pilot bits provide.

The other thing you can do is to change the pilot bearing. Every bit manufacturer sells separate bearings, and in the case of rabbet bits, they package sets that will give you many different cut widths from one bit.

Interchangeable bearings make the rabbet bit versatile. A number of manufacturers offer bearing sets to complement their rabbet bits. Depending on the bearing used, a standard 1/2″ rabbet bit will also give you 1/8″, 3/16″, 1/4″, 5/16″, 3/8″, and 7/16″ cuts. That’s seven different cut widths from one bit. You can find packages with fewer bearings, and with more bearings.

(There is a third thing you can do, and that is to circumvent the pilot somehow — using an edge guide or a fence. You can only narrow the cut using this approach, but it’s valid: it works. If you take this approach, though, you probably should question why you are using a rabbet bit and not a straight bit.)

The piloted bit can be used in both handheld and table-mounted routers, of course. Because the bit is piloted, you don’t have to use the router table fence. (You should use a starting pin if you don’t use the fence.) If you do use the fence, set it so it lines up with the pilot. Hold a straightedge so it bridges the bit gap in your fence, and adjust the fence until the pilot just touches the straightedge (without lifting either end off the fence).

While the rabbet bit has some limitations, it is easy to set up, cutting predictable widths without time-consuming test cuts. And rabbeting curved work is something only a piloted rabbet bit can do.

Thwarting Splinters

The best way to avoid splintered edges when you rout rabbets is to make the first pass what I call a scoring cut. There are two ways to make it.

Splintered Cut

With a handheld router, make the first pass a climb cut. It’s usually a wavering cut, because nothing is guiding it. Rather than hitting the wood fibers head-on and driving them out from the board’s edge, the cutter is sweeping in on them, creating a crisp edge to the cut. On a second pass, feed the proper direction, cutting full depth.

There’s good reason to be wary in making that climb cut. The router seemingly will try to run away from you. But the cut is shallow, so the cutter can’t get much traction. And, of course, you have a firm grip on the router, too.

The approach on the router table is different. I don’t like climb cuts on the router table, ever. So set the fence to allow the barest of cuts, only 1/32 inch, perhaps 1/16 inch. Feed in the correct right-to-left direction. The cutter glances across the wood fibers and doesn’t get enough purchase to dig out an ugly splinter.

One shallow pass, followed by the final depth cut.

Reset the fence then, and cut the rabbet to whatever depth you desire.

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