Bog oak coffee table ( Finished)

[Malc2098]

Blind mitred dovetails wouldn't look like dovetails. Traditional lapped dovetails is the way to go!

 

[TrimTheKing]

Staff bead yes, traditional dovetails please, I agree with Andy that it would be too busy and at odds with the design to show them on the front.

 

[Jonathan]

Traditional draw fronts would be my choice

As to beading.... I think cock bead is to fussy for the design and the wood.....I would use stoped chamfers!

Sent from my SM-J530F using Tapatalk

 

[Mike G]

It's a decision........there will be an edge bead, and there will be half-blind dovetails for the drawers. There is enough going on with the drawer fronts without adding an extra detail (through dovetails), because in addition to the lovely timber, there with be a sort-of Greene & Greene-ish wooden drawer-pull.

 

[AndyP]

Staff Bead? Yes. I do like anything that softens the square look of a piece.

agreed. have you done a test yet?

Not yet. I've rather enjoyed the peace and quiet of just using hand tools, and the thought of a screaming router doesn't appeal at the minute. I'll perhaps have a look at that tomorrow, if I get a few minutes out in the workshop.

Don't you have a #405 Mulitplane?

I know it takes longer to set up then do the job but the satisfaction factor wins out, and it keeps the peace.

 

[Mike G]

I've a Stanley #50 combination plane, with all the beading cutters. It does produce the odd cock-up, though, particularly in more awkward grain, and I can't afford that here.

 

[Jimmy Mack]

Looking good, the blind tails are a good choice, look nicely cut too [emoji106]

And... Doesn't that Bog Oak looks gorgeous [emoji7]

Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

 

[Mike G]

I've not had a lot of time in the workshop recently. Anyway, I planed and thicknessed the table tops at a friend's workshop, where he has a huge P/T. Back home, I cut the tops to length using a cross-cut saw, but knowing how vulnerable this wood is to breakout, I pre-scored the underside with a knife:



I spend rather a lot of time cleaning up the cracks with a chisel, and then used a card scraper to clean up the marks left by the planer:



Not being brave enough to start with epoxy etc, I decided to detour onto the drawers, which are going to be of oak (possibly with a sycamore base....we'll see). I needed to re-saw some 25mm stuff to make the sides, so I set up my re-saw fence:



.....and ripped the stock up the middle:





I then fitted the drawer fronts tightly into the holes in the frame:



They're much blacker than that in real life. I think the flash is playing tricks with us.

After planing the drawer sides to the same height as the drawer fronts, I marked out the tails and cut them out:



I seem to have failed to take a photo of the completed tail boards. Ho hum.... Thence to the pin boards (drawer fronts). It's an absolute pain not being able to see any marks on this dark wood, so I used tape:



I've got an old plastic handled knife from a kids cutlery set, cut off square at the end, which I use for driving down into the saw kerf in half-blind dovetails:



Then it's just more careful chiseling:



And a reasonable first joint:



I then diverted again, and mocked up a drawer-pull idea:





My wife's reaction was "it's a bit clompy", and she's right. I'll play with a scaled down version and see if it looks a bit better in a more refined size. If anyone has any wooden handle suggestions, please feel free to drop a photo or link in here.

 

[AndyP]

Handles,
How laminating a nice curve in that light oak or sycamore? Use some of the bog oak to make plugs to cover the screw holes?

 

[Malc2098]

Handles,
How laminating a nice curve in that light oak or sycamore? Use some of the bog oak to make plugs to cover the screw holes?

Nice and elegant. I think that could be a basis for a design fro Mike.

 

[Mike G]

I've been planning something along those lines for the next experiment. It wouldn't need to be bent, though, just cut from the solid. I reckon the brown bog oak for the main bit, with black plugs. Along the same lines, I'm also thinking about a thick leather strap in roughly the same shape, but held down by a bog oak detail at each end.

I'm sure I posted something along these lines half an hour ago. It's vanished.

 

[MY63]

I know you have some leather but if I can help please let me know

 

[Mike G]

I will Michael, thank you.

 

[Mike G]

I haven't even looked at this for a couple of weeks, so it was great to get a few hours in the workshop yesterday evening and today. I started by rifling through my stash of spalted sycamore, looking for something to use for drawer bottoms. This looked like it would work:



Unfortunately it was very much "in wind":



To save wastage I cut it to length, and halved the width:





Flattening from there only cost a couple of millimetres of thickness. I then proceeded to the bandsaw for re-sawing:





Looks good, hey?

Well, it's all gone on a bonfire. It was riddled with woodworm, and I came across at least 2 live larvae. I chucked probably a quarter of my spalted sycamore on the same fire. So, there's a couple of hours wasted, and I started all over again.

This time, I grabbed some ash:



After re-sawing and planing it was down to about 10mm for the glue up:



I did both drawer bottoms of course, and they were in clamps overnight. This morning, I cleaned them up:



I ran the grooves around the front and two sides of the drawer carcasses which enabled me to accurately measure the size of the drawer bases. I cut the bases to size, and ran a rebate around 3 sides to get them down to the thickness necessary to fit the groove. We're dealing with fairly critical dimensions here as the drawer sides are thinnish.....8 or 9mm, so the grooves aren't deep:



Dry assembly:



The back edge of the drawers bottoms will be screwed to the under-edge of the rearmost member of the drawer carcass, so I did the grooves for those:



I forgot to show the through dovetails for the drawer backs, but they were quick and easy. Here is one of the drawers glued up:



Note the pinch-sticks for checking the diagonals. No need for clamps, as all the jointing is really tight. I glued the front edge of the drawer bottom into the drawer front groove, and then the sides about a third of the way back up the drawer. Any movement there will be minimal. Behind that, it's floating free.

This morning I had also glued up the table top:



Note the plastic scraps to keep the steel of the clamp away from the glue and the oak. Those three can be a nasty combination if they come into contact:



I also prepared a scrap for a test of the resin/ brass mix:



I used a hot melt glue gun to seal up the underside and ends of the cracks, but I wasn't as assiduous as I should have been. Frankly, I had no idea this stuff would have the viscosity of milk. It was surprised by the colour of the brass filings when mixed into the epoxy:



And yeah, it leaked:



I did the epoxy in the house because of the warmer temperature, but apparently it smells a bit so I won't be doing that again.

 

[Malc2098]

Nice. Can't help noticing the use of masking tape, I practice I, too, have developed.

 

[Mike G]

I can't see my markings on this dark wood. I've tried a white pencil, but that doesn't work. Tape seems the only way.

 

[Malc2098]

I can't see my markings on this dark wood. I've tried a white pencil, but that doesn't work. Tape seems the only way.

I'm tending to use it more and more.

 

[9fingers]

If you lot converted to machining your wood with stops, jigs etc then it would be incredibly rare to need to do any marking out. Items are made to fit each other.
Bob

 

[Mike G]

One hobby, two different worlds.... :lol:

 

[Mike G]

Following the lessons of the first handle trial......:



....... I produced something else for discussion:







We like the shape of the handle itself. The options with this mock up include the vertical cross-pieces, the raised plugs (should be larger and more of a contrast), and to colour reverse everything (brown handle, black plugs/ cross piece). Let's see what you guys prefer, but we've got a favourite at the moment.

I finished off work on the frame by adding a bead to the bottom edge of the apron, shooting the edges, and scraping a finish on the outer face. In pulling it apart from the dry fit as it has stood for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd mock-up the corner join to show how the tenons overlap inside the legs:





I then added a finish so that I could glue without worrying so much about cleaning up the squeeze out:





I'd also added a round-over to the long edges and top of the legs, and cleaned up the faces with a plane:



This is the finish the legs got:



The bog oak gets the same, but with a dark varnish rather than clear. Here are the legs:



This 1:1:1 mixture is brushed on then wiped off after 5 to 10 minutes. That lot will dry overnight and the gluing up of the frame can happen tomorrow. If the legs seem like too much of a contrast to the bog-oak, then I'll rub them back fairly hard and apply the darker finish. Finally, the end of this drawn out build is in sight.

 

[Malc2098]

I'm minded to omit the cross-piece but enlarge the plugs and even make them square with a flat pyramid type shape. (I know there might be a name for that, but I don't know it, sorry.)

 

[9fingers]

+1
I find I'm doing this more and more these days. On a recent project I cut all my pieces to size, sanded and sealed with a coat of finish (diluted PU varnish).
Then I cut (machined of course!) the joints. so not only were all other faces sealed, the act of cutting the joints (box/finger joints) exposed fresh timber only where i needed any glue to take.
The finished object was still sanded and the initial coat of finish acted as a sanding sealer then final finish coats added.
Thinking the whole job through before starting made a huge difference.

Bob

 

[Woodbloke]

Thinking the whole job through before starting made a huge difference.

Bob

It always does. Not thinking things through is when goofs happen. I know :eusa-whistle: - Rob

 

[9fingers]

Thinking the whole job through before starting made a huge difference.

Bob

It always does. Not thinking things through is when goofs happen. I know :eusa-whistle: - Rob

Lol. I left you an open goal there Rob!

I meant thinking the finishing steps through and then not being afraid to do some stages back to front or even sideways from conventional thinking.
Bob

 

[Mike G]

I'm minded to omit the cross-piece but enlarge the plugs and even make them square with a flat pyramid type shape. (I know there might be a name for that, but I don't know it, sorry.)

Were I to do that, but colour reverse (brown handle, black plugs), that would be very Greene & Greene.

 

[AndyP]

Handles and plugs for me. The cross piece although very neat is too much for me. Would look good elsewhere.

 

[Woodbloke]

I meant thinking the finishing steps through and then not being afraid to do some stages back to front or even sideways from conventional thinking.
Bob

Not wishing to divert Mike's excellent build thread, but I meant in general. I sometimes like to 'push the boat' out a lot further than I ought without thinking what the build process ought to be...that's when stuff goes wrong > bandsaw fodder - Rob

 

[Mike G]

I decided on a 2 stage glue up, firstly to de-stress the whole procedure, and secondly, to fit around meetings and work. So first thing this morning I quickly cut some grooves for buttons:



Then I glued up the two ends and the front drawer surround:





I also pushed some really awful filler crudely into all the cracks on the underside of the table top, to prevent the resin mix running through:



Damn stuff wouldn't come out of the nozzle at all, so I cut the bottom open and took it from there,

That was phase one. Then this evening I did phase two, which were the two long sides (front and back), having de-clamped the ends:



I also cleaned up the filler, leaving the table top ready for resin. I can't wait for that pleasure...

 

[Mike G]

I'm saving progress updates for one last post which will include the finished piece of furniture in situ, but I thought I'd drop this little hint here as a foretaste. Everything is now finished apart from the finish on the top, which I started tonight:



How many days to christmas? Well, however many there are is how many coats of oil/ varnish/ white spirit mix it will have.

 

[9fingers]

there was I thinking it was a "coffee" table not a "tease" table! :lol:

Bob

 

[Mike G]

Right, where were we? Ah yes.....

Having assembled the frame, I made a quick softwood frame for the drawer runners:





Time to take a few deep breaths and cut the table top to size. I never used to get nervous going out to bat in a crisis in front of 20,000 people and a TV audience, but I sure as hell get nervous with stuff like this. I thought about how I was going to do this days in advance. First job was to make a really accurate template:









After placing the template in position on the table top, I used the appropriate sized forstner bit to locate the hole for the corner of the leg cut-outs. Remember, the legs have an aggressive round over:



I secured a guide in place (I can tell you this took ages, checking, re-checking, taking it apart and starting again....):







After completing the little straight cuts with a tenon saw (no photo), I did a trial fit. It dropped in first time......which isn't necessarily a good thing. However, three of the cut outs were absolutely perfect, and one was a gnat's slack. Much better than I hoped!! Phew:





This is the not-quite-perfect one:



As if that wasn't enough to give me palpitations, next came the step which I'd been dreading from the moment I selected the timber: filling the top. First, I built little dam walls around all of the cracks with hot-melt glue:





I also taped up the ends of cracks where they showed on the end grain, or glued on some temporary dams of off-cuts of hardboard. Remember the cracks in the underside had already been filled with a cheap filler.

Then I mixed some of this:



...with some of this:



.........and trickled it into the cracks:







There's actually a little more to it than that. I did the bigger cracks in two pours, using just clear resin for the first bit, to within about 6 or 8 mm of the surface, then came back with the brass-filled resin the following day. Whilst that lot dried, I did secondary jobs such as making oak buttons:



.......and the little strap thingies for the drawer handles:





I hate wasting this precious timber, and I couldn't find any dark brown amongst my off cuts, so I had to generate some from the middle of a board.......hence the saw handles.



Marking out is such a pain on this dark wood, so once again.....masking tape.





Back to the table top. I sanded off the bulk of the resin:



Unfortunately, there were 3 or 4 low spots, including a couple on end-grain. Time for another pour:



Whilst that was drying I got on with finishing the rest of the table. My wife tells me that my workshop would have been uninhabitable by anyone with a sense of smell because of the resin, so there is the occasional bonus from not having one. Oil/ varnish/ white spirit mix on everything, then wipe it off within 7 minutes:



This Stanley no. 80 cabinet scraper was an absolute godsend:







I screwed some little blocks onto the ends of the table legs so that I could finish easily all the way done to the bottom:





Back to the top:







The brass is showing up matt and greenish in these photos. I've no idea why, because in real life it is satin and metallic.

Now, take a close look at this next photo. In sanding down the filler I finished off with 180 grit paper. This next picture shows the difference between sanding and finishing with a blade. The lower half (closer to the viewer) is sanded. The upper part (further away) is scraped. The sanded area looks dull and matt. The scraped wood looks glossy and bright:



I thinks that's rather persuasive, personally.

I hated doing this:



All my planes are razor sharp and well set, and normally end grain is a doddle. It wasn't with this stuff. In the end I had to just get it good enough and then stop, because I was in danger of going past my lines. It isn't the easiest wood to work with.

You've seen this before:



But not this:



I did a final assemble and minor adjustments, and brought it into the house. The body of the table and the drawers have had 4 coats of finish. I might just do one final coat on the drawer fronts and handles. The table top has only had one, so is just sitting in position for the sake of these photos:

















The strap thingies over the drawer handles are just hot-melt glued in place temporarily, awaiting a committee decision.

Finally, there is a gap here which is crying out for a matching end table, so watch this space:

 

[Malc2098]

Nice. very nice. I just love curves edges.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Love the design and the top/drawers/sides Mike, beautiful.

If I'm being honest I don't like the legs. I like the style but in comparison to the rest of it they look, on the pictures, like cheap pine, which for me cheapens the look of it compared to maybe some other light timber.

The craftsmanship is, as always though, wonderful to see. :eusa-clap:

 

[Mike G]

They're oak of course, so I'll blame that on the photography.

I can tell you that I have also worried about the relationship of the legs to the rest, and have made a pair of handles in matching oak in case the rest of the piece needed a bit more tying in visually with the legs. Contrasting timber always needs handling with a great deal of care. I have some monumental cock-ups in my CV with contrasts. However, my view is that they lighten this piece nicely. Imagine those legs as black......it would feel such a heavy and imposing piece.

I'm grateful that you've given your view honestly, because none of us learn anything from just "that's nice".

 

[TrimTheKing]

Thanks Mike

Yeah that's why I mentioned the pictures because obviously I haven't seen it close up.

Totally agree on the contrasts subject, very hard to get right and you see so many poor examples.

As I said, I really love the design of the piece and the legs, and you're right, it would be far too heavy and imposing if they were also dark.

I think it's a combination of the photo's and the finish on them. The pre-finished colour I really like, and you can see that on the drawer sides, which I presume are unfinished, so I think it's the 'yellowing off' of the finish (I appreciate again they may not look like that in the 'flesh' ) that's not agreeing with me.

Love the way you made the most of that bit of timber with the saw handles too! I wondered initially whether they were ones you had drawn out but never used and it was now scrap, but now I see it was ultimate fruagality! Love it!

 

[AndyP]

I must say that those legs are the most unlike oak looking timber I think I have ever seen.

Those handles look better on the finished piece than when we first saw them half made.

 

[Mike G]

The legs are from a slab of 3" English oak which I set aside maybe 10 or 15 years ago. It looks a little like it may have had a mild fungal attack, making it sort-of spalted, sort-of brown oak*. I can't remember what I used the rest of the board for, otherwise I'd have a clearer idea of whether it was like this when I bought it, or if it's something that has happened whilst stored since.

It's worth saying that there is quite a lot of oak in the room, hence the piece should be seen in the context of beams, posts, studs, and a soon-to-be-made door and TV cabinet, tying the table into the room rather than having it sit there like something parachuted in from a distant planet.


*I doubt whether it is actually brown oak, which as far as I remember was attacked by a bracket fungi whilst alive.

 

[fiveeyes]

lovely work there, Mike....would be nice to see that wood in person

 

[Mike G]

Well if you're anywhere near please feel free to drop in. It looks better in the flesh, mainly because I haven't worked out how to turn the flash off on the camera!

 

[Woodbloke]

Nice Job Mike, but why did you choose to use pine for the drawer runners etc? I would always, always use oak or something hard and nasty for runners especially if the drawer sides were oak (which they always usually are) - Rob