First piece of "furniture"

[dan lemkin]

Hi,

This is the first piece of furniture I have ever built, so be gentle:o It is an entry hall table for keys and junk. It was an ad hoc design as you go project built to fit the area.

Materials: Cherry throughout with a Pomelle Sapelle (sp?) border
Top: Mitered P/S 5/4 to two pieces of laminated cherry 4/4. The ridge on the underside is used to align the box. The top is glued up with biscuit reinforcement.

The box is 3/4 cherry. I was going to use floating tenons but chickened out. Because of the small size, I figured biscuits would work and used them for all joints. The legs were tapered using a home made tablesaw jig. The tops were rabbeted in two planes so the weight is spread across the tabletop joint.

The drawer box is through dovetailed 3/4 maple. I cheated on the slide and used a ball-bearing 8" slide.

Errors:
1) minor dust on the finish
2) When I made the drawer front, I did trim it about 1/16 to compensate for some space between it and the table top... But when I was mounting it to the drawer, the shims used to keep it in place were larger and it sits about 1/16" too low.
4) drawer box supports are 1/16 out of square at the back. No functional problem, but annoying. (The glue up was really rushed and it started to harden before I had a chance to ensure good alignment - used tightbond III)

Any advice for future projects would be appreciated.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dan....Very nice first piece of furniture! Keep at it! I really like your choice of woods. They work well together.

[Tony Bilello]

Nice work.

[Brian Effinger]

Wow, that is quite a first piece. Very nice work. As for the errors, I didn't even noticed the drawer height, until you pointed it out.

And what happened to error 3? :p

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Good stuff Dan! I've always loved sapple. One thing that adds a little pizazz is to set the apron back a little from the legs. Adds a shadow line if you so desire. Whats next on your list?

[Mike Gager]

looks great!

as far as your errors, "dont ever tell them where you buried the bodies!"

in other words dont tell people your mistakes and they wont know about them!

[M. A. Espinoza]

Dan,

Nice work.

As far as the drawer being 1/16 out, I couldn't see them but it looks like you used Accuride type ball bearing full extension side mount slides. There should be plenty of adjustment built into these, pretty common in a kitchen installation to tweak these into proper adjustment.

And with an applied drawer front there is adjustment there too.

So I guess what I'm saying is that what you think is a mistake should be something you can tweak and it will cease to exist.

Beautiful piece and sorry if I'm missing something that keeps you from adjusting the 1/16" issue.

[Jim Kountz]

Very nice table!! Love the wood combos!! Keep em coming!!

[Joe Cunningham]

Great job, looks great, that wood is very nice looking. What kind of finishing schedule did you use?

A matching mirror might be a great next project, right above the table. Or perhaps a small cabinet in the same place?

[dan lemkin]

Not sure what happened to 3... Me no count good.

Finishing schedule?

Wiped down with tack cloth. Applied with 4x4 gauze. Dried for > 8 hours. Lightly sanded with 0000 steel wool. Re-tacked. Re-applied.

Looking back, I did leave a few pieces of steel wool in the finish. Arrrgh. Any recommendations to reduce particulate contamination.

Next on list is a built-in bay window bench / cabinet-drawer combo. I was going to create a liner using 3/4 maple plywood screwed to the walls and floor. A 5/4 walnut top with 1/4" quarter-rounded front. I was going to use the plywood to support the bench and divide cabinets on both lateral sides from a center section with double drawers. The front facade will be 3/4" face-frame walnut with biscuit joinery.

I was thinking of dressing up the cabinet doors a bit with a diamond mitered center with opposed purpleheart and the pomele sappele - and a walnut border.

thanks
d

[John Michaels]

Beautiful table you did a fine job. I love that sapelle.

Two suggestions

Titebond II creeps less than III.

Can you move the phone to a different room, it takes away from your table.

[dan lemkin]

Beautiful table you did a fine job. I love that sapelle.

Two suggestions

Titebond II creeps less than III.

Can you move the phone to a different room, it takes away from your table.

That is a good point, this was the first project I have used TBIII for... I do like TB2 better... I used the gorilla wood glue for the drawer box - b/c it dries clear.... seems ok.

I agree... but it is an old house with few phone jacks. Unfortunately it is a moot point, b/c although I put in a drawer to keep stuff off the top, it will be covered with @#)$( when my wife comes home from work and unloads (keys, purse, stethoscope, misc ids... (i am guilty as well)... I should put a piece of glass on top of it to protect it....

Can I just lay the glass on top, or do I need plastic feet to allow it to "breath"

[Mark Singer]

Excellent work ,miters look perfect!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Dan, very nice. Overall look of the table is just right. Keep up the good work!

[Mark Valsi]

dan,

NICE JOB !!!

[Joe Cunningham]

Finishing schedule?

Wiped down with tack cloth. Applied with 4x4 gauze. Dried for > 8 hours. Lightly sanded with 0000 steel wool. Re-tacked. Re-applied.

thanks
d

Hi Dan,
Thanks I wasn't sure if you used a complex finishing routine or not to get that sapele to look so great. Did you use polyurethane or varnish or lacquer? Maybe you mentioned it and I missed it.

[dan lemkin]

Thanks I wasn't sure if you used a complex finishing routine or not to get that sapele to look so great. Did you use polyurethane or varnish or lacquer? Maybe you mentioned it and I missed it.

I used minwax alkyd wiping poly. No special treatment. This finish was recommended in a review I think I saw on fine woodworking website. Nice. The satin does not have too much gloss. It dries very quickly (no shellac fast, but tacky within minutes, and dry to light touch in an hr, recoat in 3)

The sapele is amazing. Iridescent in how the grain lights up with shifting light. Anyone know how disastrous it is to the environment...

[Dave Verstraete]

Dan
Awesome first piece....Love how the different woods look together. Keep 'em coming.

[Brad Wood]

very nice looking piece there

[Bruce Page]

Dan,
Very nice “first piece of furniture” or even a 20th piece!

[Von Bickley]

Dan,

Great looking wood and a great looking table..... I personally like to have a small reveal between the apron and legs.

Great work. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us. :)

[Don Eddard]

You did a great job Dan, especially for a first piece of furniture.

[gary Zimmel]

Great job on the table Dan!

[Mark Placek]

Dan,

I like everything about the table, great job!

[John Thompson]

You did well with this first piece.

Sarge..

[dan lemkin]

It seems that the border on the top where the pomelle Sappele and cherry meet is starting to drift. Not apart, but a ridge is developing. It can not be seen readily, but if you drag your finger over it, you can feel it.

My prep was this
-Glue up was reinforced with biscuits and glued with TB3 after jointing edges. -Clamped for 8 hours.
-Scraped with cabinet scraper and sanded with belt sander
-It sat around for 3-4 days while I built the base.
-Finish sanded with orbital to 320 grit
-Finished with Minwax wiping poly x 4 coats

No ridge upon completion... Is this a temp, moisture migration? Should I sand it down and refinish the top again? Will this fix the problem?

Thanks
dan

[John Keeton]

My guess would be that the cherry is trapped in the mitered Sapelle border and is expanding because of increased humidity going into a season change. At some point, I would guess that the miter joint will show some stress - even though joined with biscuits. Not sure the prognosis is good here:(

I have always avoided mitered borders surrounding a solid panel (vs. plywood) for this reason.

I hope for the best here -

[Todd Bin]

Is the cherry on the top solid cherry or veneered? Most of the time when you see a table with a really nice wood with some kind of mitered border around it the "nice" wood on the inside of the border is a veneered panel. The veneered panel would be over ply or MDF so that no expansion happens. Just as a side note you will have to put a cheap backer veneer on the bottom side of the panel so the panel doesn't warp over time.

Really nice table. Like it a lot. If you live in an area where the humidity stays realatively constant between seasons then you may not have a problem.

Todd

[Jim Becker]

Nice work, Dan!