How about a build thread???

[Eric Hartunian]

Well, not too long ago, I read somebody's article that us hand tool guys just collect tools, and never really make anything.
So...here is my response. This thread will go through some pics of a sofa table I am building. This table is made 100% with hand tools, from rough stock to final finish. General dimensions are 40" long by 31" high by 12"deep. It is pretty straightforward, mortise/tenon aprons, dovetailed rails, the top will be held on with buttons. The piece is made with mahogony, with alder as a secondary wood in the drawers, and pine drawer bottoms. I am staining it dark to match the room it will eventually reside in, so contrasting ebony pins for the aprons would just blend in. Hence, I decided to pin the mortises from the inside.

Enjoy, and please feel free to comment, as I have a pretty thick skin!http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon12.gif
Pics to follow....

[Eric Hartunian]

Here are the legs, roughed down with my D8. This is 8/4 stock, left over from another project. You may notice that the legs are not square. I designed the legs to have a bit of taper, but also to flare out towards the bottom. They flare out to the front, and side. So, the piece is rectangular in cross section. This is much easier to see than explain, so here are the pics of the legs.

[Eric Hartunian]

So I decided for strength and tradition, I would attach the back and side aprons with M/T joints, pinned from the inside. Here I am chopping one of the mortises, and refining the fit on a tenon.

[Eric Hartunian]

The lower front rail is mortised into the legs. The upper rail is dovetailed into the top of the front legs. I joined the two rails with a short vertical piece that is cut in a sliding dovetail.

[jonathan snyder]

Looking good Eric,

Sometimes it seems we spend more time rehabbing old tools that we do working wood. Oh well, I'm having fun in the process.

Not to hijack your thread, but I'm interested in your saw bench. I'm just learning to make more use of hand saws, and desperately need a saw bench. Would you mind sharing some pictures and dimensions?

Thanks
Jonathan

[Eric Hartunian]

I decided to use alder for the drawer sides/backs. The stock I had was 4/4, which just seemed overkill for such shallow drawers, so I decided to resaw the pieces. Here you see me almost finished with one piece, which will become the left and right drawer sides. I resawed after cutting to length and ripping/ planing to final width. I resawed with a ryoba, and started at one corner, went about 1 saw depth down, then switched to the next corner, and repeated until I had cut in from all 4 corners. Then I just kept cutting until all the kerfs met in the middle. I wound up with a pretty clean resaw, that only needed a bit of smoothing with a plane. I have not made any other progress on drawers yet...

[Eric Hartunian]

So here is a pic of the table, frame all glued up. The top is sitting lose on the base. I chopped the mortises in the apron for the buttons that will hold it on, but decided not to attach it until after I stain and oil. The top gave me all kinds of problems with tearout. I tried my Primus smoother, my infil, a Japanese plane, and a scraper. All gave either tearout, or unacceptable results. So, I had to sand, with a random orbital sander.

JUST KIDDING! My hand was randomly moving back and forth with a small block with sandpaper wrapped around it. The endgrain was shot on my shooting board with a LN #7, and the edges were all eased with a block plane.

As soon as I get some time, I will work on the drawers, and that should wrap this project up. So far, I'd estimate I have about 35-40 hrs in this project.

Thanks for looking,
Eric

[Eric Hartunian]

Looking good Eric,

Sometimes it seems we spend more time rehabbing old tools that we do working wood. Oh well, I'm having fun in the process.

Not to hijack your thread, but I'm interested in your saw bench. I'm just learning to make more use of hand saws, and desperately need a saw bench. Would you mind sharing some pictures and dimensions?

Thanks
Jonathan

Jonathan,
The saw bench is a project I did a while back while I was stationed at Fort Sill, Ok with some old QSWO left over from a morris chair I built. The dimensions are horrible for a saw bench. Much too narrow. However, I didn't build it as a saw bench, it just sort of evolved into one, and I have been too lazy to make a proper one. I would recommend, build one about 12" wide, with a solid base for stability, possibly even splaying the legs for a wider stance. The height should be about at the bottom of your knee, maybe an inch or so shorter, since you will use it by resting your knee on the board you are cutting (that's how I do it, at least).

[jonathan snyder]

Thanks Eric,

Table is looking good. I like the legs.

Jonathan

[Eric Hartunian]

Well, I finally got around to the drawers. The fronts are mahogany, cut from the same board to match. The sides and backs are alder, and the bottoms are pine. Here is a pic of scrubbing the bottom to thickness. I beveled the edges on the bottom with a no 5, and then let them into grooves I plowed with an old screw arm plow plane. I haven't made the pulls yet, but I have some ebony that I'll shape soon. The dovetails aren't perfect, but I think they will work just fine.
Comments welcome,
Thanks,
Eric

[andy brown]

Hi,
Beautiful job!

Andy.

[harry strasil]

Jonathan, use the search feature at the top of the page, Saw Table and my name in the user box for a sawbench tutoral with pictures.

[Mark Singer]

Eric,
Nice work and excellent selection of joinery. Hand tool skills are still the mark of the true craftstman.....sometimes I get lazy. But when I get into it, there is nothing as satisfying ..Great work!

[Ken Werner]

Very nice design and execution Eric. The DTs look just fine from here.

Ken

[Eric Hartunian]

If I can just get some decent weather, I can finish it up. Next project is a slab table, but I want this one done first.
Eric

[Bill Houghton]

I like how your joinery decisions work into the design. Nice, straightforward, tasteful piece of work.

[Stan Suther]

Very nice work. This looks kind of like a table my spouse has been lobbying for. Got any plans for this? I'm not a purist- I usually use my power tools to prep stock. It depends on how fast I need to get something done. However, I do all my actual joinery with hand tools. There's great satisfaction in creating a nice tight joint. Here's my most recent effort.

[Phillip Pattee]

Eric,
How did you attach the top? I am interested in seeing this.:confused:
Thanks.

[Eric Hartunian]

I didn't use plans, and usually don't. I know this is a subject discussed quite a bt on woodworking forums, but for me, I enjoy coming up with general concepts, dimensions that work, and then going through the details as needed. For example, I don't need a formal drawing to show me how many tails to cut, or exactly how thick to make a piece. I think as a general rule, we tend to overdue it on designs, especially if working with hand tools. Other than major measurements (length and width of top, and heigth), I tend to gauge everything else, rather than take percise measurements. For instance, when flatening stock, I don't try to make each piece precisely 3/4" thick, but instead, work for smooth, and uniform. I don't see machine precision as having much place in my work. Wow, that is probably a lot more than was needed for a simple "do you have plans" question, sorry!

The top is not attached yet. I want to finish it, and then attach it, just so I don't have to reach anyplace awkward. When I do, it will be with buttons. I took some scrap, used a tennon saw to cut away an L shape on the endgrain, then ripped that piece to get a few buttons. I used a chisel to chop some shallow mortises that will recieve the buttons, with some room for movement.

Thanks for looking,
Eric

[Brett Baldwin]

Nice work Eric.

[harry strasil]

Eric, no plans, same here, makes brain work. Although in my present state of health (major back injury), I do use my lunchbox planer. Excellent post.

[Stan Suther]

Thanks. Just hoped you could save me some time. I have used very few plans because it seems I can never find one that suits me. The small chest I showed was drawn up on TurboCad to get the general dimensions down along with the joinery details. Then when I went to built it, I made numerous changes. If I find plans I like, it shortens the process. Still, drawing plans is fun. Sort of like virtual woodworking. It's just that until I retire, it takes more time than I'd like in order to create the plans. I've never been able to just start marking up a board and go at it.

[Bob Noles]

Jonathan, use the search feature at the top of the page, Saw Table and my name in the user box for a sawbench tutoral with pictures.

Harry,

Here is a link that links all the threads on the project. I want to thank you for that excellent tutorial.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=43044

[Eric Hartunian]

I just realized I never posted the finished table. Well, here it is. As you can tell by the santa decorations, this was finished around Christmas time. Thanks for all the comments,

Eric

[Joe Cunningham]

Great looking table, glad the thread got bumped to the top as I'm fairly new 'round these parts.

Eventually I'd like to get my hand tool skills to this level (project from start to finish), but for my little projects I do use tailed tools for dimensioning.

[Robert Rozaieski]

She's a beaut Clark!

[Dave Anderson NH]

It came out quite nice Eric. You obviously got some brownie points from the wife for that one.

[Garth Keel]

Eric; beautiful piece of work. Let me suggest you document all of your work so that not only those at Sawmill Creek can really see "how its done" but your friends and family can fully appreciate your fine craftsmanship. :)

[John Dykes]

I really appreciate this thread... and would like to see more of this sort...

Regards,
jbd in Denver

[Jim Becker]

Eric, this is a wonderful project with great craftsmanship!

[Dale Osowski]

That is a great looking table. I'm happy to see that others are as much into building without power as I am.

Dale

[Jeff Wittrock]

Beautiful table, and a big thanks for posting all the pictures.

[Hans Braul]

great table! I love the legs.
Hans