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Thread: Console table build

  1. #1
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    Console table build

    Some time ago LOML requested a console table made to fit against a curved brick wall in our family room.
    9D87818A-475D-4F55-B386-976E71817ADF.jpg

    Been working on it for some time now. I’ll post the build for anyone interested. We decided on a similar design to that of Derek Cohen’s sofa table, complete with drawers extending out the sides. In this case, though, it needed to be concave on the brick wall side, so a bit of re-engineering of Derek’s design was needed...but followed the same basic principals.

    The bulk of the table will be cherry. I picked up a few hundred board feet from a fellow SMC member down in Ohio that was getting out the hobby due to health reasons.

    Like Derek, instead of using solid cherry for the front and back “aprons”, I made then from pine...to be later skinned with cherry.

    I started with a load of radiata pine from the orange big box and proceeded to glue up what would become the front and back “aprons”.

    666DDF63-7C84-4BB9-9028-008781399108.jpg

    They needed to be a bit over 5” thick to accomodate the curves. After the glue dried, I chiseled off the dried glue with my trusty “glue chisel”, and then proceeded to plane them flat and square.

    8005A187-0C46-48A8-B9C2-22E13D00A988.jpg C8B06AA5-D95D-47AC-86E5-101012603798.jpg

    I made templates of the front and back (scribed from the brick wall) and traced them onto the two pine pieces.

    287C13FE-11ED-4EAE-9718-380AF8BBD424.jpg

    To be continued....

  2. #2
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    Before cutting out the pieces, I decided to make the groove for the drawer runner, and the rabbet for the kicker. I went with a rabbet because I planned to use the kicker as the means to attach the top as well. The groove was made with a Record 778, and the rabbet was made with a Record 044. In hind sight, I probably would have worked the groove from the other side...making the groove with the long extensions was a bit challenging. I ended up cleaning up that mess with a router plane.

    63B95630-CCDC-4C31-90ED-D1960592230C.jpg BE7C37A2-F2D5-44D8-A860-933D5E4D39CB.jpg

    Now it was time to cut out the curves. I don’t own a band saw, and a jig saw certainly isn’t going to work. So the next best solution was the bow saw. Well, I’m in reasonably good shape, but this took a few sessions. The saw worked well, just a lot to saw.

    3A165833-127B-4A26-A674-69EED2EF7347.jpg 4E7BCAE0-9F16-4EED-BE85-08559217AB7E.jpg 3B013236-AB6C-4F62-B0BA-DC01FE83087B.jpg

    Of course, not being very experienced in bow sawing, the surface was uneven, out of square, and pretty darn rough. Gonna be a bit of work to get these curves smooth.
    Last edited by Phil Mueller; 03-02-2018 at 11:30 PM.

  3. #3
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    One more post for tonight...
    The convex side could be done with planes and finished up with the spokeshave. The concave side, on the other hand, needed a lot of spokeshaving. A few hours and a lot of sharpenings later, they got to a pretty decent state.

    A754555D-B2F3-4A3A-9F29-518EEE71E582.jpg 3C427723-C4E5-45D1-8936-0C1A3BD670FD.jpg

    I then spent some time preparing the 1/4” cherry “veneer” for the faces. First, hand plane to flatten. Then (oh NO), resaw it on the contractor table saw, and run it through the thickness planer to get two pieces of 1/4”. After sawing out the curves, I decided to treat myself with a bit of electricity! Sorry, no pictures of the veneer. But really, who wants to look at a couple thin boards milled up

    The veneer was then glued up to each face. Took every clamp I own. Could have used more...and should have spent a little more tiime making sure the face was flat...or a bit concave. On a couple of spots, it just wasn’t going to clamp down tight to the edge. One of those times I hate to admit to saying “no problem, no one will ever see it”.

    CFE8879B-F3CF-4621-A816-26529E5B65A9.jpg

    Not a great photo of the result...but turned out reasonably well.

    CB8174D3-213D-47DD-AC39-B8B6D8A18CAA.jpg

    For those interested, I’ll get some more posted over the weekend.

  4. #4
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    Good thread Phil, clear and concise. Really enjoying it.
    Looking forward to seeing more.

  5. #5
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    Good write up Phil. One of the great things about being a woodworker is it enables you to build projects that fit a particular size or space. I do the same. I often wonder if someone in the future will see the object not in its intended space and think "why in the world would someone build this in such a fashion". I'll be following your build.
    Jim

  6. #6
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    Very challenging project! I'm impressed with your work so far and looking forward to the next steps. It will look great in cherry against that brick wall.

  7. #7
    Nice design and a fun challenge. I am excited to see more.

  8. #8
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    I'll be following along as well. Nice work so far! I can imagine smoothing out that inside radius took some sweat and patience.
    ---Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny---

  9. #9
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    Thanks all.
    Next step was to mark our the tenons for the aprons. I used the same template (which had the leg placement indicated) and marked out a 3/8 tenon on the apron that would leave about a 3/16” set back on the leg. I went for a 3/8” tenon (the biggest reason being that is the largest mortise chisel I own). It certainly could have merited a 1/2” or so tenon, and probably even a double tenon...but I figured a full 4” or so 3/8” would suffice.


    I first rough cut the length and tenon, then fine tuned them so both aprons were exactly the same length. Here is my set up for guiding my saw cut to final length.

    FDD6C589-20DB-49E1-8997-19FFE0FC3D23.jpg

    The pull saw works nicely to get a smooth square cut against the guide. I’m always amazed at what a nice thin slice these saws can produce. Trust me, it’s not user skill(!!), just keep one hand against the saw/guide and pulll with the other. The other side of the tenon was completed the same.

    2959DDDE-FE7D-4920-985A-EF64B5D34D94.jpg 6E60EADB-BDEC-4097-8C41-A3FF8D335946.jpg

    I now had two very even lenth aprons with tenons. I might add here, that my “designs” are always to some extent on the fly. I knew I wanted it roughly 48” wide including the legs, but if it’s off in the end by a 1/2 or 1/4” so be it. The important thing is to get the two aprons the exact same length...at least that gives me a better chance at getting a “squared up” table in the end! Maybe!

    8C55250A-1AB6-419B-B131-8B3ABA7B466C.jpg

    I shortened the tenons to 1” at some point...just don’t have a picture of me sawing a small section off the tenon...consider yourself spared of that mundane visual.

    Next, legs and mortises....

  10. #10
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    Thanks for sharing Phil. Curved stuff brings new thinking and planning into the fore and is appreciated.
    David

  11. #11
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    I had a few pieces of 8/4 cherry for the legs. They had quite a bit of checking and knots, but I originally thought I could get 4 legs out of them. Started rough cutting out some sections and they ended up splitting further and it all ended up in the “scrap box” for some future small project. I didn’t want to do a glue up from the 4/4 that I had, so I ended up buying 2x2 cherry stock from Woodcraft. Now, you have to know I really didn’t want to have to go this route, but I didn’t have the inclination to run an hour to the lumber yard and pick through their stock. Frankly, the it was the most expense in this project, but actually gave me some decent straight grained and blemish free wood for the legs at the time I needed it.

    I planed them up square with hand planes and set about to cut them to length. I clamped my MF miter box to the bench and set up a “stop” (otherwise known as a large piece of pine) to the 31 1/2” lenght I was going for. Just a few minutes and the four legs were ready for mortises.

    1201819C-A200-48BE-9FE5-1855B16EB921.jpg

    Not much special about mortise work. Laid out the mortises using the tenons as the guide for offset and scribed the lines.

    F9707EAA-62B0-4F46-9785-FE65425ED5D4.jpg

    A bit of chopping (love when I get to use my big mallet and pig sticker!) and the mortises were done. I have to say I’m always a bit paranoid when banging out a mortise that the sides might split out, so I tend to clamp them just for peace of mind.

    EE66356E-35BE-4A0E-ADCE-15993388F584.jpg CD2EB05B-42DF-40D0-A8B0-6C2DCDB1B24C.jpg

    A quick dry fit and all ends up tight and square...another miracle in the work shop!

    0AB904F5-1928-469D-9EBF-3115671F7F12.jpg

  12. #12
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    Right you are Jim. I did think that someday if this table finds itself against a flat wall, I could make a new top that’s straight against the back. Probably good in theory, but who knows if it will ever happen.

    The next pieces I made were the bottom curved stretchers. I used the actual aprons as a template, trying to get the stretcher pieces to match the apron curves. These will also serve to hold a shelf.

    Rough stock was marked out, and sawed to length.

    DF8CAAB2-DAF6-4008-B559-CCA947CAEB15.jpg 75F84C65-E033-451C-87A3-30971C869C58.jpg

    At this point, the Bosch jig saw came out and the pieces were rough cut. Then back to the planes and spokeshaves.

    As you can see on the far end, my jig saw skills are worse than my bow saw skills...that’s one wiggly cut

    052C6134-F544-460C-94EF-08D46AD6790E.jpg

    A few sessions later, they smoothed out well. When I got close to the line, I matched it up to the corresponding apron and fine tuned here and there.

    0C92788B-BDC6-4B92-B3CE-C1EB44FCB82F.jpg

    Next was to figure out how to mark out the M&Ts that would join these to the legs. I ended up clamping the legs/apron assembly and squared them up. Then clamped the curved stretchers onto the legs. I scribed up from the inside of the leg to get the length, and then used a few brass measurement bars to mark the tenon level with the face of the leg.

    D804301C-745E-4962-AD74-DFF3504858A4.jpg

    Tenons were then cut.

    45D7790D-9576-4BE2-989B-C34E1D916148.jpg
    Last edited by Phil Mueller; 03-05-2018 at 8:31 AM.

  13. #13
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    Really enjoying the ride on this one. Thanks for taking us along.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  14. #14
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    Next step was to chop the mortises for the front curved stretchers. With the legs attached to the aprons, I measured an equal distance down from the bottom of the apron on each leg to mark where I wanted to the top of the stretchers (accounting for a 3/4” thick shelf). I also wanted the shelf to have a set back from the front of the legs about 3/16”, and another set back of about 1/4” for the stretcher. After a little fiddling around with those measurements, the mortises were marked out and chopped. And then a dry fit.

    F95C42CF-D07C-44EC-A371-589C5575A85A.jpg B581BA09-C4E1-4573-8A29-2ADBECDDC7E5.jpg

    So far so good. There are three side “stretchers”. One aligned with the curved front strethers, and two to frame in the drawer. The bottom stretcher was made wide to accomodate support for the shelf. I also decided to put three “slats” down each side (sort of shaker or craftman style). So the bottom shelf stretcher and lower drawer frame stretcher were made wide enough to accomodate.

    The six pieces (3 each side) were all cut to exact length accounting for the tenons (or dovetail for the top one).

    M&Ts were marked out, cut, and chopped. Dovetails chopped in the top of the legs.
    23346018-15AE-4DAE-A1F5-7C228322240F.jpg 9E267749-8F7C-4429-B1D4-FFB6FA8B6D1A.jpg

    I also added a center support that was dovetailed into the sides. I set it in fairly deep for the support, but also because it will be the “stop” for the back of the drawers.

    80FBCAA8-B2EF-4914-9C6A-DD473E570780.jpg BE866BBE-3577-43A8-BEE5-32B85DE5C3A6.jpg


    The end result...so far.

    2CEA8F8E-680B-41CA-BC23-AA4432C9D00F.jpg

    And here’s how fancy I get with my drawings (sketch to the right of the photo). I tend to draw out certain components like this, just to make sure it’s going to work. Then set out to make the parts...that’ll be next up.

    F5A387BB-4DFA-4BB6-BB72-77D0316BCED0.jpg
    Last edited by Phil Mueller; 03-07-2018 at 9:21 PM.

  15. #15
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    Great thread Phil!

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