Mid-Century Table (Pt. 9)

The table is getting contour and structure.

Nevertheless, with every new task it has got a new surprise.

The Pain Of Resawing

It is been while since I wrote about the table build. The truth is that I'm behind my pace and the resawing let me lost the interest.

What? Do I have written that?

Hm, to be very honest the resawing of the Oak slabs was really exhausting and not really fun.

Maybe I haven't used the right tool for it. In the absence of a frame saw I have used my rip panel saws for doing the resawing. Therefore I've got two models available. A PAX 20" 4,5 tpi and a PAX 26" 8 tpi.

I like both saws and for me they are doing a pretty good job. Normally!

The PAX with 4,5 tpi is a real beast. It cuts through most wood I'm working with like butter. But cutting through a 20cm (8") wide board of Oak is a pain. It will bite into the wood and you will struggle with every stroke. So I switched to the 8 tpi version. Better, but much too slow. You are sawing and sawing and it makes the impression that you won't come any inch further.

So it came, that I shied away from the effort. But to finish the table I had to do one last portion of sawing.

Desperately I looked around in my small shop and suddenly something caught my eye. A while ago I bought a Stanley hand saw.

Stanley 1-20-010 resharpenable saw

It is the model 1-20-010 (I guess in UK and US it is the Heavy Duty series which has got another part number), which is (as far as I know) the only Stanley saw where you can resharpen the teeth.

It's not hard pointed

I bought it for a little hand saw project (watch the space), but I didn't found the time yet. Anyway, I saw and grabbed it, put it into the already started saw kerf and started sawing. Man, what's going on there. Although the saw is filed to an all purpose setting it is resawing like hell. It's cutting like butter in comparison to both other saws I've used before.

Resawing the Oak slab

I'm not saying that it was effortless and a piece of cake. But in comparison to the progress I made before it is a step ahead.

After all this I could bring this task to an end.

Board after resawing

Now I have got my three boards and will be able to laminate a table top out of it. Just a bit of planing to dimension. But I won't do that to perfection because I will establish a pretty wide bevel at the underside of the table top.

Phew! All boards done

It's Got Legs

The legs are another story. There were a few tasks to do.

First things first. The top of the leg has to be cut to final length. Should be a piece of cake. Somewhere I read that the nice thing of these triangular tables is that you won't have a compound cut at the top.

That in mind something is wrong with my table. I laid out the cut lines and started sawing.

Cutting the top to final length

But what's that? Although I was sawing fairly straight I've established a nice bevel at the top. Seems that I haven't thought about the rake. Fortunately I recognized this deviation early enough, so I cut the top from both sides. Nevertheless it ended with a weird tip.

Weird tip

Instead of sweating that too much I have planed it down with a block plane.

All leg tops cut to final length

All that done, time for a test fit again. So I mounted all pieces together.

Test fit

As mentioned in one of my last reports, I have overseen that the apron pieces have to have a slight bevel too, so that you will have a leveled surface.

With the legs cut to length you can see now that there is a slight protrusion which has to be planed down.

Protruding apron edge

I have used a jack plane for this, the top end of the leg as a reference. A few thin shavings and I was done.

The leftover task is to shape the legs. Therefore I have made some layout lines just as a visual reference.

I have used the template I've made at the very beginning of the project to layout the shape at the leg ends.

Another thing is that the legs look a bit clunky at the bottom ends. Maybe I should taper them slightly.

Next Steps

The table top has to be made. First I need to laminate the three single boards.

Test clamp up to see how the top will look

After I have glued up the table top, it has to be cut to shape. A first draft of the shape has been discarded.

I will have to spend some time for the design. Therefore I need the table frame so that I've got an impression about the final dimension.

The table top will be fixed with turn buttons. They also have to be made and some pocket holes in the aprons where the buttons can grab in.

And then I think I can do the glue up of the table frame.

I guess I'm back on track again. It was really the resawing which let me find some other things to do (starting the workshop makeover, making dovetail markers, etc.).
Sometime it is necessary to find variety.


Stay tuned!
Stefan