Taliesin Desk in Cherry

JimYoung said:

Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons

The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.

For the through tenons, I used a small amount of glue on the faces of the tenons to minimize squeeze out. Once the legs and "window frame" pieces were all clamped up, I taped off around the mortises. I then forced glue into the top and bottom of the mortise before driving the walnut wedges in place. Removing the tape left a clean joint.

After letting the glue set up, I trimmed the wedges and sanded them flush with the tenons.

The finished leg assemblies look pretty nice.

Tonight, I was able to finish up the central arches. They have wedged, through tenons, and a gentle arch to the bottom. After roughing the arch with the bandsaw, I used a hardboard template and pattern bit in my router.

It's starting to look like a desk!

Next up is the front apron and drawer supports.

Thanks for following along,

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons

The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.

For the through tenons, I used a small amount of glue on the faces of the tenons to minimize squeeze out. Once the legs and "window frame" pieces were all clamped up, I taped off around the mortises. I then forced glue into the top and bottom of the mortise before driving the walnut wedges in place. Removing the tape left a clean joint.

After letting the glue set up, I trimmed the wedges and sanded them flush with the tenons.

The finished leg assemblies look pretty nice.

Tonight, I was able to finish up the central arches. They have wedged, through tenons, and a gentle arch to the bottom. After roughing the arch with the bandsaw, I used a hardboard template and pattern bit in my router.

It's starting to look like a desk!

Next up is the front apron and drawer supports.

Thanks for following along,

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Coming together

The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.

The drawers were a straight forward as well. I just needed to be careful since I am using one piece so the grain matches from one drawer to the next. It took me two tries on the drawer fronts, because my router bit came loose in the middle of routing for the accent pieces. I added a chamfer to the bottom edge of the drawer to be able to grip them better when opening them.

I cut a small block with a v-groove to match the accent pieces to tap them into place without marring them.

On the drawer side, there are pieces that are tenoned into the legs. These were easy to glue in place.

The next glue up was pretty easy as well. I did not put any glue on the through tenons of the central arches. I glued up the front apron, and used several pipe clamps to pull everything.

Next I taped off the through tenons, applied glue to the top and bottom gaps and drove in the walnut wedges.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Coming together

The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.

The drawers were a straight forward as well. I just needed to be careful since I am using one piece so the grain matches from one drawer to the next. It took me two tries on the drawer fronts, because my router bit came loose in the middle of routing for the accent pieces. I added a chamfer to the bottom edge of the drawer to be able to grip them better when opening them.

I cut a small block with a v-groove to match the accent pieces to tap them into place without marring them.

On the drawer side, there are pieces that are tenoned into the legs. These were easy to glue in place.

The next glue up was pretty easy as well. I did not put any glue on the through tenons of the central arches. I glued up the front apron, and used several pipe clamps to pull everything.

Next I taped off the through tenons, applied glue to the top and bottom gaps and drove in the walnut wedges.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Coming together

The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.

The drawers were a straight forward as well. I just needed to be careful since I am using one piece so the grain matches from one drawer to the next. It took me two tries on the drawer fronts, because my router bit came loose in the middle of routing for the accent pieces. I added a chamfer to the bottom edge of the drawer to be able to grip them better when opening them.

I cut a small block with a v-groove to match the accent pieces to tap them into place without marring them.

On the drawer side, there are pieces that are tenoned into the legs. These were easy to glue in place.

The next glue up was pretty easy as well. I did not put any glue on the through tenons of the central arches. I glued up the front apron, and used several pipe clamps to pull everything.

Next I taped off the through tenons, applied glue to the top and bottom gaps and drove in the walnut wedges.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Topping it off

I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.

I glued up the top in two sections. It did require a bit of clamping pressure to bring the edges together, so I made sure to let the glue dry a full 24 hours before unclamping them. Thus the three days to complete this task. I used painter's tape along the glue joints to minimize cleanup from drips and squeeze out. This worked well and the glue did not seep under the tape edge.

I did need to borrow a couple of 4' clamps for the final glue up (it helps to have neighbors who are also woodworkers).

For all the glue ups, I used some scrap boards with clear packing tape and clamps to keep the joints flush. This worked pretty well and I was able to clean up all the joints with my RO sander.

I do have one small knot hole in the middle of the top that I'll fill with epoxy and filler stained dark brown.

Next, I used my circular saw to cut the ends of the top square. The overall dimensions will be 36" wide and 68" long after the two 4" wide breadboard ends are attached. With a straightedge clamped to the top, I routed the tenon that will fit into the end pieces.

I milled the breadboard ends and started routing the mortise, but my router made a horrible noise and the 3/8" spiral up cut bit spun out of the collet! Luckily the end piece wasn't ruined, but the bit left a larger hole than planned. This also happened on the test piece I used while setting up this cut. I thought I just didn't have the collet snugged down enough, and made sure to tighten it before starting on the real piece. The bit has been used, but I didn't thing it was that dull.

Have I damaged the collet on my router? Looking at cut, the bit must have been trying to climb up as I cut and as it did the slot it was cutting got wider and wider. Like the bit was not spinning straight anymore. Anyhow, I ordered a new bit and it will be here in a few days. I 'll double check my router and see if I can see anything with the collet.

In the meantime, the plywood to finish the drawers showed up, so I glued them up and mounted the hardware.

Two of the drawers fit a little tight, so I'm going to run them through the table saw to shave a little off.

Thanks for following along.

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Topping it off

I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.

I glued up the top in two sections. It did require a bit of clamping pressure to bring the edges together, so I made sure to let the glue dry a full 24 hours before unclamping them. Thus the three days to complete this task. I used painter's tape along the glue joints to minimize cleanup from drips and squeeze out. This worked well and the glue did not seep under the tape edge.

I did need to borrow a couple of 4' clamps for the final glue up (it helps to have neighbors who are also woodworkers).

For all the glue ups, I used some scrap boards with clear packing tape and clamps to keep the joints flush. This worked pretty well and I was able to clean up all the joints with my RO sander.

I do have one small knot hole in the middle of the top that I'll fill with epoxy and filler stained dark brown.

Next, I used my circular saw to cut the ends of the top square. The overall dimensions will be 36" wide and 68" long after the two 4" wide breadboard ends are attached. With a straightedge clamped to the top, I routed the tenon that will fit into the end pieces.

I milled the breadboard ends and started routing the mortise, but my router made a horrible noise and the 3/8" spiral up cut bit spun out of the collet! Luckily the end piece wasn't ruined, but the bit left a larger hole than planned. This also happened on the test piece I used while setting up this cut. I thought I just didn't have the collet snugged down enough, and made sure to tighten it before starting on the real piece. The bit has been used, but I didn't thing it was that dull.

Have I damaged the collet on my router? Looking at cut, the bit must have been trying to climb up as I cut and as it did the slot it was cutting got wider and wider. Like the bit was not spinning straight anymore. Anyhow, I ordered a new bit and it will be here in a few days. I 'll double check my router and see if I can see anything with the collet.

In the meantime, the plywood to finish the drawers showed up, so I glued them up and mounted the hardware.

Two of the drawers fit a little tight, so I'm going to run them through the table saw to shave a little off.

Thanks for following along.

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Topping it off

I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.

I glued up the top in two sections. It did require a bit of clamping pressure to bring the edges together, so I made sure to let the glue dry a full 24 hours before unclamping them. Thus the three days to complete this task. I used painter's tape along the glue joints to minimize cleanup from drips and squeeze out. This worked well and the glue did not seep under the tape edge.

I did need to borrow a couple of 4' clamps for the final glue up (it helps to have neighbors who are also woodworkers).

For all the glue ups, I used some scrap boards with clear packing tape and clamps to keep the joints flush. This worked pretty well and I was able to clean up all the joints with my RO sander.

I do have one small knot hole in the middle of the top that I'll fill with epoxy and filler stained dark brown.

Next, I used my circular saw to cut the ends of the top square. The overall dimensions will be 36" wide and 68" long after the two 4" wide breadboard ends are attached. With a straightedge clamped to the top, I routed the tenon that will fit into the end pieces.

I milled the breadboard ends and started routing the mortise, but my router made a horrible noise and the 3/8" spiral up cut bit spun out of the collet! Luckily the end piece wasn't ruined, but the bit left a larger hole than planned. This also happened on the test piece I used while setting up this cut. I thought I just didn't have the collet snugged down enough, and made sure to tighten it before starting on the real piece. The bit has been used, but I didn't thing it was that dull.

Have I damaged the collet on my router? Looking at cut, the bit must have been trying to climb up as I cut and as it did the slot it was cutting got wider and wider. Like the bit was not spinning straight anymore. Anyhow, I ordered a new bit and it will be here in a few days. I 'll double check my router and see if I can see anything with the collet.

In the meantime, the plywood to finish the drawers showed up, so I glued them up and mounted the hardware.

Two of the drawers fit a little tight, so I'm going to run them through the table saw to shave a little off.

Thanks for following along.

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Click to expand...

JimYoung said:

Breadboard Ends

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.

I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.

The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.

With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!

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