Topic: So I made a table

[Ghandi]

I decided to make a table a few months ago. My grandpa makes furniture for people his church and family and has a shop in his basement with all the necessary tools, and he was willing to show me how to do it. Once I figured out what I wanted, we had to come up with some measurements and get the wood and whatnot. He glues all of his furniture together by making biscuit cuts and clamping everything together, so this was about a multiple day process. The table is cherry - the main sections up top were part of a board that was about 3 inches thick. You can't see because of the border around the top, but we had to plane it down to about half that to work with it. After we made all the cuts and glued everything together, I sanded everything down really well and put some varnish over everything (no stain - I liked the natural color of the wood). Waited for it to dry, sanded it down, and repeated the process on the top. Did that a few times to get the required finish.

Pics:







Edit: The flash made the finish look weird in those first two pictures. It's not splotchy like it looks.

[K-man]

That's awesome man.  Nice table, and I'm sure an even nicer memory with your grandfather.

[Quemaqua]

Good stuff.  I built a ping-pong table with my dad in ages past, that was really fun.  Haven't done anything like that in a long, long time.  That's cool you could spend quality time with your granddad that way, sounds like a memorable experience.

[gpw11]

That is a very nice table.

[sirean_syan]

That's awesome. Now you're going to be extra crazy about people using coasters.

[Ghandi]

No drinks allowed on it. Right now it just has a TV and my PS3 underneath, which fits perfectly.

[idolminds]

Awesome.

[Pugnate]

That is highly impressive.

[Cobra951]

That's a great skill.  I wish I could build useful stuff like that.

What splotches?  That looks awesome.  But yeah, close-up direct flash will bring out every flaw on anything.

[Raisa]

nice table..should last u a lifetime?
 i just bought a wooden futon. maybe i should sand and then varnish it?

[ren]

what now? You can't just stop at table. I expect a chair, lunch dinner from you.

[Ghandi]

nice table..should last u a lifetime?

Yeah it should, as long as I treat it well.

And ren, I'm actually building some stuff for the family for Christmas. A wine rack, a few tables and maybe a spice rack for my mom. I'll post pics when they are done.

[gpw11]

Is it 100% glue or did you pin nail some of it?

[Ghandi]

It's all glue. Just used a biscuit cutter and glued together with biscuits, then clamped everything together. It's a multi-stage process because of that -  you have to wait for some things to dry before you continue.

[Quemaqua]

Mmm.  Biscuits.

[gpw11]

It's all glue. Just used a biscuit cutter and glued together with biscuits, then clamped everything together. It's a multi-stage process because of that -  you have to wait for some things to dry before you continue.

I was wondering becaue it looks like the three horizontal cross braces on the bottom are pretty thin - 3/8 to 5/8, but I've never actually tried to use a biscut cutter on something that small.  Are they actually a fair ammount thicker or is it a smaller cutter?

[Ghandi]

No they are about that thick, but the biscuit cutter only makes a cut about 2/8 of an inch deep and about an inch and a half across.

Here's a picture I found that was basically what I did. Although apparently this guy really sucks with a biscuit cutter.

Also, fuck Google image for not directly linking the pictures when you search.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I end up having to make buscuit cuts pretty often at sork for soffits and moulding, but I didn't really know if you could do it on material that thin without having to worry about it splitting or anything like that. That does kind of expain the numbers you find on pre-made buscuits you buy...different sizes.  I guess I never really thought about it.

[Ghandi]

There wasn't any worry of splitting - the biscuits don't go in far enough for it to split. Plus I think that maple is pretty strong as far as wood goes.