With the top glued up, the next step was to mark the outline, which was done by making templates ...
Block plane making shavings of 6mm MDF ...
One quarter used four times ...
Marked out with blue tape for visibility ...
No, I cannot lug this over to the bandsaw. I am not that strong. A jigsaw is used, like a regular person does, cutting close to the line ...
The templates then are used for pattern routing ...
The end grain is smoothed with a block plane. The question is, which works better, a skew block plane or a straight-bladed block plane. Answer: they do the same as one simply holds the straight-bladed plane at an angle
The top is pretty flat. The use of biscuits to level the joints worked well. Now the surface is planed with a smoother. This is the finished surface. No sanding was done ...
The side edge is 30mm thick. The plan is to chamfer the edges leaving a 10mm face. This is marked in blue tape ...
The base is positioned on the underside to determine how far in the chamfer will be made ...
A nice, even if rather old, Festool power planer takes away most of the waste in no time at all ...
This is finished to the lines with hand planes ...
The tow ends of the underside are given a long taper, first using the power planer to remove most of the waste ...
.. and then finished with a LA Jack ...
Top done. Time to attach the top to the base.
The plan here is to use bolts into metal inserts, as I do not like the idea of inserting wood screws which might cause splitting and also be vulnerable to being pulled out.
A pilot hole is drilled through the base into the table top to position the bolt holes and inserts.
The holes in the base are made with a 3/4" forstner bit, then drilled for the 6mm bolts using a 7mm twist bit (for a little wiggle room). The hole closest to the leg is fixed while the other two are elongated 2mm each side of the hole for expansion.
Note that the bolt holes go through the base, rather than using wooden buttons as the holes essentially make the attachment invisible from the sides ...
With all attached, the table is done! And two coats of Whittle hard wax oil are rubbed on.
So are we all ready for the unveiling? Drum role ...
The aim of the design was to unite the table with two DC 09 chairs I built. In common are elliptical sections in the table and chairs. The other chairs are vintage bentwood, and the use of curves allows them to be included. The reason for a trestle table, rather than a traditional four-legged table, was to reduce the number of legs with different angles. This is aided by using dark Jarrah for the base, as the base disappears and the Rock Maple top is left as a line connecting the DC 09 chairs.
The curves of the top ...
And a final picture from the kitchen area ...
Thanks all for following along with this adventure.
Regards from Perth
Derek