Because of the Corona Virus I am considered at risk due to my Asthma and age 72 years young.
Therefore we have gone into lock down for the foreseeable future.
I dont actually mind I am very lucky to have a large garden and my Workshop in the garden.
I am looking on it as an opportunity to explore making new works nothing to do with woodturning
I have loads of Woodturned stock so no point adding to it.
I thought I would do some Joinery I have all the Machines and materials so thought I would start by Making an Ash Coffee Table.
As I said I have all the Machinery but am not an experienced Joiner or Machinist.
Over the years I have been lucky that my Brother Chris who is a Joiner and Machinist has given me quite a bit of tuition.
So here we go a WIP on how I am making my Coffee Table
A lot of things to take into consideration.
The main consideration being Expansion and Contraction of the wood.
I would have liked to have made the top out of one wide piece of Ash but in would probably have warped and cupped.
To avoid this I have decided to cut the top into 5 boards of equal width and join them and use Bread board joints on the two ends
This will allow for Expansion and Contraction.
I am taking pictures as I progress and explaining as best I can .
This a plank of the Ash I bought recently stunning grain
A closer look at the grain
I have cleared the floor space to give me room for Joinery instead of Woodturning
To take some of the weight out of the board I have cut a chunk of the end.
I have left the board longer than the finished top will be to allow some to be cut of because when I prepare the boards by planing and thicknessing you sometimes get snipe on the ends from the thicknesser.
A new 3/4" blade fitted and guides adjusted .The guides are dropped quite close to the thickness of the timber to limit any chance of the blade wandering.I do have a Bench saw that would have done this but decided to use the Bandsaw because of the thinner blade I want to grain match as much as possible on the finished top.
Because I wanted to remove the live edge a strait edge is clamped to the underside of the board so as to slide along the edge of the table to give a strait cut.
Planer and Thickness set up ready
Bandsaw fence set up for three and one eighth of an inch cuts.
The board has been given one strait edge on the planer ready to go against the fence.
As each board is cut it will then have one edge planed flat to go against the fence for the next cut
One end has been marked and numbered so that I can keep the boards in order to keep grain alinement on the finished top
All the boards are now cut ready for final planing and thicknessing
One side and one edge planed and squared ready for thicknessing Face edge and face side marks for future reference
boards planed and thicknessed
That is the 5 boards and end boards finished and ready for the next process
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