Federal table build pics

[Judson Green]

To get the legs to a final consisent length I used a shop built “cut off” jig that worked well.

Attachment 313593

Good job on the table looks fantastic!

Could you perhaps explain your jig a bit more? I think I understand how it works, but how do you keep the hooks from moving?

I think I need one.

[Will Boulware]

Fantastic craftsmanship! Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Way cool.

Appreciate the time you spent with photos and commentary.

Also - your honesty in pointing out the occasional screw-up: those are an integral part of every one of my projects.

[Bill Baethke]

Thanks for the documentation of that project. It is a very interesting build, and the results are spectacular.

[Mike Allen1010]

Good job on the table looks fantastic!

Could you perhaps explain your jig a bit more? I think I understand how it works, but how do you keep the hooks from moving?

I think I need one.

hi Judson,

I think the pictures below my show what you're asking about;
DSC_0183.jpgDSC_0176.jpgDSC_0177.jpg

The shop built cut off Jig has an aluminum channel on top that the stop block slides in and is secured in place with the twist knob – this lets me at adjust to the length of the crosscut I'm looking for. The length of the fixed "bench hook" part is about 18 inches. For longer cross cuts, there is a sliding maple bar that's captured in a rabbit on the back of the jig that lets me extend the stop block for longer cross cuts. A thumbscrew in the maple block secures it in place.

I could have just gone with a miter box, but I wanted something smaller/lighter that I could stash under the bench and just grab when I need it.my primary need is just for crosscutting first components to length. When it comes to angle, miter cuts I sort of just go with marking knife, sought to the line and cleanup at the shooting board.

All the best, Mike

[Phil Stone]

That's fairly brilliant, Mike. I like how it takes advantage of the (assumed!) flatness of the front of the bench to be accurate even for long cutoffs.

[Mike Allen1010]

Way cool.

Appreciate the time you spent with photos and commentary.

Also - your honesty in pointing out the occasional screw-up: those are an integral part of every one of my projects.

Thanks everyone for your generous comments.

Kent, I certainly make more than my share of mistakes. Over the years, I just fret about them less and have gotten better at hiding them, however some are so bad they scream for a "do over". For example the misfit of the sliding dovetails for the horizontal divider was so bad I couldn't live with filling the gaps and and simply remade the horizontal divider with a better fit. I would really like to get better at making these sliding dovetails – they're one of my favorite joints, but I struggle with getting the right fit so there are no gaps, but at the same time not making them so tight that the leading edge chips off when I press them together.

As Brian mentioned earlier (and executed beautifully in his cabinet build thread); for little sliding dovetails like this, my best results come when I simply pear them with a chisel. This makes it easier to shave off a little bit of the leading edge of the joint so that it fits together easily but snugs up to a nice tight fit when pushed into final position.

This was my first attempt at inlaying "cuffs"on the table legs. I first saw them in some of Garrett Hack's pieces and they struck me right way as something I'd like to try. I'm a big fan of Hack's beautiful work - Love the way he takes simple, shaker-style furniture forms and turns them into art with beautiful wood selection and details like inlay etc. These actually turned out much better than I thought they would. It took me quite a while to execute these this first time around, but I think next time I should be able to do it more quickly.

The banding on the top was straight off the shelf at my local Rockler. This was my first attempt at cutting the recesses for the banding strictly using hand tools. In the past I simply used a trim router with a fence to cut the recesses and frankly that is waaaaay easier and and probably for me more accurate than the Neander way (provided you got a router bit that matches the width of your banding). Between you and me, next time I want to use some banding, I'll probably go back to the trim router.

Although I do get a certain amount of satisfaction from learning a new hand tool skill, one of these days, I think I would be smart to quit trying to learn/execute "new" hand tool techniques and just go with what I already know. Now that I think about it, I guess that's what separates an amateur like me from the pros; they already know all the hand tool skills, while I'm still doing "on-the-job training", while at the same time trying to end up with a finished piece that isn't a total disaster.sometimes it works out, some days not so much !

Cheers, MIke

[Judson Green]

awesome Mike thanks for sharing.

[Andrae Covington]

The table turned out well, and I also appreciate the detailed steps, including the mistakes and how you fixed them. Like Judson and others, I was also intrigued by the cut-off jig, so thanks for sharing additional photographs. I have a Millers Falls miter box which works well, but it's a heavy monster which I have to lug from a storage spot to the bench, and not really suited for cutting small pieces. You've given me some ideas for a smaller, lighter jig built around a tenon saw.