Finally done....Well almost

[Jay Jolliffe]

Ever have a job that nothing seems to go right? Well this was one. You get so exasperated over it you just push it aside to do later & later & later. It's was time for me to finish the job since I'm running out of work & nothing on the horizon. The substrate & the first layer of veneer across the table went easy. Substrate is made up from 3/4" MDF & 1/2" birch glued & screwed together. Then I banded it all around with 1 1/2" of mahogany. The next layer of veneer which is figured mahogany had an inlay out of maple of the Island I live on. All hand cut. Took hrs..& hrs since all the little bit keep breaking off. Mike Henderson came to the rescue telling me about 2" wide veneer tape. What a great idea. I cut it out twice & the third one was a keeper. Then hand cut it into the mahogany which took a long time. Then came the compass rose...It wouldn't lay down flat but finally got it. OOOO I didn't say that this was the second time that I had to press this all to the substrate. First time being the perfectionist I am, I didn't like it. So I did it all over. This is the final product & I'm almost happy with it. But it will do because no one will see what's wrong with it except me.

It also need about 3-4 coats of urethane that I'll do in the winter when the people leave. It has 5 on it now...

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[Jay Jolliffe]

This table top is 63" long 46" wide & 1 1/4" thick. The square cut end will attach to the wall & there will be a single leg in from the angle cut end. It will be a bronze pipe that is 2 1/2" across with mounting flanges at each end. Do you think that I need to put a cleat across the table underneath to carry out to the edges but in about 6" or can I just use the mounting flange attached to the bottom. I don't want to to sag out to the edge if it's just in the middle.

[Peter Quinn]

To me thats on the edge of needing a cleat, could go either way, I'd be inclined to do something in 8/4 about 1 3/4" thick to really stiffen the top. Not sure how to integrate that sort of thing with the bronze pipe/flange? Perhaps if the cleat is just a bit inboard of the pipe it would be largely invisible. If you said it was a lamination of 5/8" baltic birch I'd think it didn't matter, its the MDF component I worry about, it never seems to hold its own weight over time. I guess you could mock it up in the shop to see how rigid it feels? Looks beautiful, great work Jay.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Here is the table installed.
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[Pat Barry]

Great work! I really love the inlay of the island. Did you stack the veneer and cut both the substrate and the inlay at the same time? What tools did you use for that?

[Jay Jolliffe]

I think I might of did it the hard way. I cut out the maple first using a plunge router. I double sided the map I had blown up & printed on thick paper to the maple then cut it out. Then did a little sanding & applied the maple to the Mahogany using the double sided tape then cut it out by hand with a exacto knife. I ordered some scalpels but they took to long to get here & I couldn't wait....sorry it took so long for me to answer...caught up in life I guess.