sometimes we forget live and learn

so, i built this table sometime in 2013 ... the base was from the antiques show at brimfield, mass., and it was pretty cool.  the concept was a round table with a silver dollar inlaid in the center.  it was a busy time, and maybe i wasnt thinking 100% clearly, but anyway, i cut a plank of 1.5" reclaimed oak into four sections and glued them up into a circle without thinking about seasonal movement over time.  it made it through one set of changes, but last summer, it absorbed enough moisture that the weakest joint failed and opened up by about 1/4".  below is an email i sent this morning, and when i finished it i thought, ah, instant blog post  ... cautionary tale here with a happy ending.

click the photos to enlarge them ...



hi nina ...

sorry i didnt get the table fixed for t-day weekend, but it was not a small effort.  ill put the silver dollar back in tomorrow and well be good to go. 

c u soon ..
dan

heres what i did

 we cut the top into four sections and cut veneers off the bottom and top so that it will still look the same.  i wasnt thinking things through the first time.  we made the top in the winter, and when the table absorbed ambient moisture from the air in the summer, the planks got enough wider that the outside circumference was too short, which is what caused the weakest joint to open up.  using veneers will prevent that .. 

should have thought of that, but hey, live and learn.

 

 so we had the 8 pieces of veneer and the cores

 

  and then we cut the edges off the cores and joined them to an mdf top

rejoined the veneers

and glued them back on, one at a time ... then after a little sanding and refinishing,

 once i get the silver $ back in there itll be good to go ...

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a patchwork chest

well, chris and i finished up an interesting claro walnut patchwork chest this week.

we had a little help on the snakeskin and leather from isaiah mccaulliffe and his crew

at bespoke custom upholstery in manchester, vt .. the python was from edelman leather and the 

brown bomber jacket complement was from universal leather.

inside was northeast aromatic cedar paneling, planed thin to balance the veneered panels

the design was based on this claro walnut credenza we did for a client back in 2013.

we started with the cad drawing and a steel base by sam

and then we made a pile of shop sawn veneers from the various slab cutoffs we keep on hand

and worked our way through the process.  first step is to cut the veneers to shape and

temporarily tape them together with masking tape while we fit the pieces to each other.

          

 then the masking tape is replaced with veneer tape which is more easily removed

from the panel faces after they come out of the veneer bag.

once youve got the four panels cut to width and mitered, the next step is to glue up

the box.  in this case, we glued mitered clamping cauls to the faces of the panels with

brown paper bag strips to hold them to the panels while we (gently) clamped them together.

as i recall, we glued first the two opposite corners, let them sit, then finished up with the 

other two corners once the first pair were set.

we used the base as the reference for square and kept the pieces vertical with the L shaped 

supports to keep the panels plumb and square ... we also clamped in a temporary 

bottom of melamine to keep the case square.

once the corners were glued up, we knocked off the temporary cauls and
sanded off the paper bag remnants ... this trick works slick for tall miters.

glowing in the sun in the finish room

delivery to the client next week ... should be fun ... 

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