Best selling wood projects - Building a Rosewood Hall Table Part 2

Best selling wood projects

The Table Top

Once the slab has been sized for the table top, the edges need dressing and squaring.

Once again I use the Stanley 31.  It is as long as a number 8 plane but somewhat lighter to use.
I am appreciating this in my handtools more and more.
Once the plane is taking full length shavings, then the edge is fully clean and flat.

By contrast, the front edge is still a little daggy.
I want to preserve the rough look but there will be a finish on it so the edge needs cleaning up.

I am using a carving chisel to clean out the hollows and to enhance the edge with a "natural" look.

Here is the table-top prior to final sanding.  It will stay this way until after construction is complete.

Layout of the Parts

The four finished legs now are laid out showing their taper.  There is a little sapwood in two of the legs.  I think I will try these at the front.

The four rails are laid out with their tenons almost complete.  There will be a small amount removed from the bottom of each tenon to help the edges cover the joint completely.

The piece on the right front is a strengthening rib for the middle of the frame.
It can be seen in the layout below.

A housing will be cut into the front and back rails to take this strengthening rib.
Note also that the sapwood in the rails shows continuity through the corner.  These rails will form the front and the solid rosewood coloured rail will be at the back.
I like the aesthetics of this arrangement.

Sanding and Finishing

It is much easier to do this before assembly so I try to have most of my surface preparation done prior to glue-up.

Care must be taken with the mortice and tenon areas so that the timber is not sanded out of square - otherwise there will be gaps after glue-up.

The table top will be held in place by buttons and will be fitted last.

Several coats of lacquer - with a light sanding between coats - will be all that is needed to finish the table.

Found the camera - hooray - images added above.
There are only the coats of lacquer to go.
Happy shavings to all.

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Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 11 Fine Tuning and Trial Fit

Best selling wood projects

I have looked back on my first ukulele build, and I cant help comparing it with my current project.
I have noticed that I have become less structured, and more chaotic in my approach and the documenting of the process.
I think that this is a reflection on life as I am experiencing it at the moment.
There are so many irons in the fire, and I feel like a juggler in a three ring circus.
How the pace of our lives keeps changing!
Yet we adjust to the exigencies of the present.


Trial Fitting the Neck and Body

The tenon that is the middle lamination on the neck will fit into a mortice that I cut into the neck block.  This explains why the neck block was so large to begin with.

I use a tenon saw with a fine kerf, taking care not to cut too far into the neck block.  It needs to hold the whole cutaway top together.

After cutting the mortice to depth, the waste is simply chiselled out and the cavity tidied up.

Here is the neck tenon and its mortice - ready for a trial fit.
The fit should be snug but not over-tight, and it should bring the shoulders of the neck flush with the top side of the body.

I had a fair bit of fiddling around with a little block plane and edge rebate plane until I was happy with the fit.

The thickness of the soundboard determines how far above the body the neck will sit.
I have kept an offcut of the soundboard to use as a handy gauge of where the neck will go.
This is important as the fretboard will be glued over both of these, and they must be in the same plane.

Here is a better view showing that the neck sits a little above the body, so as to leave room for the soundboard skin to fit perfectly.

Trial Fitting the Front and Back

I spent the rest of the afternoon trial fitting the front (the soundboard) and the back to the body.
This is done by trial and error, as the linings cover the mating surfaces - and need to be checked constantly.

Small checks are taken out of the linings to accommodate the cross braces.
As can be seen here, I am working on the soundboard/body fit at this point, and you will notice that I have not yet glued in place the re-inforcing strips that will sit between the fan braces.
These will become the backing for the bridge.
Ill do this while the back is glued to the body and is drying.  The two can dry together.

Once I am happy with the trial fit of the front, Ill put it aside and work on the trial fit of the back until I am happy with that.

Next step is to glue the back in place.
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