Pub Tables 3
When I left off last I had just cut out the tops and routed a nice detail on the edge. It is now time to tackle the circular skirt.
There are two ways to complete this step:
1. Cut out several thin strips, layer them together, apply liberal amounts of glue, wrap them around a half-circle mold, and clamp overnight. Repeat for the other half. This method is the nicest way to build a curved board, since the grain pattern shows up over the entire face of the curve, but it is the most difficult, and the most time consuming.
2. Cut out short lengths of wood, cut an angle in each end, glue end to end to form a circle, and cut your circle out of that.
I chose the latter one, for two reasons: The curved portion is going to be the skirt to this pub table, so a minimal amount of grain pattern doesn’t really matter since it sits below the table top. The second reason was structural in nature. If I built two halves, using the laminating method, then connected them together to form a full circle skirt, it would not be as strong as a skirt built employing the second method.
The first step was to sketch the outside diameter of the skirt on the underside of the table top.
With one top measuring 30″ and the other 34″, each skirt would require different numbers of pieces and would be cut at different angles.
The 30″ top required nine pieces cut at 20 degree angles while the 34″ top required ten pieces cut at 18 degree angles.
I then cut a biscuit slot in each end…
…and glued and clamped them up.
After the skirts had dried overnight I had my brother compass out the diameter and cut out and sand each one.
The final products are two skirts, one at 30″ and one at 34″.
January 16th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
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