Flush and Nesting Redwood Tables

I've decided to present these pieces a little differently. Two clients asked me for tables made of salvaged watertower redwood, and both clients were curious about the process of how the wood goes from salvaged planks to finished tables. And since I documented the process a little more thoroughly for and because the clients mentioned how much they enjoyed seeing the tables come together, I thought I would share them with you in the same manner.

My girlfriend accompanied me to pick up the redwood and was surprised by it's rough state. Having seen the picklebarrel table, also made of redwood, she was surpirsed that this wood could be transformed in such a way. I realized that this is one of the pleasures of working with salvaged wood. It looks so rough, but you know what lies beneath. Moreover, roughness, which makes it at first seem unattractive, is actually the very thing that I think makes it so pretty. It's wonderful to run these rough boards through the planer and take off just a bit of that once rough patina so that you are left with beautiful streaks of black and other patterns contrasting with the still vibrant wood below.

Flush Table

For the Flush Table, I picked out the wood that seemed to go together nicely, but you don't really know what the wood will look like until you take the patina off.

After the order of the wood was selected I glued and clamped the pieces together.

I set this aside and began work on the base. I, unfortunately, did not take very good pictures of the legs being constructed and then mortised and tenoned for the width of the table; however, here is a sequence of pictures that shows the length of the table being joined and reinforced.

With base complete, I fit the top and make any last adjustments before sanding and finishing.

And here are some pictures with the table finished. The clamps were there to hold it in place before the base was attached to the top.

This table will glow with a bit of candle light.

Nesting Tables

The nesting table was very fun to create and has one of my favorite design details of the furniture I've made. The clients for these tables were a couple and one of them was a musician. They were looking for way to maximize and beautify their space and improve his music station. So, we decided to go with a very simple design, similar to some metal nesting tables. My favorite detail came when I started thinking about how to reinforce such a simple table. There needed to be support in the corners, where the legs meet the top. I thought of adding square blocking, and then it occurred to me that since it was going to be used for music, I could strengthen the table and add a subtle reference to music. I would add three splines, like the three black keys that are grouped together on the piano.

But I jump the gun. The tops for both of these tables are continuous, so if you put them side-by-side, everything will match-up.

I jumped the gun again. Here are the legs and tops joined with a simple butt joint.

To reinforce this butt joint, I setup a sled for the table saw at 45 degrees that allowed me to cut the grooves for the splines. This was quite a spectical, and I wish I had asked someone to take pictures of me with the whole tables going over the table saw. Here are some pictures of the splines after the grooves were cut.

Here is a picture of the tables pulled out just before I finished them.

Without stain, the wood takes on beautiful, rich colors when oil is applied to them.

Here another picture of the tables completed with a wax finish.

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Heart Pine Entrance Table

This table was designed to fit an entrance area just inside the client's apartment. The client requested that the table be both elegant and feminine. We dialogued about a few of the drawings and pictures I sent her. The light design was a nice contrast with the strength of the heart pine, and this piece was a real plessure to build!

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Salvaged Spruce Nightstands

The caramel of this wood is just below the surface and not much deeper than that.

For over a hundered years, this wood worked. On edge, these 3 x 10s spanned long distances, and, unseen, provided the stories of a church in Queens. It's nice to think of this wood now in retirement, now in forms usually reserved for less industrial lumber, wood less-filled with knots and checks.

It is expected still to provide structure, though, now in a form to indicate the close of a day or as the setting for your lamps and evening drinks. The sawmarks are old and honest, and their form and handles clean and simple. You will be comforted by them, perhaps most in that moment between when you turn off your lamp and when the glow these bookends to your bed fades away.

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Converting to an Arts & Crafts Dining Table

Inspired by a Sidney Barnsley piece, I designed and built an Arts & Crafts Fireplace (or Coffee) Table for a family with many young grandchildren. It provided space for sitting, eating, reading, holding, etc. without sharp corners. The plans are actually available on this Fine Woodworking Website.

Here's a picture of the SketchUp model.

My challenge was to see if this design could also be used for a dining table. So I began a trial conversion as demonstrated in the following video.

I knew that the diameter of the top would need to be increased. But I was hoping to re-use the lower structural parts and joinery. And it turned out to be a rather simple and quick conversion.

Here is the final model of the new Dining Table.

As you will see in the video, I used the Scale Tool to increase the diameter of the Top. Another option would have been to use the Tape Measure to modify the scale. However, this would have resulted in changing the thickness of the top pieces. The Scale Tool allowed me to retain the original thickness and edge treatment.

In using the Scale Tool, I held down the Shift Key and also the Cntl Key simultaneously. This doesn't happen often in my SketchUp work. But it helped to have a uniform scaling about the Red & Green Axis while also maintaining the center of the Top at the center of the assembly.

The Scale Tool does cause an unintended increase in the spline widths holding the Top planks together. However, this is an easy fix to get them back to original size. Also, the ebony plug recess holes in the top are increased in diameter. These are also easily fixed.

When I use the Scale Tool on the Top assembly, the individual plank components are resized in that instance of the Top Assembly component. But the plank component definitions are not changed. So I will have to go back and make these re-sized individual planks into new components or unique components which is also an easy task.

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Troubleshooting a Model

Almost everyday I receive a SketchUp model from somewhere in the world. It is usually an attachment to an email describing a problem performing an action described in one of the many steps outlined in my eBook. The email may say something along the lines of, "I'm a bit confused by the procedure to ……".

I look forward to receiving these notes, especially when they attach a model. I can often guess the problem by the description of the problem alone, but having the model makes a big difference in my ability to troubleshoot.

I have to say that the most frequent problem for new SketchUp users, continues to be failing to open the component for editing. The reader tries a Push/Pull for a tenon, mortise, groove or rabbet and it doesn't work. It is frustrating, I know, and it is usually caused by not opening the component for editing before marking out a joint of some type.

I find that using an Exploded View is a key to troubleshooting these problems. You may find that this can help you get over a frustrating experience.

I'll use an example of the Magazine Rack model. Here is how I received the model.

By the way, I have approval from the SketchUp user to use this as an example in this blog.

Step 1: I'll spend a few minutes arranging the model for ease of inspection. This is a back view and upside down, so I'll orbit and pan to get a standard front view, and get an idea of how the axes are oriented. If materials and grain colors are used, I will delete them, as they make it hard for me to see issues.

I find guidelines very distracting, and a fist step will be to delete them. There is a quick command to delete guides as shown below.

Step 2: I'll do a quick inspection on the assembled model to identify some of the most apparent issues.

Step 3: With the Select Tool, draw a select box around the complete model. This selects all the graphics in the model.

Step 4: With the Move/Copy Tool, tap the Ctrl Key to make a copy of the model. Move it down the red access to a clear space.

Step 5: I'll open the Scenes Dialog Box, and make a Scene called Exploded View. Then I can always get back to this view with a click of the mouse.

Step 6: With the Move/Copy Tool, pull the model apart. This is when issues usually show up.

Step 7: Orbit around for a rear view of the Exploded model. This helps identify issues not exposed in the front view.

The Exploded View helps find problems. It does not necessarily identify the cause. In this case, the user was having trouble making the rabbet in the back edge of the Top. The Exploded view tells the problem; that the rabbet was drawn outside the definition of the Top component. The dangling rectangle is evidence of not opening the component prior to drawing the joint lines.

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Set-up for Cornice Cove Cut on Table Saw

Occasionally, I'm faced with creating a cove cut on a Cornice Molding. Sometimes, I will use a table saw to cut out the cove shape and waste. Although there are formula for determining the fence angle, I prefer a table saw set up based on modeling in SketchUp.

The first step is to model-up your table saw. This can be a very simple model including only the table top and the saw blade. I make the model dimensionally equivalent and locate the blade with respect to the table top. This allows me to use dimensions, rather than angle only to locate the fence. Here is a photo of my simple model.

I'll show you how I determine the table saw set up in the following six-minute video. As an example, I'll use the Cornice Molding for this Colonial Cupboard.

Here is a photo of the Cornice blank against the fence that is located by dimensions off the table top edge.

With settings of Parallel Projection, X-ray, and Front View, here is a view showing how the blade matches up with the cove shape. Note how the cornice blank is up against the fence to the right.

The actual cuts on the table saw are done with multiple passes at incremental adjustments in blade height.

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