Kitchen pub table

[Cochese]

My anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I've belatedly had the awesome idea to finally make this table I've been promising her for a couple of years. Been putting it off due to my lack of skills plus a lack of assembly space. With the workbench now in usable shape, I feel like I don't have any excuses holding me back and it would be a wonderful surprise.

My inspiration is the Southport Pub Table found at Haverty's. I may have posted it before, but here it is again: http://www.havertys.com/Product_33221



The top is 54x54 and I'm not planning on a removable leaf. It is in total 36" high, with a .75" top, 3.25" apron and a 12" tall drawer in the middle. The base measures 24" square at the outermost corners. I'm ready to build, although I may not complete it in time.

I've designed a bit plainer version, as that's more our style. (Uploading to the Warehouse apparently doesn't work for my Sketchup version anymore, and the Trimble version has bugs)



I'm looking for any critique of my design here. Should I knock down the corners of the top, etc. My top, at least temporarily, was going to be nice 3/4" ply with a hardwood edge of about 3" on all sides, which will be splined into the ply and each other at the corners. I need to know if I'll need bracing outside of the support 'box' in the middle, there will be 30" of overhang to any flat side.

Construction will be of poplar for the base and apron, 3/4" ply for the box.

[JimD]

Poplar is pretty soft. You might want to try looking for on-line sources for turned legs if your budget will allow. Maple would be more durable.

Plywood for the top solves some issues with glueup but will not be as durable as solid hardwood. In all it is a reasonable choice. I would be a bit picky about the plywood, however. If you can find plywood with poplar inner plys (as opposed to foreign hardwood or softwood) I would prefer it. The point is to avoid a void which will be very fragile. I have a biscuit joiner which I would use for the edging. Splines are at least as good but take longer to execute.

Jim

[Pappy]

For the top, if you go ply, spend a bit extra on some quality Baltic Birch. The 5x5 sheets will leave little waste. Assuming you don't want the turned legs, I would think adding a taper to the outside faces of the legs from the drawer case down would be a nice visual effect.

[Cochese]

I forgot about Baltic Birch. I was going to use a maple veneer ply, but that will probably work better.

As far as a taper goes, I'm not sure. She's indicated in the past she wasn't a fan of it and I don't have a way of doing it right now. I may dry assemble everything and set it up for her to see and ask her if she likes it as-is, then glue.

[JimD]

My taper jig is like Norm's (New Yankee Workshop) - takes only a few minutes to make. It is two pieces of plywood scrap about 3 inches wide hinged together with a wooden "compass" like piece to fix the angle. For this you could even just cut a notch in a scrap of plywood (since it's only one angle). The only "trick" is to get the rotation of the piece figured out so the flat face can stay on the table saw.

Jim

[Cochese]

I believe I have the episode where he made his replacement version. Will watch today, or all else fails the rockler one is pretty cheap.

Picked out some 8/4 soft maple for the legs and a 4/4 curly maple board for the top edge. Will be starting this afternoon.

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[Cochese]

Leg pieces were jointed, ripped and jointed again, and glued in a large gang together this afternoon. Will have to see how they came out tomorrow. Since the legs are going to be painted, I suppose any small defects can be filled with paste.

Tomorrow I am going to trim them to length and make sure I have enough 1/2" ply to create the drawer box. If I do, those pieces will get their preliminary cuts as well.

[Cochese]

Jointed and planed the legs today, along with cutting the plywood for the 'box'. Marked the mortises and tapers for cutting tomorrow...perhaps.

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[Cochese]

Finally got the mortiser working right (bigger gap than suggested) and it's working very well. Only a couple of stalls when a large chunk gets caught. All the mortises for the vertical box pieces are done, and I think I'll be using the same technique for the top and bottom of the box.

Sliced my hand open pretty well with a mortise chisel cleaning up the bottom, but so far so good on the project. Avoided prematurely staining the leg red at least.

Hopefully I can have the base ready for assembly tomorrow for dry-fit. Tuesday I think I'll be picking up the ply for the top, and Wednesday I'll be stopping by Rockler for their tapering jig. Still haven't decided on a finish for the top yet. Plain BLO seems a little...plain.

[Cochese]

Got a bit more work done today. Ran two dados in each leg to accept the top and bottom pieces, and made the corresponding cuts in the ply. Here I am mocking it up, have some gap discipline to address during final assembly.

Now I just have to wait a couple of days until I can pick up the ply for the top and the hardwood for the apron and the tapering jig.





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[Cochese]

I had alignment issues with the legs probably due to measurement errors. I was able to use my parallel clamps to wedge the base apart and see what I did. All the box sides are fine, and fit in the mortises fine. The error has to be with the top and bottom of the box. I have measured, and the base is 3/8" out of square. Not a big deal overall, but I need to translate that to the two pieces of ply, and cut again. There's a better than average shot I won't need to replace the pieces.

More to come.

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[Cochese]

I cut the two large pieces of ply down on one side, and adjusted the adjacent cutouts for the legs. Much, much better. I was 24" in one dimension, 23.625" in the other. That would account for the misalignment. I then cut down the one stretcher that went in that direction and it's nearly perfect now. Just need to stain the replacement veneer I put on the cut side, and I'm pretty much right on. It's not perfect, but I feel much better about it. When I clamp it up it should get even closer.

I'm still on schedule for a Friday delivery. Just need to pick up the plywood for the top and drawer on Tuesday. The finish doesn't look fantastic, but it actually does look antique-like, which isn't too bad.

[Cochese]

Need to spot stain a couple areas, fill a couple minor gaps. Top begins tomorrow.

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[LCHIEN]

glad you got it under control.

[Cochese]

Best part is, we went furniture browsing tonight, and the style and color is pretty much spot on. If I can get the top right, I'm home free.