TV Tables - Making the legs

Lots of e-mail to tend to when I got in this morning.  That is actually a good thing.  But I got out to the shop floor as quickly as I could.

I started out by shooting the stand with it's first coat of lacquer.  I will continue to

apply coats of lacquer in between steps of building the tables so this piece of

the set will be done and out of the way when it comes time to finish the tables.

The next task is to sand the leg pieces.  This is done by hand and is essentially the finish

sanding step.  Once the table is assembled and ready for lacquering, I will look it over carefully

 and re-sand any scuff or rub marks that it may have incurred during assembly, but that will be spot sanding.

Then I pre-finish the inside areas of the joints, attach the leg pivot blocks and assemble

the main pivot point where the legs scissor out to form the base when set up.

Then the completed trays get their final shaping and sanding.  I round over the upper

and lower outer corners to make for a better look and feel.  Since these tables are

designed to be carried from one point to another I want them to feel good in your hands.

Now I can lay the completed leg pairs onto the tray and measure the precise distance between

the inner legs.  With that measurement I can cut the spreader blanks to finished length.

My fancy template/jig now comes into play.  I use this to mark the curvature of the arches

onto the blank, and punch centers for the oval hole in the top of the upper spreader. 

Lower spreaders have arches on both edges.  The I cut out the arches on the band saw.

When I cut the arches I leave just a little extra wood then use the template with a piloted flush trim bit to

 take the arches to their finished dimension,  This leaves a nice smooth edge that requires little sanding.

Finally I swap out the flush trim bit for a round-over bit and take two passes to

create a bull-nose edge on the snap hole and the long edges of the parts.

I finish out the day by punching the centers for the pilot holes in the ends of the spreaders.  I would go ahead and drill these, but we have holiday guests inbound and I need to get cleaned up.

I’ll get back at this in the morning.

Production List:

4-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack - Standard - In Transit

2 Walnut Tray Tables with Stand for Jacklyn & Mark - In Progress

Kitchen organizer - Marie B.

Utility Trailer Make-Over for David B. - In Progress but Stalled

4 Tray Tables, All Walnut (custom size) with stand for Shelly

Walnut Steamer Trunk for David B.

3-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack, all red Oak for Donna

4-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack Cherry & Maple for David K.

3-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack (Standard) for Dan G.

Computer Desk for Laptop for Marie B.

Printer Cabinet for Marie B.