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Attaching a sloping desk top

April 15, 2010 By

Wood moves most across the grain when environmental changes cause a change in relative humidity. A table top or, in this case, a desk top, must be allowed to move when environmental changes take place; if movement is restricted, cracking can result, and often does. Two common ways to allow movement of a large chunk of wood such as a desk top are buttons, and figure 8s.

Two days ago I was preparing the figure 8s to attach the desk top — I did not like the idea of drilling into the aprons to screw the figure 8s. If mounted on the aprons, it would be difficult to screw them to the top, as they would be too close to the inside of the apron walls. I decided to attach blocks to the aprons, and to mount the figure 8s in recesses in the blocks; Forstner bits are great to drill the recesses. This effectively moved the figure 8s away from the apron wall at least one inch:

Figure 8s go on these blocks.

With the desk top in place, this is what is visible at the back wall:

The view from the inside.

I had imagined the following situation many times, even in my sleep:

Surveying the situation.

I have to fess up: I have NO idea where the short Phillips driver in the next photo came from. I just found it in the case. But it sure came in handy to allow use of the Bosch PS-10 in tight quarters (you can read about the PS-10 in an article I wrote almost two years ago):

Planning pays off!

Ah, the magic…

It was not magic, but good planning allowed me to spend less than 30 minutes screwing the figure 8s into the top. Here is how I did it:

  1. Position the figure 8s on the recesses in the blocks, and screw them semi-tightly, so they won’t rotate or move easily.
  2. Place the desk top on the base, measure all overhangs, and remember them.
  3. Using a fat maker, mark dots on the underside of the desk top using the holes in the figure 8s.
  4. Take off the top, and place it on the workbench upside down.
  5. Use an egg beater drill with a suitable drill bit and pre-drill the holes for the screws.
  6. Test at least one hole, to ensure relatively easy entry of the screws.
  7. Loosen the figure 8s slightly, until they move under slight pressure.
  8. Place the top back on the base, registering opposite (drilled) corner holes with their respective figure 8 holes.
  9. Proceed to attach the top to the base using the figure 8s.

It really is that simple. Try it sometime. Another (free!) tip from Sandal Woods!

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Design, furniture Tagged With: , , ,

Sanding between coats of shellac

April 14, 2010 By

Some will possibly disagree; however, the results speak for themselves. I prefer to use 600 grit paper to sand between coats of  dewaxed shellac used to seal white oak:

Enjoying the journey.

As I have mentioned before, one key item in a finishing schedule is having the right sandpaper, like 3M’s 216U Fre-Cut™ Gold. I discussed the use of this paper in an earlier article; but I still must remember how critical it is to have the proper tools to do the job. And in finishing, this paper is an essential tool. The surface of the white oak is silk smooth after sanding. The smooth surface will telegraph into the sprayed varnish, yielding a very nice, smooth finish. Who said waterborne coatings were difficult to use?

Note: Sealing the surface of white oak and (especially) red oak is essential when using waterborne coatings. Avoid applying (typically) high-pH waterborne coatings directly on the raw wood surface of high-tannin woods like red and white oak, as pin-holing and bridging are likely to develop; that would make it difficult to get a nice, smooth finish.

Next: Attaching the top, and start spraying the varnish.

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Finishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

No clamps required for this assembly

March 24, 2010 By

What else can I add? Thank-you Sandy — your help was invaluable!

This was an assembly of a large desk base with four aprons, three stretchers, and four legs; it was assembled with mortise and tenon joinery, prepared as I showed in an earlier blog entry. You can follow the work on the stand-up desk at this link.

After applying glue to the mortises and the tenons, I applied a little glue to the tapered tips of the pegs and drove them home; the liquid hide glue is a wonderful lubricant, too! No clamps were required to assemble the aprons to the legs (and the stretchers to the legs, etc.):

Drawbore pegs after leveling with block plane.

I used liquid hide glue, as it has a long open time; I felt this was the best way to assure myself of a panic-free, clamp-free, and relaxed time during the glue-up of a very large desk base. After the glue dried, I trimmed the pegs with a flush-cutting saw, and leveled all the pegs using a little block plane. Now the drawer fitting begins in earnest, including stops and alignment strips to ensure straight travel during opening and closing. In the meantime I will be touching up the shellac layers, to blend the areas I planed to the surrounding areas. Finally I will apply a durable varnish, Target Coatings’ Emtech 2000wvx.

I had to use a few clamps to hold the dust cover in place, while the glue dried – here is the dust cover in place:

Dust cover in place.

If you want to eliminate much of the anxiety during large glue-ups, I recommend the use of the drawboring technique to pull together all mortise and tenon joints tight. Even the double-tenon/double-mortise joints I used on the stretchers between the legs went together flawlessly; properly tapered, the pegs snaked their way nicely. This was the double mortise and tenon joint at the end of a stretcher, and made with an FMT Pro:

Dual mortise and tenon joint on stretchers.

I admit this was the joint I was most concerned about prior to the glue-up, due to the spacing (“Will the peg find its way through the second tenon…???”). But I am a happy camper now; well, maybe a happier woodworker, as the drawboring technique worked beautifully.

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Drawboring, Joinery, Mortise, Tenon Tagged With: , , , ,

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