The best step of any project had finally arrived, the final assembly!  We tackled the final assembly in five small steps, rather than trying to build the entire table all at once.  The picture above shows the final glue-up.

We are quite fond of how the final piece turned out! The grain color and pattern is stunning, especially when the sunlight hits it!

This console table is being shipped off to a client in San Francisco, so we crated it up, and then needed to estimate a shipping weight.  We don’t have a scale of any kind at the shop, but my brother and I put our collective heads together, hearkened back to the good old days, and constructed a scale from a 12′ long pallet and a 2×4.  The final shipping weight for the crate was 350 pounds, and the crate could not have weighed more than 50 pounds!

After allowing the veneer to cure and fully adhere to the MDF substrate, we tackled the task of mortising dozens of 5″ long, .5″ wide, 1″ deep mortises in the surfaces, which would hold a loose tenon and connect the surfaces to the uprights.

Using a clamping straightedge, a plunge router, and a brand new .5″ spiral up-cut bit, to ensure minimal tear-out in the veneer, made the entire process a fairly easy one. The most difficult task was keeping all the sawdust out of the way so we could see the start and stop points on the surface. I suppose it is time to get a new fancy smancy plunge router with a nice built-in vacuum attachment.

A couple of hours later, we had routed ourselves 24 perfect mortises!

I have also learned over the past couple of years, no matter how good you are, always dry fit the project before you dive into the assemble or finishing processes.  In this instance, the dry-fitting process allowed us to fine tune the alignment of a few of the mortises and assign a letter to corresponding mortises and loose tenons, ensuring the final assembly would be perfect.

The first step to the finishing process was to sand all the veneer surfaces using a sanding block and 150 grit sandpaper. Once we removed any sharp edges, scratches, or frays it was time to spay on a coat of vinyl sanding sealer.

We just recently began using a vinyl sanding sealer as the sealing coat, rather than using an extra coat of of lacquer or varnish, because the vinyl sanding sealer is thinner, which allows it to penetrate deeper into the wood, doing a much better job of sealing the pores in the wood. The vinyl sanding sealer also sands much easier and creates an incredibly smooth surface for the lacquer or varnish to be sprayed over.

We sprayed on two coats of conversion varnish over the freshly sanded sanding sealer.

Repeat the same process as above for all the vertical uprights, except rather than leaving them a natural color, we stained them pitch black!

With the three surfaces sized to the correct width and length it was time to add a couple of layers of conversion varnish to the MDF.  This may seem backwards or counter intuitive, but with a PSA (peel-and-stick adhesive) backed veneer, the PSA will only stick to a sealed and clean surface.  It will not stick to raw wood or any unsealed surface.

We sprayed two nice coats of conversion varnish onto the top and under sides, about six coats on the edges, and allowed everything to dry for 24 hours before beginning the veneering process.  The 24 hours we allowed for drying time was to make sure the varnish had completely off-gassed before sealing it in with the veneer.

We began the veneering process by laying out all the pieces we would need, paying special attention to grain flow, and cutting out each piece 1/4″ oversized using a straightedge and a utility knife. The veneer itself was made up of three layers of material, the Santos Rosewood veneer, a paper backing as thick as the veneer, and the PSA layer.

Applying the veneer to the substrate was pretty straight forward.  Simply remove the backer paper to expose the PSA layer, lay it onto the surface, and smooth out. It was, of course, a lot more stressful than that, because with only an 1/8″ overhang on each side there was not much room for error.

We began by making a few cuts to the backing so we could remove it in small pieces, rather than in one large pass.  Next, we laid the veneer on the surface and evened up the overhangs. Once that was completed, we lifted up one end of the veneer, peeled away one slice of backer, and slowly laid the veneer back down, making sure to prevent any air pockets from forming.  Once the PSA layer touched the sealed surface it was instantly connected.  There was no pulling it off and trying for a second time if you laid it down crooked.

After we applied the entire surface of veneer to the substrate, we used used a tool called a veneer hammer, which you can see in the picture above, to apply as much pressure to the surface of the veneer as possible, smoothing out any bumps and ensuring every square inch of the PSA was adhered to the substrate.

After 4.5 hours of cutting, peeling, adhering, and trimming veneer (including one errant fingertip), we had three fully laminated console table surfaces.  It is a bit difficult to see in the picture, but the grain of the veneer is continuous from the end, over the edge, along the length of the top, and over the opposite end.  The grain on the side is also continuous with the grain on the top.

All in all, it makes for a very beautiful looking table top!

The table itself is a very simple, contemporary design, comprising of just ten parts in all; three surfaces and seven uprights. Each surface is 68″ wide, 14″ deep, and 2″ thick. All seven of the uprights are 3.75″ wide and 8.5″ deep, with the four top and bottom ones being 6″ tall and the three middle ones measuring 12″ tall.

We began by building the three substrates that the Santos Rosewood veneer would be adhered to.  To achieve the 2″ thickness for each surface we sandwiched two 1″ thick MDF layers together.

We used veneer for this console table because Rosewood is not available in solid boards in the lengths or the thicknesses necessary to construct large pieces of furniture. Using veneers allow us to use the Rosewood for any project of any size we desire.

Once the glue had a chance to dry for a few days, the 14″ width was easily achieved using the joiner and the table saw, but cutting each surface to the required 68″ length was a bit more difficult.

We normally cut boards to length using a chop saw or a table saw and a sled, but in this case, neither of these options were going to work for us.  The width of each surface was to large to cut on our 12″ chop saws and each one weighed so much there was no way we could use the sled and the table saw to cut the ends.

Instead, we simply set up a straight edge, and using a 2″ straight bit in the router, trimmed each end square and to the correct length. The resulting edges were perfectly clean and smooth.

After finishing work on the surfaces we moved on to the uprights. As I mentioned before, all the uprights were 3.75″ thick.  We could have arrived at this thickness by gluing multiple pieces together, but I didn’t want there to be any seems or glue joints visible on the fronts of these uprights.  Instead, we called up a few of our hardwood suppliers and one of them had some 16/4 basswood which would work perfectly well.

The 11″ width of the rough board was to wide to run through our joiner, and even the final width of 8.5″ was to wide for our 8″ joiner, so we achieved one flat side by running it through a wide belt sander at a local cabinet shop.  After a dozen or so passes we had a nice flat side. We then ran it through our 15″ thickness planer to flatten the other side and achieve the overall thickness of 3.75″

Each of the uprights also have a cove detail in the front and back.  The only way we had the ability to achieve this was to use the table saw.  Every time someone sees this done they cringe and think you are out of your mind, but it is a perfectly safe (as safe as using a table saw can be) and normal detailing technique.  It is also a fairly simple one.

We clamped on a straight fence, and through a little trial and error, arrived at the correct angle.  The only thing to remember is to not try and cut off to much in one pass.  The closer your angle is to horizontal, the less you can take off at once.

After we cut each of the seven uprights from the newly coved stock, we began routing out the mortises in the tops and the bottoms.  We used our plunge router and a .5″ spiral upcut bit to mortise out two 5″ wide and 1″ deep mortises.  After all 24 mortises were completed, we were practically swimming in the wood shavings!

Here is a closer shot of the mortises.  Each of the uprights look like they are comprised of two pieces of wood because we had to cut them on the table saw in two passes, running in opposite directions, which resulted in the different color wood surface. Similar to the way the lanes of a freshly mowed lawn looks green and silverish.

And last but not least, here is a picture of the Santos Rosewood veneer.  It is an absolutely beautiful exotic wood and the price of each sheet of veneer definitely reflected that!

Once the glue on the headboard and footboard had dried, we moved to the finishing room and applied a nice dark, rich red-brown stain.  After the stain, we sprayed on three coats of conversion varnish, ensuring years of scratch-free and worry-free use.

A shot of the finished bed completely assembled.

Another shot of the finished bed. This time a close-up of the footboard.

After the finish had dried overnight, everything was bubble wrapped, crated, and sent to Reno, NV!

Once we completed the uprights for the headboard and footboard, it was time to work on the flat panels and the round tops.

The panels were fairly simple and straight forward; three stiles, two rails, and two panels each.  All the pieces were connected using dados and tenons.

On the top of the headboard and footboard was this round dowel detail.  We began the process by ordering two 5′ long 3″ diameter dowels from a turning company in Vancouver, BC.  Once they arrived we began by installing the dado blade in the table saw and cutting the nice round peg you see in the end.  We then had to make a jig out of MDF that would securely hold the dowel in place while we passed it through the dado blade, cutting a dado in the underside of each dowel.

Once we finished cutting the dado in the underside of both dowels, it was time for the assembly process.  The entire process would be completed the same way for both the headboard and footboard.  We glued on the dowel on the top followed by the splines the uprights.  The entire assembly was clamped securely and allowed to dry overnight.

The end result, once the assembly was connected to the rails, was a footboard that looked like this…

…and a headboard that looked like this!

The picture above shows the two models we designed and built.  Each unit has a tray which sits on top of, and fits into, the pedestal below.

Each pedestal is constructed from MDF with four sides and a bottom, with baseboard wrapped around the top and bottom.  The tray was a MDF bottom with hardwood wrapped sides.  Simple as that.  One pedestal was simply left alone, and the other pedestal, shown below, was fluted.

The finish is where these units really excel.  The first two layers are painted on vinyl base coats, followed up with three coats of clear, high gloss conversion varnish.  The final product is a solid painted color with a rock hard clear varnish protective coating.

One of the unique aspect of this project was the clear varnish we applied to the tan pedestal and tray.  The client wanted to make sure there was some depth to the otherwise even colored paint surface.  This was accomplished by adding gold automotive glitter to the conversion varnish.   The results can be seen above.  It turned out beautifully!  Not to flashy or gaudy at all.

Jared has been a fortunate find for me to serve my highly-discerning mix of clients.  Not only he is talented, but he is also personable and responsible.

Recently, one of my clients was so happy with a console table Jared built for him that he was itching to have Jared build him something else…the only problem was the client didn’t need anything else…still he is trying to think up of something for Jared to build.  Jared is that good!

Thank you, Jared, for everything.  I look forward to working with you for a long time.

Tien Pham – Tien Design

San Francisco, CA – July 2009

The first step to create the sleigh style sides to the bed’s headboard and footboard was to create a template.  Using 1/4″ MDF, a pencil, a compass, and our mind’s eye, we began sketching the rough outline of the headboards pattern.

After arriving at a design we liked, we cut out the pattern on the bandsaw, cleaned up the edges on the horizontal belt sander and the spindle sander, and designed a smaller version of the headboard’s pattern for the footboard.

Before we could do any patterning though we needed to glue up the blanks.  Here you can see one of the headboard blanks being glued up.

We then planed down each blank to 3″ thick and, after tracing the outline of the pattern on each blank, cut away the excess using the bandsaw.  With the excess material removed we were able to tape on the pattern and follow the edge using a flush trim bit.

Viola! Four perfect headboard and footboard pieces!

Using a router, a straightedge, and a straight cutting bit, we routed out a groove in each of the pieces to accept the spline from the headboard and footboard.  We also drilled a round hole in the top, using a Forster bit, to accept the rounded top of the headboard and footboard.

Next, using a double bead bit, we routed out the nice detail you see in each of the four pieces.

A close-up view of the router bit.

Once the pieces were cut out, trimmed, and detailed, it was time to tackle the hardest step of all, the side detail.  Each side piece had a detail routed into the side that parrallelled the edge and included a slight flair at the top and the bottom.

This step was very difficult becasue there was no easy way to tackle it.  There was no way to use a fence as a guide because of all the curves, and routing it out freehand would be way to risky, as one slip with the router would ruin the entire piece.  Therefore, we decided to cut a pattern for each one that we could follow with a bearing and a straight cutting bit.

The first step was to make a brand new patterns of the headboard and footboard pieces.  We did this because we wanted to keep the original patterns unscathed, allowing us to use them for future sleigh beds, should the opportunity arrise.  Once we flush trimmed new patterns out, we then traced a line inset by .5″ from the outside edge.  We then cut along the inside of that line using a jigsaw and cleaned up the excess very carefully using a Bosch Colt router and a sharp straight cutting bit.  This step required extreme care and concentration because one slip would ruin it and the process would have to be repeated with a brand new pattern blank.  Thankfully, we only slipped once and the mistake was easily remedied.

After all that work, we had a pattern like you see in the left side of the picture above.  It was nailed onto the side piece using 23 gauge pin nails to hold it securely in place, and a router outfitted with a collet and a straight bit was set on top of the pattern and, following the inside edge of the pattern, the middle of the piece was routed away, as seen in the far right piece in the above picture.

And that is how you make the sides for the headboard and footboard!

Material: Quarter-Sawn Sapele, Eastern Walnut

Dimensions: 120″Long, 14″ Wide, 26″ High

A wholesale client of mine in San Francisco sent me this project. A very simple and very long hall table.

The first step was to flatten the two 8″ wide boards on the jointer and mill down to 1.75″ using the thickness planer.  You can’t see it in this picture, but the grain detail on the quarter-sawn Sapele never ceases to amaze me every time I mill down a board!

Once we milled the boards to the correct thickness, we flattened off one edge on the jointer, cut the board to 7.125″ on the table saw, and glued both jointed edges together.  After gluing overnight, we sent the entire top through a widebelt sander to get a perfectly flat finished surface.

Now that the top was done, it was time to focus on the legs.  After milling up four leg blanks 30″ long and 2.5″ square, we marked for the two mortises, and using the hollow-chisel mortiser, made all eight mortises.

The legs are the only part of the project that have any detail. That detail is a slight angle from just below the stringers to the bottom of the leg.  The top dimension of theleg will be 2.5″ square, while the bose of the legwill be 2″ square.  That .25″ angle on each side will add just enough detail to keep the console table from looking to farm style, yet simple enough to not look out of place.

With the legs mortised and the sides angled, we milled up the four stringers out of Eastern Walnut, tennoned each end, sanded all the legs and stringers, and began the assembly.

The client requested a different material for the stringers, either Maple of Walnut, to help break up the vast expanses of Sapele.  After looking at the 3D rendered drawing with Sapele and Maple, he decided it was too striking of a contrast, and chose to go with the more subtle look of Eastern Walnut.

As you can see, a glue-up that extends over a length of 118″ doesn’t lend itself to an easy glue-up.  We had one long custom-made pipe clamp from a project a decade ago that was long enough, but nothing else.  Well, it was just time to improvise.  Using two clamps facing in opposite directions and overlapping the ends in the middle, we were able to make “one” pipe clamp.

The two white sticks are supports to keep the middle of the stringer at the correct height to ensure the base glues up correctly.

After the top was sanded smooth, it was attached to the base via 14 pocket screws and no glue.  We chose to use pocket screws to allow for a certain amount of wood movement.  If the top was glued to the base using dowels of loose tennons, there is the chance in the future that as the top expands and contracts, the glue joints would breaks free and cause all kinds of havoc between the top and the base.

The three pictures above are what the console table looks like with three coats of tung oil on the base and four coats on the top.  With quarter-sawn Sapele you are looking at the edge of the grain, not the face of the grain.  That means when the oil hits the wood and sinks down into the pores, the oil beads reflect the light in all different directions, giving the surface a shimmering, iridescent look.  Very striking indeed!

After allowing the tung oil to dry for a couple of days, it was time to ship this table off to San Francisco.  Packing and shipping my pieces of furniture still scares me to death. I worry about every possible thing that could go wrong!  This table was pretty simple though. After covering the top in two layers of 1″ bubble wrap, and thouroughly wrapping it with plastic stretch wrap (the greatest packing aid known to man!), we laid it upside down on the base of the pallet, nailed on all the necessary 2×4’s and braces, attached the top, lined the sides in cardboard, and had FedEx National LTL pick it up!