The undercarriage of the table looks like this:
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| Bistro table undercarriage |
The uprights get a long cove and the feet and top supports get some straight cuts. The shaping of the uprights was straightforward. I used a thin, bendable stick to mark the curve, starting and ending about 1/8" from the bridle joint miters. Then I made some relief cuts,
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| Relief cuts down to the layout line |
chiseled out the waste, and cleaned it up with a spokeshave.
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| Fairing the curve with a spokeshave |
The feet and top supports were easy - just a couple of straight saw cuts, followed by cleaning up with a plane or chisel.
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| A foot with one of the off-cuts |
After final surface planing of these parts, I did a dry-run of the glue-up.
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| Extra clamps make sure the feet and top supports are seated against the uprights |
Did my best to ensure things were square, but I knew I could plane to squareness later.
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| Checking glued up parts for square |
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| Four leg / foot / top support subassemblies in the clamps |
When the glue had dried, I cleaned up the joints with a smoother. I re-squared the parts that would support the top. I'll be using some leg levelers on the feet, so it wasn't necessary to ensure squareness there.
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| Leg subassemblies out of the clamps |
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| Marked one end as "top supports" and squared them |
The four legs will be glued to a center "post". I started by gluing two leg subassemblies to the center post. Curved cauls were helpful in clamping the curved leg parts.
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| Two leg subassemblies glued to the central post |
When that was dry, I glued on a third subassembly, and when that was dry, the fourth.
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| Last of the leg subassemblied being glued onto the post |
Glue-ups are almost always interesting, in that you have to really think things through. It was a small challenge to find good ways to clamp this up.
And here is the result - the undercarriage is complete.
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| All glued up |
Next time: a really interesting exercise in making the subtop.
I like the trick on gluing the legs to a central post. Kind of like how Stickley did their quartersawn legs.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have plowed a shallow 1/8" groove in the column and the legs. That would key them and keep them from moving during glue up.
I like that idea, Ralph. As it was, the glue-up was fairly challenging. The center post was exactly the same 1" thickness as the legs, so there was little room for error. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I could've drilled some holes for dowels for perfect placement while gluing. Next time ...
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