Side Table, Part 6: Glue-up and Feet

I had been dreading the glue-up for weeks.  I went over it many times in my head and it wasn't too bad.  But I did have two screw-ups.  As everyone knows, it's tough to get pictures during a glue-up because you're rushing to get things in clamps before the glue sets.  So there are no in-progress pics.

Clamped up

The sequence went like this:

1. The day before the main glue-up, glue the drawer dividers. The tenons of the runners (the front to back members) get glued into the front rail mortises, but the rear runner tenons stay dry in their mortises.
2. Glue the left side dovetails to the bottom pins.
3. Glue the right side dovetails to the bottom pins.
4. Disassemble the right side dovetails because you forgot to glue the drawer dividers into the left side dadoes first.  Rrrrrrr!  Curse loudly.
5. Glue the drawer dividers into the left side dadoes.  Glue only goes where the rails will fit the dadoes - the runners are free to float in the dado.
6. Glue the right side dovetails into the bottom right pins and the drawer dividers into the right side dadoes.
7. Glue the top rails into the half-blind dovetail sockets at the top of the sides.
8. Get some clamps on the whole.
9. Check for square and set up a Spanish windlass (the twisted rope) to pull it into square.  It was out a little more than 1/16".
10. Fit the frame and panel back into the rabbets to help keep the carcase square.
11. Get a couple more clamps on to seat the dividers more fully in their dadoes.

Another view

Although this was stressful, it seems to have come out fine.  I messed up one other thing.  The rear top rail is in backwards, and because of that, the back edge of that rail does not line up with the rabbets and leaves a gap between the rail and the F&P back.

Mind the gap!  That's not supposed to be there, but no big deal.

OK, with that done I focused on the bracket feet.  From the picture below, you can see that each foot is made from two mirror image parts that are mitered and glued at the corner.  The shape was first made on a thin plywood template.

I wanted the feet to be made from 1" thick poplar, but was afraid that might look too clunky.  So I experimented with 3/4" stuff and compared.  In the end, I stayed with 1" material.

The 3/4" thick foot glued up and clamped, the template and the four 1" blanks that will become feet

In making these parts, there was another "order of operations" question that I had to think about.  To cut the miters first or shape the profile first, that is the question.

Here's one that I shaped first, then sawed (and planed) the miter second.
The vise had plenty of grip on the thin end.

I tried it both ways and they both can be done, but when planing the miter I found it better to clamp the unshaped blank in the vise for a better grip.

One way of planing the miter

A much better way of clamping the piece for planing the miter

If I shaped the profile first, there's less for the vise to hold, but it can still work

The miters turned out easier to do than I thought they might be.  I sawed most of the waste away, then planed to layout lines and checked the angle with a combination square.  As it turned out, my glue-ups were not even close to square, so I didn't really need the miters to be perfect 45° cuts.  I ended up planing the outside surfaces square to each other after the glue dried.

The shaping was done first with coping saw, then with chisels/gouges and finally rasps and files.

The Knew Concepts coping saw works great

It's nice to have an incannel gauge for the concave areas

Here's how the feet will look, minus glue-blocks

I'm installing glue-blocks on the inside surfaces of the feet.  These will provide extra surface area when gluing the feet to the underside of the carcase and also a place to drive a couple screws.  I also drilled holes through the feet for screws, though the half-feet at the back of the carcase will be over a rabbet, so I didn't think the screws would be a good idea there.

Glued the horizontal blocks first, then the vertical block later.
The vertical block is shaped so it won't easily be seen.

Feet with glue blocks: foot at left is a back foot with only one screw hole through the foot

And here's a foot standing upright (leaning against another one).

How the foot will look

Next up: drawer making and fitting.