Cutting top joinery

The frame members are each 7" wide and under. They have to support nearly 100 lbs of glass so the joinery must be bullet proof. I cut a 1/2 floating tenon into each mahogany piece and a 1/8" floating tenon into the maple pieces, mostly for alignment, but also to keep the angled glue-up form flexing its way apart over time.

Now they are ready to be glued up.

 Again a two person task.

Just a size comparison on the frame. Imagine the glass.

 Now the edge profile can be routed. Held off on this so I had more surface area for the ratchet straps to hold. Also to keep from damaging the profile.

Ready for finishing.

 Finally.

Detail of the dovetail key. 

An approximation:

Top frame assembley

As usual in this project little begets big and now it is time to tackle the top of the coffee table. I begin by assembling the individual frame components.

 The live edge is fitted to the mahogany with custom cut floating tennons, this is mainly for alignment during glue up.

Gluing up a maple and mahogany bit, that step in the maple is for the glass top to fit into. 

 Tape holds in a small accent strip of Macassar Ebony.

all trimmed up.

still not done. 

 The large open gap in this live edge gets an oversized butterfly key. It hides the edge of the glass, reinforces the frame piece and also serves as the "key" to judge top alignment. This key will correspond with a brass dot on the case side so the top goes on with the right orientation every time.

Bored and half cut. It breaks the ebony accent just slightly. 

 All the angles must then be cut for the frame members. Careful measurement when cutting out the maple pieces allows all the 8 sides to meet within 1/4" of each other allowing for a continuous live edge with minimal carving after glue up.

All pieces are dry fitted. 

Joinery awaits. 

Assembly complete

That says it all, everything is cut, glued, put together and largely finished, just some tweaking, and a few more coats of finish, glass and suede and this one is out the door.

There is that lid. Soss invisible hinges are used so when closed there are no obstructions. 

Now the back

After returning from the Buyers Market in Philadelphia I found the solid piece of wood for the fixed portion of the lid warped beyond use- since it is the same board as the back live edge section of the hinged part I just couldn't use another piece. Sticky situation. I needed that board. So I had to make plywood out of it. That will teach it.

First I had to slice the warped piece into veneers, one for the back of the sheet and one for the front to balance out the stresses in the wood. 

Stable as can be, and flat to boot. 

The frame is dyed and ready to be glued up. 

Top it off

After working my way up from the very bottom all that is left is a lid. The end table was first in line, for whatever reason, maybe to build confidence as the designs do not cross over enough for it to be a proving ground. 

The lid for the end table was designed in two parts, a front part that is hinged and holds glass to view the fossil through and a fixed back part to allow it to act as a table even with the lid up. 

First the hinged front. 

Parts are cut and mocked up, this is how it will go together.

Details of joinery involved. The pieces of live edge maple in the front two corners of the lid reinforce it allowing the rest of the lid to be more delicate. 

Glue ups continue to be an adventure.

Once glued a cove is routed into the maple burl perimeter, echoing the cove molding at the bottom of the case. 

Bottoms!

Here they are two complete bottoms. I have started the top of the side table and will be posting it soon.

UNT Alumni Article

For those of you from the DFW area and all those who went to or know of the University of North Texas, I recently got a little article in their Alumni Magazine. Check it out:

http://northtexan.unt.edu/austin-heitzman