M3F's Corner

[M3F]

A repeat customer ordered a table and supplied the wood top.  The wife wants a long thin table for under a windowsill. 

He gave me a picture of one with an "X" design so I drew my version up and gave him another couple options I thought of. I really wish I could draw! 

Anyway he's my best customer and usually gives me artistic freedom.  Hopefully he likes my ideas more than the "X"  

 

[M3F]

People love these. They're easy to make and profitable. Customer ordered another to go with it. 

[Frazer]

I see what you did there with the thread title... Listen, we can add as as many corners as we like to IFI, but at a certain point it starts to look circular. *grin*

 I like your sketch concepts. Hopefully he picks the third one so I can see how you do it.

Look up the CBA level III grille project. The beveled, conical scrolls would look cool there.

[M3F]

Ugh I see what your saying. I knew I got the idea from somewhere. Gonna have to remedy that. I figured with how much I've been posting I should start my own instead of blowing up "What did you do in the shop today." 

Unfortunately his wife picked the "X" but he said he may ask for another table down the road because he preferred the scrollwork. 

[Frazer]

No worries, I'm just giving you a hard time. I think most people start by blowing up the WDYDITST thread; I did anyway.

Ah, well, maybe you build yourself a table when you're done!

[M3F]

Yeah I see I can't edit the topic name even though I started it. Oh well. Yeah the level 3 scrolls would have been nice and speaking of the curriculum I may start looking into level 1 classes soon, seems like there's a lot of good skill building exercises through the training. 

[anvil]

Nice designs. It's great to make suggestions, so here goes. I would do the "X" out of square stock and do a slit and drifted pass-thru. This is different than how its done in, I think the level 2 or 3 abana exercises. They use a slot punch which removes material. A slit chisel does not remove material. Its far easier to work to dimension using a slit chisel and you get a cleaner, more structurally sound detail. Using 1" material as an example, you get a full 1/2" thickness around your frogs eye. If you remove material, you can't.  . I could explain how to do  it to dimension, but instead, I recommend "The Blacksmiths Cookbook" by Francis Whitaker. His explanation is far better than mine for both a round hole and a square one. 

I would use an angled tenon to join the "X" to the horizontal pieces. 

Your upset ends on the horizontal bars is great. I love simple and elegant and use that ending quite a lot.

Looking forward to seeing this develop.

[M3F]

Thanks Anvil I appreciate it.  The upsets are simple but elegant in my opinion also. 

Here's the base. I wanted to do exactly what you said with drifting the "x" but the angle is too acute. The points of the X are only going to be 9" apart as the table top is only 11" wide. I've been thinking about it for days. I don't like the way it looks if the X bars are placed on either side of the horizontal bars so my only choice is to do some fab work and cut and weld the X. 

I chose 3/4" sq bar instead of 1" sq. I wanted the framework a bit thinner than the table top which is an inch thick. That and 20ft of 3/4" sq vs 1" sq was over $100 less. 

[anvil]

Looking good!