Sah-Lute!

quote:

Originally posted by 4x5:
Great looking furniture! What kind of wood are the tops made out of, and were pieces of it glued together to make it wide enough?

I would have loved to have done a glue up of some four quarter walnut for the tops on those pieces, maybe with breadboard ends, but it simply was too expensive for their budget. As such, I just used a piece of 3/4 birch plywood, banded the edges, and stained it walnut. Easy to replace if it ever gets damaged.

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Originally posted by SR:
I get that you wanted to build the furniture but I don't understand your friend's requirement or your willingness to build away from your shop. Seems an unnecessary complication that could result in lower quality (or more work for you). Am I missing something?

BTW, the finished items look great.

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Originally posted by joel9507:

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Now the kicker. He wanted it built at his house over a couple weekends meaning I couldn't really use any of my stationary tools (i.e. no table saw, router table, band saw, assembly table, etc). Only hand tools for this build, and working on top of sawhorses or on the ground.

I imagine there must have been some reasons for that request, and for your having agreed to it. But offhand, I can't think of what those might have been.

Nice work on the design/execution!

Here's the deal on agreeing to build at his home and not in my shop. He's an older guy, not in great health, and lives a ways away from me. He generally doesn't stray far from home, but he wanted to 'help' me build the furniture for his daughter. As such, he asked if I could build at his house. I don't think quality suffered, though it did take me much longer and was far more challenging to build in this way. And by the way, his help entailed 1) chatting with me, 2) handing me a tape measure or pencil, and 3) getting us a beverage on occasion. But in the end, he could claim part responsibility for the end product, which was important to him.

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Originally posted by HRK:
Way better than iKea

This word you say 'Ikea'. I do not recognize this word.

The stain looks good. It's a little tricky to stain plywood and get it nice and even.

I've built quite a few things with 2'x4' edge banded 3/4" plywood. I really wish they would make the edge banding about 1/64" narrower to match the thickness of the plywood though.

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Originally posted by BlackTalonJHP:
I really wish they would make the edge banding about 1/64" narrower to match the thickness of the plywood though.

Nah, you don't. That extra width really helps to insure the banding fully covers the edges, even if you're a little off applying it. Then you use a banding trimmer to take the banding down close to the final width, and finish it off with some 150 grit sandpaper on a sanding block.

Wow, that's really nice, especially that coffee table with the lid.

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Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
This sounded like a 'Pitch your Bitch'.

I thought you were going to tell your friend to get bent.

Nope. He's an old friend and his daughter is terrific, so wherever I could help, I thought I'd try.

And you succeeded....very nice work, very good friend.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
This sounded like a 'Pitch your Bitch'.

I thought you were going to tell your friend to get bent.

I got the same vibe but I’m glad it had a positive resolution. You do good work, sir. I wish I had some skill in the trades.

What an incredible gift you have and gifted