Spring Pole Lathe-Part 2

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Greg Merritt

Confession time…if you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I started this lathe project a week ago.  I’m little behind on my blogging, but I’ve been running a little time management experiment this week. Continue reading →

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Spring Pole Lathe-Part 1

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Greg Merritt

I have always been fascinated by the lathe.  There is something mesmerizing about watching the shapes appear from the spinning wood.  As much as I like the lathe, I never planned on adding one to my shop.  There’s a whole list of excuses why and I had taken the lathe off of my to-do list and penciled it in on my some-day list. Continue reading →

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How I Apply an Oil/Wax Finish

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Greg Merritt

It is no secret that I prefer a hand-rubbed oil finish.  It is my go-to finish of choice.  I don’t think that I am alone in this fondness.  Judging by the blog posts and articles that I read, several others feel the same way. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 9-Complete

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Greg Merritt

Finally!  After days of applying finish and buffing, these two staked dining tables are finally complete!  This project started as a simple idea from the “The Anarchist’s Design Book” for two easily moved “knock-down” tables.  That simple idea became a wealth of experience and learning.  I truly learned a lot while building these trestles and the accompanying tops. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 8

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Greg Merritt

Just a quick update on my progress over the past week.  With any luck, the next post will be the last in this series and these two tables will move into the complete column.  So, over the past week… Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 7

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Greg Merritt

As per my usual, every day after work this week I tried to get in half an hour to an hour of work on the tables.  After a nine or ten-hour day at work you would think I would just come home and relax.  Well that is exactly what I’m doing.  A little wood working is the best way to quiet my mind.  Anyway I made some progress. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 6

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Greg Merritt

It has been a long hard week in the shop.  I have the aches and pains to remind me of it.

Almost every evening after work I worked on getting the table tops together.  I continued my method of flattening one face and squaring an edge on each board.  Then glueing up two boards at a time.  I actually got pretty good at it.  I could prep two boards, add the alignment biscuits and have them in the clamps in about an hour and a half.  That is how my week went.  By Friday I was ready to assemble the first top. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 5

Posted on February 19, 2017 by Greg Merritt

Progress is being made in drips and drabs.

In my last post I reviewed my day of wood butchery.  I’m happy to report that my repairs were successful and the split tops are once again solid.  The second round of assembly went without incident and all four trestles are together. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 4

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Greg Merritt

My day in the shop, henceforth known as the great wood massacre of February 2017, did not go smoothly.  All of my problems were of my own making however.  I was working with an unfamiliar material (poplar) as well as an unfamiliar tool.  To finish off the perfect recipe for disaster I changed one of my techniques.  Stupid, stupid, stupid. Continue reading →

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Table Trestles-Part 3

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Greg Merritt

With the top slabs thicknessed, cut to size and squared it was time for the layout.  This was a simple task of transferring the layout from my design drawing to the slabs.

There are several ways that I can translate my scaled drawing into full-scale.  Sometimes I simply pull out a piece of paper and draw the project to size.  This is handy because it gives me something to continually check my actual pieces against.  Other times I may lay out a story stick.  For this project I simply created a full-scale version of the module block that is found on the drawing.  No matter the method, most of the work is done with dividers once the initial base measurement is established.  In this case that measurement is 180mm. Continue reading →

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