Next is to make the column cap and the tenon that will
tie the two together. The tenon will
have a square bottom to fit in the square chase in the column and a round half
to fit into the ½” hole in the top.
I started with the tenon using a piece of scrap oak and
cut it to ½” wide by .53” thick. I had
intended to use a ½” square piece but when I measured the center chase it was
.03” of an inch over ½” in one dimension.
I must have had the dado blade set to cut just about .015” deep. One cut in each board equals the .03”. With the blank done I marked where the square
part ends and the round starts then mounted it in the lathe. To keep the corners of the square part from
chipping off while turning the top half round I used a Japanese fine-toothed
pull saw to make a small cut on each of the corners.
It did not take long to turn the square round, measure
and fit it to snugly fit in a ½” hole.
The column cap is easy.
The only thing I had to keep in mind when cutting the 2” long cap from the
end of my 14” blank is to make sure the grain matched up with the end of the
column. Once cut I marked the center,
put it in a wooden hand screw clamp and drilled the hole.
Here are is the long column on the left, the tenon in the
center and the cap on the right. Later
the top of the long column will get a ¼” deep reveal cut on all four sides.
Assembling the three pieces and clamping them together
shows how the grain flows between the column and the cap.
Laying out all the dados and holes in the column are
next. No two sides have the same
arrangement of dados for the baffles and lights. It is critical to get the layout right. Either that or I do a redesign should I goof
up.
Below is the top half of the column with the light and
baffle locations marked out. The areas
with the “X” are where I will cut. However, before I started to do the actual cutting I marked the
faces I will see when making the cut either “Yes” or “No”. If “Yes” it is set up right and if “No” then
it’s not. The reason it can look wrong
is you are looking at the top but making the cut on the bottom so it is the
opposite face from what I see that actually gets cut. Seeing the cut lines on the up face is a
powerful visual que that it is OK to make the cut when it may not be. I know it sounds simple but believe me from
experience it’s really easy to do it wrong.
Here is the table saw setup. The board clamped to the crosscut fence
provides backup to the cut so when the blade exits the edges of the piece are
not chipped. The piece of oak clamped to
the rip fence is my stop. Before each
cut I push the column up to it for a consistently located cut and clamp it in
place with the tall wood clamp on the miter gauge. I use the tall clamp to make sure the column
does not move during the cut. That would
be a bad thing.
After making all the cuts for the baffles I added
chippers to the dado to get a 13/16” wide cut for the top of the column. The final cut is only ¾” wide but I wanted it
a little bit over size to eliminate one of the score marks the outside blades
leaves. The outside blades cut a score
line at the outside edges that are just a tiny bit deeper than the rest of the
dado cut. That is also why I did not
make multiple passes with the 5/16” stack I used to cut the baffle dados. I need a flat smooth bottom here as it will
be exposed. Here is what the column
looks with all the cuts done.
Next, I checked the fit of the cap on the column and made
some minor adjustments then sanded the dado and end grain cuts smooth. Here is what the cap looks like on the
column.
Setting the column aside for a bit I worked on the
base. There are quite a few parts to the
base, most of them hidden supports to provide the necessary strength for the
column and it’s attached parts. The base
is only 1 7/16” deep and the column sets 40” plus above the base. That sets the stage for a lot of leverage
where they come together. To make sure
the column won’t break its connection to the base I need to make it pretty
stout.
After getting the perimeter pieces for the base to final
thickness and width I cut them a couple inches long mitered the ends and did a
test fit to check and make sure the miters fit tight and square. With everything checking out I set up a stop
block on the miter fence and cut the pieces to their final length plus
1/8”.
Next is to cut the rabbit that the maple plywood top will
fit into. First is to set the width of
the cut, in this case about 3/8” and a little deeper than the thickness of the
plywood. That is so when I make the next
cut I won’t have to match the corner exactly.
There is another reason that I will go into when it’s time to glue the
top on.
Second is to lay the piece face down, set the width of
the cut to just over the thickness of the ¼” plywood. I want it a little thicker so I can use a
scraper to bring the top of this piece down to match the plywood exactly. Plywood is not always the same thickness so I
want a little buffer to work with. I can
always shave a little off the top of the perimeter pieces but because the
veneer on the plywood is only about .025” thick there little to no margin of
error there.
I can now cut the pieces to their final length. Here is the jig I use to cut the miters. The reason for the extra 1/8” is because when
I butt the piece to be cut against the fence then make the cut I lose 1/8” in
length.
Here all four finished pieces are in the framing
clamp. No glue here just checking to
make sure all the joints are flush, tight and square.
Next Up – The Base Part 2
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