The lumber for the hall table has stickered for over a week, more than long enough to stabilize. I would have worked on it sooner, but have not had much shop time. I have accomplished a few things, though, including gluing the door veneer to the doors. This was done using a matched pair of torsion boxes, about 6″ x 18″ x 23″. I used Pro-Glue, a urea resin glue, for the adhesive. Since the veneer is being glued to a stable substrate (MDF), I needed a rigid glue to resist any movement of the veneer. Pro-Glue works well for this, as well as Unibond 800 or Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue. As with all products, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. In this case, the Pro-Glue was handy.
I also glued the veneer to the front “rails” and “stiles.” I know it sounds like I’m building a cabinet when I say I’m building a table, but it’s really a cabinet with a very wide top, so I am using the term interchangably depending on the context. In this glue-up, I used Titebond. I just use the regular old-fashioned stuff, not the type II or type III. For a project like this, I don’t need a waterproof glue, and I’m most familiar with the working properties of the regular Titebond, so that’s what I use. Anyway, Titebond (all types) is a semi-rigid glue. Since the rail and stile “substrate” is solid wood, I think a semi-rigid glue is best so things can easily shrink and expand. Not that there will be much movement in two or three inches, but there will be some. I’m sure a rigid glue would work fine here, but the yellow glue is easy. I use a little paint roller (Shurline 3″ Trim Roller) to spread it on both surfaces. When not in use, I store the roller in a freezer Ziploc bag.
The photo below shows the cabinet sides in clamps, and the rest of the material stickered. I always sticker my lumber when its being stored. I’m a bit of a fanatic about it, but it keeps everything nice and straight.
The main reason for the photo is to show part of my shop. I’ll show more later, when it’s a little more presentable. I’ve been gradually moving in, after moving out of my rented space almost two years ago. I had 1200 square feet located in an industrial area in Torrance. I built this garage to take the place of that space, and the downsizing has been a challenge. The garage is 21′ x 32′ (exterior dimensions of course), so the space is about half the size of my old shop, and the ceiling is a lot lower too. And, there’s all the “garage stuff” that needs to fit. I’m sure you get the idea.
What you see in the photo (machinery-wise) is my 16″ Laguna bandsaw, my vintage Powermatic 66 table saw (circa 1966), 20″ Conquest Industries disc sander, and just the front edge of my Jet drill press. In the background is all the “garage stuff.” Note the “loft” up above. This third of the garage is the single-car-door side, and was originally slated for my wife’s car. After she saw the space, she decided she wanted it more for her own work space than for her car, so there will be a work table there at some point.
I’ll get into more details of the shop soon.
You can see where the blade caught it. I was cutting narrow pieces about 3/32″ thick and this was the last cut. The offcut was less than 1/16″. I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but the most likely scenario was this: my pushstick had been cut through a couple of times and there was a gap near where the offcut was located. The offcut must have moved over just enough to reach the gap, then got trapped against the blade and pushstick.
I always tell me students to watch out for small offcuts and I didn’t heed my own advice. Here’s where I was hit:
It really stung. When I looked at the skin immediately afterwards, there was hardly a mark. That evening, there was some swelling, but I knew a bruise was on the way. Four days later it looked like this:
Lesson? Watch out for small offcuts! What should I have done? Moved the fence to the right about 3/32″, made a cut that resulted in no offcut, then moved the fence back into position to make the final cut with no offcut. No offcut – no kickback. Next time…