Project working

Will has started construction a pair of our classic half round tables. Weve made maybe 20 versions of this design over the years, 3 legs, 4 legs, paint and natural, paint and stain, etc., but for some reason, none in the last couple of years ... styles change I guess. These clients bought one of our cherry and burl dining tables about 10 years ago and it was nice to have a visit with them at their table while we were working on the final designs. Half round tables involve lots of nice jigs and processes and I will try to keep up with the whole deal here as we go along ... Click the photos to enlarge them.
Close up showing edge inlay
The cad drawings with a little extra perspective added manually.
First step was to layout the taper of the legs and make this two step jig for cutting the four tapers on the table saw. The 3/4" plywood base is 6" wide and the angled guide blocks are set using the pencil lines laid out on the first leg blank. Two adjacent sides are cut with the clamps in the #1 position and then the clamps are moved to where they are in the photo and the final two tapering cuts are made. We find its best to layout and cut the dadoes for the break moldings and cut the mortises before we do the tapers. that way you are working with rectangular stock.
Here Will is assembling the forms he needs to glue up the curved aprons. These tables are not half rounds but are custom size (45.75" x 19.5") ovals so none of our existing forms would work. The CNC though can make extremely short work of cutting the ply pieces for the forms quickly and accurately.
The forms are lined with a layer of cardboard and the laminates are glued with Elmers white or yellow, or Titibond, as you wish.
Here are some glued up pieces and two sets in the clamps ... After the outside final 1/8" veneers are all glued to the core stock, the laminates will be jointed and ripped to width on the table saw. Then well add the borders and do the joinery.
The cherry tops will have our standard trapezoid edge inlay ... details of that coming soon ...