Monday, September 7, 2009

X-Y Table & some scrubbing


Taking breaks from mocking up I spent some time attempting a "poor man's x-y table" Just some plywood and T bars. The hold-down was a pleasant surprise waiting for me at a local store. To my experience I never thought I would stumble upon something I was actually looking for and costing less than I anticipated! It's made by Wood River and labeled as a drill press hold down. I picked it up on sale for about $12. It's by no means super heavy duty but for $12 I think it's pretty good. Having a plywood top I can just drill a new hole for it when the need arises.
I don't know how long this table will last or how long till I'm fed up with it but it will do for now.


With the two mock ups done I worked on the coffee table mock up. I did not think it would give me so much trouble. The two smaller tables are just that... smaller, and taller proportionally. I felt I achieved a level of grace and a balance between airiness and stability with the first two, but the coffee table didn't seem to come to life so "easily". A coffee table is quite the opposite to a pedestal, but I'm trying to keep a similar theme and feeling.
I got closer to what I want with it but by that point was getting tired of mocking up. Sooooo I'm putting the coffee table aside for now to start on the real deal of the others.
Pictured above, scrubbing a pair of Kwila planks from Jason at Cormark International in North Carolina. Sorry guys, this is what I use my metal plane for heh.
It's always nice to get back into project wood. This Kwila is quite nice. It's pretty straight grained, I wasn't seeing much tear-out even with my rough scrubbing, it's in the mid slightly dark tones of Kwila I've seen, and there's some nice chatoyance. I need to get more of this! Though there are so many others I would like to get my hands on as well.

Well my schedule at the part-time job is a bit more full than I would like it to be this month. Hopefully I will still be able to get some good work done.

4 comments:

Nick Brygidyr said...

hey buddy thats XY table looks good. before i got my mortise pal i was thinking of jigging up my router with that kinda xy table.

That kwila looks smexy. i'm going on a wood run pretty soon and just buying anything that rubs me the right way, oh baby!

Nicholas Nelson said...

Yay wood shopping ha! who needs shoes when there are planks to be had!?
Where are you going? I wish I was even remotely close to something nice :/
900 miles to A&M, 1750 miles to Gilmer, 1050 to Cormark, 1150 to Hearne...

Nick Brygidyr said...

theres an exotic dealer in my area that has some nice stuff. mostly domestic, but they do have some kwila, teak, mahogany, etc etc.

im planning on picking up some kwila, soft maple and euro beech.

i'm about a 10 hour drive to A&M, gilmers is on the other side of the country...

Anonymous said...

I'm so sad.:( That poor metal hand plane. I need to save it from the life it is living. It deserves so much more. You thought it was condensation but those were tears.