traditional swing-leg table

Transcription

traditional
swing-leg table
© 2011 August Home Publishing Co.
Feature
Project
Traditional Swing-Leg Table
Attractive, practical, and best of all, fun to build — this table has all the
ingredients for a great project.
T
he elegant look of this dropleaf table is undeniably eyecatching, but it’s also a bit deceiving.
This is no ordinary drop-leaf table
— it’s a classic swing-leg table.
Tables of this practical design have
been built for well over 200 years.
The trick is that two legs at opposite corners of the frame swing out
to support the raised leaves (inset
photo). With the leaves folded, the
table tucks neatly against a wall.
When a larger table is needed, lift
a leaf, swing a leg, and you have a
small dining or game table.
1
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But the versatile function of this
project is only half the story. As you
might imagine, building it involves
some timeless woodworking. The
unique frame accommodates the
two pivoting legs by means of wood
hinges or “knuckle joints” — certainly not an everyday shop task.
And making the round top with its
two drop leaves adds another opportunity to expand your skills.
If this isn’t enough to pique your
interest, I’ve thrown in a couple of
design options (page 10). It all adds up
to a combination that’s hard to beat.
{ Need a larger table? Lift a leaf and
swing out the leg to support it.
© 2011 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
Construction Details
Overall Dimensions: 36" x 36" x 29 3⁄4" (Leaves Extended); 36" x 12#/8" x 29#/4" (Leaves Folded)
Round top complements
light, graceful frame
NOTE: Router
trammel
used to
shape
round
top
Support block
connects inner
and outer side rails
Roundover
profile
on edge
Hinged outer side rail
holds swinging leg
Table frame is built using
double set of apron rails
Knuckle joint in outer
side rail allows leg to swing
Hinge pin
made
from !/4"-dia.
brass rod
Inner
side rails form
the backbone of
the frame
NOTE: Turned,
Sheraton-style
legs are
purchased, see
page 3
End rails and inner
side rails joined to form
sturdy core for frame
Applied bead molding
softens lower edge
of apron rails
NOTE: See
page 7 for
source
information
for hinges
Fixed leg joined
to end rails
Leg and
rail section
swing away
from frame
to support
leaf
NOTE: Table can be
built in several styles.
For options, see page 10
Knuckle joint
pivots on
brass hinge
pin inserted
through joint
Leaves and top mate with
traditional rule joint
Bevels on back
side of slots allow
joint to pivot freely
Table leaf
hinges mortised
into underside
of top
Fingers and slots
mesh to create
smoothly
pivoting joint
2
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Tongue and dado joint
NOTE: Pre-drill countersunk
#8 x 1!/4" Fh woodscrew
holes in top cleats
B
C
TOP CLEAT
a.
D
Mortise and
tenon joint
INNER
SIDE C
RAIL
#/4
!/2
A
NOTE: Sheraton-style
legs are purchased from
Classic Designs by
Matthew Burak
3#/4
B
END SECTION VIEW
1
D
30!/2
END
RAIL
3#/4
B
3
!/4
A
5!/2
c.
29
TOP
VIEW
!/2
A
b.
Glue cleats flush
to top edge of rails
D
TOP VIEW
!/4
!/2
A
LEG
4!/2
B
3
C
1
A
!/4
C
D
D
B
B
1
A
Tongue and dado joint,
see box below
!/4
Starting the Frame
As with most table projects, you’re
going to start by building the frame
or base. But this is where the similarity ends. The frame of a swing-leg
table is quite a bit different from a
standard table frame. So I’d better
start off with a short description of
the basic structure.
A Different Frame. The frame has to
form a stable base for the table, while
at the same time accommodating the
two pivoting legs that support the
leaves. This is done using a double
set of side apron rails. A set of inner
rails and the end rails are joined into
a sturdy, two-legged frame (drawing
above). The swinging legs are then
added to this assembly by means of
“hinged” outer side rails tenoned
into the fixed legs. It may seem complex, but a step-by-step approach
gets the job done.
The plan of attack is to start by
building the two-legged frame that
creates a foundation for the table. As
you can see in the drawings above,
the inner side rails are joined to the
end rails with a tongue and dado joint
to form a rigid box. The end rails and
the legs are connected with a mortise
and tenon joint.
the legs. The legs come first. You’ll
need four total, but at this point you’ll
only be working on two. To give the
table a somewhat formal look, I
ordered a set of pre-turned Sheraton-style legs from Classic Designs
by Matthew Burak (TableLegs.com,
#303-D.CH), which complement the
how-to: Tongue & Dado
a.
END VIEW
1!/2
!/4
B
Set rip fence
to position
dadoes
NOTE: Joinery in two
end rails is identical
Aux. miter
gauge fence
!/4
!/4
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Sneak up on
thickness of tongue
for snug fit to dado
!/4
!/2
C
B
!/4" dado blade
END VIEW
Two Dadoes. I started the tongue and dado joints by cutting two 1⁄4"-wide dadoes in each
rail. You can use the miter gauge with an auxiliary fence to feed the rails over a 1⁄4" dado
blade. Two different rip fence settings are needed to position the dadoes in the rails.
3
Auxiliary
rip fence
Tongues. Use a wider dado blade
buried in an auxiliary fence to cut
the tongues on the side rails.
round top. But as I mentioned, you
have several styles from which to
choose. Before you start on the
frame, make this decision and either
order or make the legs. If you decide
to build a simple, country-style table,
the box at right will show you how to
make a set of tapered legs.
Mortises. With the four legs in
hand, I picked out two to be the
fixed legs and two for the swinging
legs and marked them clearly. The
swinging legs can be set aside while
the fixed legs go to the bench to
have the mortises laid out.
Each fixed leg has an identical pair
of mortises — one for the end rail
and one for the outer side rail you’ll
add later. The dimensions are shown
in details ‘a’ and ‘b’ on page 3.
Once the layout is complete, you
can get down to business. I started at
the drill press — drilling out the bulk
of the waste from each mortise. Next,
I took the legs back to the bench to
square up the mortises with chisels.
“Fixed” Frame. With work on the
mortises done, you can start building the fixed frame that connects the
two legs. First, you’ll need to cut the
two end rails and the two inner side
rails to final width and length. Next,
some basic joinery is in store.
Tenons. I started with the end rails.
Note that even though the two rails
are on opposite ends of the frame,
they are made identically.
On one end, you’ll need to cut a 1⁄4"thick tenon to fit the mortise in the
fixed leg (detail ‘a’). This task can be
accomplished with a wide dado blade
installed in the table saw. The opposite end of the short rail is left square
— the swinging leg butts against it
when the table is “closed.”
Tongue & Dado. The tenons take
care of the end rail to leg joinery.
The frame joinery is completed by
connecting the side rails to the end
rails with tongue and dado joints.
Your goal is to make certain that
the outside face of the side rail is
flush with the tenon shoulder and the
square end of the end rail. A look at
detail ’c’ and the box on page 3 will
fill you in on the technique.
Assembly. Once the work on the railto-rail joinery is complete, you can
4
how-to: make a tapered leg
Swing-leg tables were often built
in a simple “country” style using
tapered legs and a square top, as
shown on page 10. One advantage
to this design is that it allows you
to make your own tapered legs.
To get started, you’ll need four
21⁄8"-square blanks cut to length.
The blanks can be glued up, but
blanks cut from solid stock will
give you a nicer-looking leg.
The leg is tapered only on the
two inside faces, starting 6" from
the top. To make the taper cuts on
the table saw, I built the plywood
jig, shown in Figure 1. The blank
rests in the tapered notch and is
held in place with double-sided
tape. Then the blank and jig are
pushed through the blade using
the rip fence as a guide.
When I made the cuts at the
saw, I left a little bit of waste to
be cleaned up with a pass across
the jointer. Sanding the cut faces
is another cleanup option.
LEG PROFILE
2!/8
6
29
1
NOTE: Use layout
lines on leg to
create notch in jig
Double-sided tape hold
leg blank in place
36
Support
Base
1
NOTE: Position laid out
leg blank on jig to
mark for notch
Taper jig is built
from #/4" plywood
TOP VIEW
1
Leg blank should fit
snugly in notch
a.
2
Blank flush to jig
edge at this mark
3
Push
block
Make single pass
across jointer to
clean up tapers
Use rip fence
to guide jig
past blade
Leg
NOTE: Leg blank
is 2!/8" square
start assembling the frame. First, I
glued the short rails and the inner
rails together, making certain the
assembly was perfectly square and
not twisted. Finally, I glued the two
legs onto the end rail tenons at the
opposite corners.
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Cleats. There’s one final task to
complete. You’ll need a way to fasten the tabletop to the frame later.
I planned for this by adding a pair
of cleats, pre-drilled for screws, to
the end rails, as shown in detail ‘c.’
They’re simply glued in place.
E
19" rgh.
F
FIXED RAIL
BLANK
3#/4
SUPPORT
BLOCK
!/4"-dia. brass
hinge pin
SWING RAIL
BLANK
3#/4
NOTE: Cut knuckle joint
before cutting rail
sections to length
G
4
F
E
A
13" rgh.
G
OUTER
SIDE RAIL
3#/4
E
LEG
A
E
29
NOTE: Bead molding
for hinged rail beveled
to match rail
NOTE: Side
rail bead
molding is
cut to fit
G
BEAD
MOLDING
b.
G
!/2
a.
c.
3
A
!/2
3#/4
!/4
!/4
%/16
!/4" beading bit
!/16"
shoulder
d.
11!/2
NOTE: Bead is flush
on both faces of rail
NOTE: Rout bead on
both edges of blank
and rip to width
E
NOTE: Only
one mortise
needed on
swinging leg
E
G
#/4
END
VIEW
!/2
END
VIEW
4!/2
G
TOP
VIEW
Swinging
leg
A
1!/8
A
F
E
4
Knuckle
joint
E
Swinging
leg
18!/4
Adding the Swing Legs
Things really get interesting now as
you install the outer side rails and
the swinging legs. The challenge
here is creating the knuckle joints
that allow the legs to pivot.
Knuckle Joints. The drawing above
shows what’s ahead. It may seem
backward, but I started with the
knuckle joints in the two rails. The
reason is that you need to take the
completed joint into account when
cutting the rails to their final length.
Page 6 shows how I made the
knuckle joints. It starts out similar
to a box joint. But instead of gluing
the joint, you install a hinge pin that
allows it to pivot.
The best approach is to take it slow.
I went as far as making a complete
trial joint. This is a pretty important
part of the project, and you want to
get it right.
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I’ll offer one more piece of advice.
When cutting the knuckles, shoot for
a snug fit. If necessary, it’s easy to
loosen up the fit with sandpaper. And
the joint will likely wear over time.
Size the Rails. When you’re satisfied
with the knuckle joints, completing
the frame is a breeze. Lay out and
cut the single mortise in each swinging leg. Then clamp each leg in place
on the frame to take a measurement
of the overall leg-to-leg rail length.
Cut the fixed section of the rail to a
“hard” dimension of 181⁄4" (detail ‘d’).
Then I assembled the knuckle joints
and used my leg-to-leg measurement
to mark a cut line on the swinging
section of the rail. Make sure you
include the length of the tenons.
Finish up. With the rail sections
cut to length, they get tenons on
the ends. And after making a pair of
support blocks (main drawing and
detail ‘d’), I started the assembly.
First, I glued the support block
to the inner rail. Then, the fixed rail
section is glued to the leg and block.
Finally, the swinging legs are glued
to the swinging rail sections.
Bead Molding. Before assembling
the knuckle joints for a test, there’s
one more thing you need to do. To
soften the lower edges of the rails, I
added an applied bead molding. It’s
made on the router table and glued
in place with the round of the bead
flush with the face of the rails (main
drawing and detail ‘a’). The side
pieces are cut to conform to the two
sections of the rail.
A Final note. When you install the
swing legs, don’t seat the pin fully.
You won’t be able to remove the
legs later for finishing.
how-to: make a knuckle joint
Making a knuckle joint can be broken down into three basic operations.
First, you cut the knuckles. These fit
together like the fingers of a box
joint. Next, you create relief on the
back side of the joint that allows it
to pivot without binding. Finally, you
drill a hole through the knuckles and
install the hinge pin.
Two blanks. To get started, you’ll
need to cut two, extra-long (about
32") rail blanks to width. Next, I
cut each blank into a 19"-long fixed
section and a 13"-long swinging section. You should have two clearly
marked matched sets.
Cutting The Knuckles. The 33⁄4"-wide
rails can be divided into five 3⁄4"-wide
sections. The fixed section of the rail
has three pins and two slots, while
the swinging section has two pins
and three slots (Figure 1a).
To cut the slots, I put together
what is essentially a simple box joint
jig for the table saw (Figure 1). With
a dado blade sized to exactly 3⁄4" wide,
you can cut the slots in a single pass.
You’ll find the details on the jig and
how to use it on page 12.
Relief Bevels. At this point, you have
snug-fitting knuckles on the ends of
2
FIRST:
Make saw
cut at
shoulders
the blanks. But to make them into
a free-swinging hinge, you need to
create relief space. This is simply a
3⁄ "-long bevel cut into the back side
4
of each slot, ending sharply at the
front face.
The easiest way to create these
bevels is with a back saw and a sharp
chisel. Define the shoulder lines with
a hand saw, and then chisel out the
waste (Figure 2). The bevel cuts
won’t show, so perfection isn’t the
goal. They just need to do the job.
Hinge Pin Hole. When you’ve finished the bevels, the last step is to
drill a vertical, 1⁄4"-dia. hole through
the knuckles for the brass hinge pin.
Make sure the hole is centered on
the joint and isn’t skewed.
1
The rail is too
wide to drill clear
through from one
side. You’ll need to drill
the pin hole from both sides using
a drill press or a doweling jig.
{ A knuckle
I carefully laid out the holes on
joint is
both edges of the fixed section, markbasically just
ing the centerpoint with an awl. Now,
a hinge made
with the joint apart, I drilled through
from wood.
just the outer pin on both edges, as
shown in Figure 3. Then I assembled
the joint to complete the hole, drilling
from both edges (Figure 4).
Pin. Finally, I cut a brass hinge pin
to length for each joint. After inserting the pin, test the joint to make sure
it swings freely. Don’t be surprised if
a little fine-tuning is necessary.
E
a.
#/4
#/4"
dado
blade
Knuckle
joint jig
3
NOTE: See
Shop Notebook
on page 12
to build jig
!/4" brad
point bit
Drill through outer
pin on both
edges of rail
Fixed
rail section
Swinging
rail section
a.
#/4
Lay out centerpoint
of hinge pin hole on
both edges of rail
Use fence to
support rail
square to table
#/8
TOP
VIEW
SECOND:
Remove waste
with chisel
Bevel ends
sharply at
front face
3#/4
#/4
Fixed
rail section
#/4
a.
Fixed
rail section
Swinging
rail section
Swinging rail
section
Fixed rail
section
4
Assemble
joint and
complete hole
drilling
from both
edges
Clamp rails to keep
joint aligned
Swinging
rail
section
a.
FRONT
SECTION
VIEW
Drill from
both edges
Fixed
rail section
6
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a.
NOTE: Center hinge pin !/16" to
outside of shoulder
NOTE: Extended
top is 36"
in diameter
1!#/16
1&/16
NOTE: Glue up
13"x 38" blank for
top and two 13!/2"x 38"
blanks for leaves
&/16
NOTE: See box below
for more details
on installing hinges
b.
LEAF
TOP
I
H
SIDE
SECTION
VIEW
LEAF
I
%/16 !/8
END
VIEWS
!/2"
roundover
bit
Roundover profile
routed on edge
Table-leaf
hinge
NOTE: Complete rule
joint before
routing top to shape
!/2"
cove bit
!/8
!/8
Drop-Leaf Top
All you have left to do is make the
round, drop-leaf top. This is certainly
a bit more involved than a simple
slab tabletop, but it isn’t difficult. The
trick is to take on each distinct task
in the right order.
Glueup. To get started, I glued up
and surfaced three, oversized panels — one for the center section
and one for each leaf. You’ll need
enough material to form the rule
joint and then rout the top to its circular shape. So give yourself two
extra inches in length and an inch or
more in width on each panel.
When choosing and laying out the
boards, I paid attention to both the
grain and color match across each
panel and between the panels. You
want the most consistent look possible in the completed top. Once the
glueups are completed and the panels are cleaned up, be sure to mark
where each one goes.
Rule Joint. The next job is to form
the rule joints and install the hinges
(Rockler.com, #29256) between the
top section and the leaves. This
needs to be done before the shape of
the table can be laid out and routed.
First, you’ll need to rip and joint
the top to final width (12"). The two
edges should be perfectly straight
and square. The mating edge on
each leaf should also have a clean
and straight edge.
Router table. Your next stop is the
router table. Forming a smoothly
functioning rule joint is definitely
a satisfying piece of woodworking.
Instead of getting into the details
here, I’ve included a separate article
all about routing a perfect rule joint.
The Hinges. With the work at the
router table completed, installing
the table-leaf hinges is next. The
goal is simple in theory. You want to
position the hinges so that the cove
on the leaf rotates smoothly around
the roundover on the top with minimal clearance.
how-to: install the table leaf hinges
38" rgh.
See Shop Notebook
on page 11 for mortise
routing details
38"
rgh.
Use hinge to
locate position
of mortise
H
Shape
of top
14!/2"
rad.
12
18"
rad.
Chisel out slot
mortise to hold
barrel of hinge
Use circle to
position template
Circle crosses rule
joint at centerpoint of
hinge mortise
Draw Two Circles. Draw one circle to define the
shape of the top and another circle to mark the
centerpoint of the hinge mortises.
7
Routing
template
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Rout Mortises. I used a template and
short pattern bit to rout the primary
mortises for the table-leaf hinges.
Barrel Mortise. To complete the
hinge mortises, chisel out a narrow
slot for the barrel of the hinge.
To accomplish this, the hinge pin
is located near the centerpoint of
the roundover. A slight offset (1⁄16")
toward the outside edge will actually give you the best result (detail
‘a,’ page 7). This causes the leaf to
move away from the roundover a bit
as it’s lowered and ensures the joint
won’t bind.
The box on the previous page
shows how to locate and make the
mortises for the hinges. A router and
a simple template will help you do
the job quickly. You’ll find additional
information on routing the hinge
mortises in Shop Notebook on page
11. I should warn you that installing
the hinges on a rule joint can be a
little touchy and may require a bit of
post-installation tweaking. But when
the rule joint works as smoothly as
designed, you won’t mind the effort.
Cut to Shape. Once the hinges are
installed and the swing of the rule
joint checks out, the next step is
to shape the top and leaves into a
36"-dia. circle. Cutting the circle to
rough shape and then smoothing
it by hand would be a tedious and
time-consuming chore. And the
results might not be up to snuff. So I
chose a much easier method. Using
a router, a trammel, and a straight bit
to shape the top eliminated the hard
work and gave me a perfectly round
top. All the edge required was a little
sanding. A look at the box below will
fill you in on all the details.
shop tip: Paper shim
Paper conforms
to shape of
rule joint
Paper or cardstock
sandwiched between
panels to prevent
chipout
No Chipout. Avoid chipout when routing across
the rule joints by shimming them with light cardstock. The flexible shim will back up the wood.
how-to: shape the round top
There are a couple of minor challenges to routing the circular dropleaf top to shape. The first stems
from the fact that the top is in three
sections. You need a way to hold
the sections firmly together that
won’t interfere with the trammel.
The second problem is more common — avoiding chipout as you rout
around the circle and as you cross
the rule joints. Fortunately, I found
an easy way to get around both of
these problems.
Hinges Installed. Figure 1 shows
the setup I used to rout the top to its
round shape. As you see, the clamping dilemma is solved by simply leaving the hinges in place. They’ll keep
the three sections snugly nested as
well as perfectly aligned. And since
they sit below the surface, they
won’t interfere with the trammel.
Rout Backwards. Obtaining a
smooth, chip-free edge is the primary goal. But there’s a catch.
When routing a circle, the bit has to
climb against the grain at a couple of
spots. At best, you’ll get a rough cut,
but serious chipout is just as likely.
There is a way to avoid this — rout
in a different direction.
This trick starts by skipping the
rough-cutting step. You’ll simply
8
1
NOTE: Attach top to
sacrificial backer
with doublesided tape
NOTE: Rout in
clockwise direction
Hinges hold top
and leaves together
NOTE: Top is
upside down
a.
SIDE SECTION VIEW
NOTE: See Shop Notebook
on page 11 for construction
details on trammel
Drill !/4"-dia.
centered pivot hole
rout the waste free with multiple
cuts (Figure 1). Since you’re routing
a channel, you’ll be cutting on both
sides of the bit. This means you can
safely backrout (rout clockwise) the
circle and get a smoother edge.
The technique. To get set up, I used
double-sided tape to attach the top
upside down to a sacrificial backer
panel. Make sure that both the top
and all the waste is tightly fastened.
I controlled chipout at the rule joints
by shimming them with cardstock
at the appropriate spots (Shop Tip).
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Flex trammel arm
to plunge bit into cut
!/2"
straight bit
The trammel I used is very basic.
The construction details can be
found in Shop Notebook on page 11.
It pivots around a dowel pin inserted
into a shallow, centered hole you’ll
drill in the top.
The trammel technique is shown
in Figure 1a. The flexible hardboard
arm allows you to have the pivot pin
engaged while keeping the bit above
the surface. Then you just turn on
the router, plunge the bit, and go. I
cut through the top in a half dozen
shallow passes.
Final Details
The top is just about ready to install
on the frame. The final step is to add
a profile to the edge. And what could
be more appropriate than the same
1⁄ " roundover used on the rule joint?
2
This gives the edge the same look
whether the leaves are up or down.
Edge Profile. You’ll have to rout
this profile free-hand, moving the
router in the normal, counterclockwise direction. To do this, I first
used double-sided tape to attach
the top to a pair of spacer blocks.
This provides clearance for the bearing that guides the cut.
The secret to a smooth profile is
to make multiple, shallow passes,
gradually lowering the roundover
bit. The final cuts should be especially light. The goal is to match the
shoulder on the edge profile with the
shoulder on the rule joint.
Installation. After sanding the
profile, the top (with the leaves
attached) is ready to install. I laid it
upside down on the bench and then
1
carefully centered the frame
on it, as in Figure
2. Then I marked and
drilled pilot holes in the
top and finally installed
the screws.
Following a trip to the finishing room (I applied Woodkote’s Jel’d
Stain), your swing-leg table can find a
new home. But I’m guessing it won’t
stay put for long. A table this handy
will likely be called to duty often.
2
NOTE: Match
shoulder of edge
profile to shoulder
of rule joint
roundover
Rout in
counterclockwise
direction
Tape top
to block
!/2" roundover bit
#8 x 1!/4" Fh
woodscrew
Spacer
block
NOTE:
Frame centered
on top
a.
NOTE: Cut profile with
multiple shallow passes
NOTE: Mark and
drill pilot holes
in top before
installing screws
Materials, Supplies & Cutting Diagram
A
B
C
D
E
F
21⁄8 x 21⁄8 - 29
3⁄ x 33⁄ - 51⁄
4
4
2
3⁄ x 33⁄ - 301⁄
4
4
2
3⁄ x 1 - 3
4
3⁄ x 33⁄ - 32 rgh.
4
4
11⁄8 x 33⁄4 - 4
Legs (4)
End Rails (2)
Inner Side Rails (2)
Top Cleats (2)
Outer Side Rails (2)
Support Blocks (2)
G
H
I
•
•
•
5⁄ x 3⁄ - 72 rgh.
Bead Molding (1)
16
4
3⁄ x 13 - 38
Top Blank (1)
4
3⁄ x 131⁄ - 38
Leaf Blanks (2)
4
2
1
(2 pr.) 1 ⁄2"-wide Table-Leaf Hinges w/Screws
(4) #8 x 11⁄4" Fh Woodscrews
(1) 1⁄4"-dia. Brass Rod (12" long)
#/4" x 4"- 96" Cherry (2.7 Bd. Ft.)
C
C
B
B
F
F
F
F
D
#/4" x 4"- 96" Cherry (2.7 Bd. Ft.)
E
E
G
#/4" x 7"- 96" Cherry (4.7 Bd. Ft.)
H
H
#/4" x 5"- 96" Cherry (Three boards @ 3.3 Bd. Ft. each)
I
I
ALSO NEEDED: Four pre-turned, Sheraton-style legs
9
WoodsmithShop.com
Designer’s Notebook
TOP VIEW
Square edge on top
36
NOTE: Frame
built with
tapered legs
(see page 4)
NOTE: No bead
molding added
to frame
11
12!/2
36
Country Style
Swing-leg tables were meant to be utilitarian. And the
simplified, country look of the table shown at left exemplifies this idea. It starts by substituting a basic tapered
leg for the turned legs. The rest of the frame is identical
except for the absence of the bead molding. A squaredoff top with no edge profile completes the effect.
Shaker Influence
If you think that a larger table would better suit your
needs, the design below might be the ticket. Here, I used
the subtle details of Shaker design as my guide. The
frame is built around a set of purchased, Shaker-style legs
(TableLegs.com, #202-L.CH). The bead detail is included on
the apron. To stretch the top, I made two semi-circular leaves
that sandwich a rectangular center section. And again, I left
off the edge profile.
TOP VIEW
NOTE: Shaker-style legs
used to build frame are
purchased from Classic Designs
by Matthew Burak
Square edge
on top
18
18"
rad.
11
47
36
10
WoodsmithShop.com
Tips From
Our Shop
Shop Notebook
Routing a Circle
To cut out the round top for the
traditional swing-leg table, I decided
to use a router and a trammel. I
made the straightforward trammel
out of a piece of 1⁄4" hardboard and a
block of wood, as you can see in the
drawing at right.
A pivot pin fits through the block
of wood and into a hole drilled in
the underside of the top. The router
should be mounted to the trammel arm so the distance from the
centerpoint of the pivot pin to the
inside edge of the router bit is 18",
giving you a 36"-dia. top.
1
a.
!/4"-dia.
pivot pin
Pivot
block
(#/4" x 2#/4"- 6")
18
Hardboard
base
(!/4" x 6"- 22")
Drill !/4"-dia.
#/8"-deep
hole in bottom
of table
TOP
VIEW
Tabletop
Dado
cleanout bit
#/8
Square up
corners
with chisel
Tape
template
to workpiece
!/2"
straight
bit
Mortise Template
Installing the drop-leaf hinges in the top and leaves of
the swing leg table calls for some careful mortising. As
with most hinge mortises, I decided to cut these with
my router and a dado cleanout bit.
The key to routing a hinge mortise is to have a
good template. In this case, however, a single template
wouldn’t do because the mortises in the tabletop are
longer than those in the leaves.
So what I did was make a template with an opening
sized for the mortise in the tabletop. Then I made index
marks on the template so I could line it up with the edge
of the table leaf to rout the other half of the mortise.
2
Short leaf
Long leaf
Table leaf
Center
of leaf
Square up
corners
Doublesided
tape
Align index
marks on jig
with edge of
table leaf
11
Use
centerline to
position jig
WoodsmithShop.com
#/8
Index
mark
1!#/16
Template
made from
!/2"plywood
Knuckle Joint Jig
{ A knuckle joint
allows the table
leg to pivot.
12
In order to allow the legs on the
swing-leg table to pivot, the rails are
hinged with a traditional knuckle
joint. If you look at the photo at left,
you’ll see that this knuckle joint
looks remarkably similar to a box
joint. And it is. In fact, to cut the
knuckle joint, I used an oversized
box joint jig on my table saw, as
shown in the drawing at right.
The jig is just a plywood fence
with a 3⁄4"-wide notch cut in the bottom edge for an index pin. After
attaching a hardboard bottom to
the fence and gluing the index pin in
place, you can clamp the jig to your
miter gauge and cut a second notch
that’s 3⁄4" away from the index pin.
The slots and pins are cut just like
box joints. Place the fixed rail section against the index pin and cut
a slot, as shown in detail ‘a.’ Then
place this slot over the pin and cut
the next slot (detail ‘b’).
To cut the first slot in the swinging
rail, leave the fixed rail in position on
the jig and butt the swinging rail up
against it (detail ‘c’). Then you can
cut the remaining two slots using
the index pin as a reference.
WoodsmithShop.com
#/4"-wide
index
pin
#/4"
space
Tall auxiliary
fence
Bottom
a.
Butt fixed
rail against
index pin to
cut first slot
c.
#/4"
dado
blade
b.
Screw and
glue fence and
bottom together
Fixed rail
Butt swinging
rail against
fixed rail
Reposition
rail so slot
fits over
index pin

traditional swing-leg table

Transcription

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