Absolutely love those tables. And me, I’m askart of all the sparks and fire and pounding real hard that comes with metalwork.
Thanks for the kind words!
If you know it’s something you would enjoy, it’s worth the investment. Today, more than ever, people can buy inexpensive machine tools that fit in a garage or basement. The learning curve and tooling collecting process are part of what makes it an enjoyable ride.
Thanks to you as well for the kind words!
I assume you are talking about blacksmithing?
That is a bit beyond my own skillset and courage as well.
I was a machinist many years ago, so that’s what I do as a hobby: I spend my time adjusting hand cranks while the machine precisely nibbles tiny chips off of the well-clamped metal. Much less scary to me.
Here’s an example of what I like to make in my basement shop:
This steam engine is about the length of my fully outstretched palm and fingers.
These kits come with raw castings (cast iron in this case) and bar stock for the remaining parts. You then spend several weeks of evenings crafting all of the little bits from bar stock and machining the critical surfaces of the castings.
There are several manufacturers of casting kits for various steam engines. This one happens to be the Stuart S50.
Is that picture one of your builds?
One of my favorite machinist YouTube channels is Blondihacks, she is currently building a steam engine with a firebox. It’s a fascinating project.
I have a propane forge forblacksmithing that I don’t use nearly enough but hopefully will get to this year… after all the yard projects are done :eek.
It is fun to hammer hot steel though, so much more satisfying than the enterprise architecture day job.
Yes, that was one of my builds, complete with the superfluous engine turning on the top of the steam chest and the crosshead guides. I did that with an abrasive stick about 5mm dia with the gritty feel of those old ink erasers–I put the rubbery stick in a drill chuck and used the mill hand wheels to index each position then I pulled the handle down once for each swirl.
I have several different engines all in a nifty glass display case from Ikea in my office.
Another area that I would love to try but am afraid of the process is metal casting. Imagine doing cool 3D prints and using them to cast brass widgets. It would be neat, but I am a coward.
I just hopped onto YouTube to see what she’s building, and I found that I have one of the same steam engines that she made in my display cabinet, the PM Research Steam Engine #1. That one was a gnarly challenge, and I imagine her videos show plenty of difficult spots, especially in milling the machined surfaces of the base.
That’s cool and sounds like exacting work, but the picture shows the pay off!
Mortise and tenon tool?
We had a mid-century slat coffee table that my wife was using as a potting table. It finally fell apart. Since these are selling for up to $1,000+ dollars, I’ve decided to reproduce one using the old one as a pattern. It looks pretty easy except for one thing: the mortise and tenon joints on the crosspieces. I’m sure I could make the tenon using a hand saw, but the only way I currently have to make the mortise would be to drill a series of holes and clean the slot up with a chisel. Making all of the holes the right depth would be taxing with a hand drill.
Is there a power tool that I can buy that will make the mortises and tenons? Of course; but the chances I’ll use it much after this project are small. Here are the parameters:
- It needs to be cheap.
- It needs to be small.
- It needs to be easy to use by someone who has never done this before.
My boss suggested Harbor Freight. I looked there, and all I saw were bits. I looked on Amazon, and saw routing tables.
I prefer power tools, but you can easily make tenons with a hand saw. A lot of folks use dado blades on a table saw. I personally use a router table. You could do it with a hand-held router too.
For the mortise, they make mortice drill bit sets like this that you can use with your drill press to make nice mortises. Do you have a drill press?
A router also works but you’ll probably need to make a jig to prevent the router from going outside of your planned mortise. Plus you’ll need to square up the corners with a chisel when you’re done, though that’s a lot better than drilling all round holes and chiseling all of that flat.
They do make dedicated mortising machines. Harbor Freight used to sell one but I don’t see it listed on their web site currently. Amazon has one. I wouldn’t call it “cheap”.
I think I do. I’ll have to check the shed. Assuming I do, and I get a bit, is it just a matter of drilling the first hole, locking the drill press down, and then moving the wood?
Pretty much. Practice on a piece of scrap first.
Thanks.
I’ll look for the drill press. Once I find it, I can get some one-on-one advice from the lady at the hardware store.
Here’s another question: What kind of wood should I use? I assumed walnut, but my boss said his original one has held up well because it’s made of cedar. I think cedar would be cheaper and easier to find. But I have no idea what kind of wood my original was made of.
If outdoors look for cedar or cypress.
If you don’t have a good local lumber place, I’ve had excellent luck with this guy:
I second the recommendation for cedar. But if you are on a budget, fir isn’t a bad choice. I don’t know what is available in your area.
Make sure you use a good sealant since it is going to be outdoors. I personally just use a bunch of coats of polyurethane. Some folks prefer epoxy, but I’ve never used it so I can’t give you an opinion one way or the other.
I’m sure there are good lumber places, but I don’t want to do a lot of driving on this project.
We had a mid-century slat coffee table when I was a kid (coincidentally, around ‘mid-century’). It had a glass top on it so you could put your stuff on it. When I bought this house at the end of 2003, my friend left a similar table (no glass on it). I used it as my coffee table until my (now-)wife moved in at the end of 2010. She had her own coffee table, and relegated the slat table outside. As I said, she used it as a potting table.
So here’s what I want to do: I want to make a ‘perfect’ replica of the original table, even though it will be used as a potting table. SWMBO says she wants it to be high enough so that she doesn’t have to bend over. I thought I’d get some 26-inch dowels and put hanger bolts in them for legs. The table will live inside of her new greenhouse. Since the table will be 60 inches long, and wood tends to come in 8-foot lengths, I should have plenty of wood to practice on… and also build a 30-inch side table (with pre-made 12-inch legs).
So cedar should be a good wood. I can put some walnut stain on it. I’ll take some of the original wood to the hardware store to see if they can tell me what it is.
Now, timing is the problem. I was going to do this over the weekend while my wife is at a seminar. But since the VA is paying for her hotel room, she wants me to go down to Olympia on Saturday. The following week, I’m renting a chainsaw and going to pick up some wood a former Doper has for us. So I may have to wait until the end of June when I’m taking a week off.
I have cut hundreds of mortises using the drill out method with twist drill bits, forstner bits, using hand drill and drill presses, as well as using mortising chisel English Mortise Chisels by Ray Iles. I have the 1/4 and 5/16, I want the 3/8 and 1/2, one day they will be mine. Cleaning up with a chisel is pretty easy, use a knife to mark your mortise shape, drill slightly undersized. As far as squaring up the ends for the tenon, you can do that, or you can round over the tenon. doesn’t really make much of a difference.
One tip, the mortise is less forgiving than the tenon. I make my mortises first, then fit the tenon to the hole. It’s easier to tweak tenon cheeks, than it is to tweak tenon shoulders. Second tip, use a marking knife, not a pencil, when marking your cut lines.
If you are using a hand drill, getting the depth right is pretty easy, take a piece of painter’s tape, and fold it over the bit into a flag. The bottom of the flag should be the max depth from the pointy end of the bit. The neat thing about this method is that the flag will whip the shavings from drilling away.
Good luck and have fun with this project!
That was my plan, though I didn’t think about making a ‘flag’.
I had to go into the shed to find something for The Missus. I looked on the shelf where I thought my drill press would be, but it was a belt/disc sander. I’ll have to look some more…
I didn’t find my drill press; so either it’s in the storage unit, or I never had one to begin with.
I do have something like this, only it doesn’t have springs on it.
How many mortises do you need to make?
If it’s only a few, i would do it the old-fashioned way: with a chisel. Or, you can make your life easier with one of these:
Which can be used with a hand-held drill.
I have one of those too, but mine has springs. They are very useful for keeping your drill oriented properly in situations where a drill press isn’t practical, but they aren’t as good as a real drill press. Still, it’s probably usable for this.
Four for the potting table, and four more for the 30-inch table I’ll make from the (presumed) leftover wood.
I know I can cut mortises with a chisel (I have a few rusty, plastic-handled chisels), only I’m not sure I can keep the depths consistent.
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on the video on your link. No experience for reference.
I thought I might get a router bit, get a collar to set the depth, and just sort of put it where it goes and let gravity do the rest.