flattening walnut stock with a wooden joiner for the top rails of the leg assembly
using winding-sticks to make sure there is no twist in the board
finishing up with a #7 jack plane
squaring up the remaining edges and dimensioning the walnut on the bandsaw
layout lines
initial shaping of the curves on the top rail of the legs
testing it against the table-top
sawing lengths of white-oak for the vertical posts of the leg assembly
the white oak after squaring-up
testing the concept and a few angles before committing
laying out the leg joints
establishing the sliding dovetail angle with a knife
cutting the front of the sliding dovetail
all the bandsaw work done, now the hand-tools will finish
paring the back cheek of the tenon
the joint is most of the way there- the waste between the mortise and the dovetail is yet to be removed
the four white oak legs all cut
the arsenal of tools to accurately transfer the dimensions of the tenon/ dovetails onto the walnut rails
marking
starting the cut for the sliding dovetail socket with a carcass saw
another view cutting sliding dovetail sockets
chopping out the waste in the socket
paring the sidewalls unreached by the saw
using a router plane to achieve an accurate floor of the joint- the leg on the cutter allows it to reach the angled corners
another view of the router-plane
starting the mortise with a 3/4 mortise chisel
the first row is delicate- just establishing the shape and protecting the corners
going the full depth of the mortise with an auger – you can see the round-topped sliding dovetail socket parallel to the mortise
squaring the mortise the rest of the way with the mortise chisel
cleaning the sidewalls with my extra-big paring chisel
thank God, they fit!
step one is successful- to get to this point took endless drawings and two complete practice joints and a lot of patience
marking the leg rails for some shaping/ sculpting cuts on the band saw
the top rails post rough-shaping, and the taper of one of the white-oak legs marked with blue tape
dry re-assembly just to make sure
the glue-up
next week will concern the joining of the bottom rail and the final shaping of the leg assemblies
