Morton

Michael Scott Morton has been designing and building furniture for over ten years. Located in Harvard, MA, he builds custom furniture one piece at a time.

Morton’s Shop: Flattening Crotch Walnut

Oct 182012
 

After ripping off the top part of my six foot walnut board (where it splits and has some nice crotch figure) – it needs some serious flattening.  Back to the old #6 for starters.  Unfortunately this can leave some serious tear-out in the switching grain.

I first use an old #6 to flatten this crotch walnut

I first use an old #6 to flatten this crotch walnut

So, I also sneaked in some passes with my Lie-Nielsen #62 with a toothed blade.  Zero tear-out from that, and can still take a fairly large bite.

A toothed blade leaves a funny surface, but has zero tearout

A toothed blade leaves a funny surface, but has zero tearout

Once one side is flat, I switched to my Lie-Nielsen #7 to smooth out tracks left by the previous planes.

Lie-Nielsen #7 is used to continue to flatten and remove previous mill marks

Lie-Nielsen #7 is used to continue to flatten and remove previous mill marks

Finally, I flattened the other side with my Jet Drum Sander.

An open-ended Jet drum sander is used to flatten the other side

An open-ended Jet drum sander is used to flatten the other side

Morton’s Shop: Full Size Leg Template

Oct 112012
 

Although I work from drawings and plans, I often need to see things in full scale to get a look at how I’m going to interact with a piece.  I quickly made up the leg from 1/8″ scraps.

The middle and top were fine, but I made three or four different “foot” pieces.

These pieces are always more valuable than I expect.  I used them numerous times to check things, especially picking the grain I wanted in the actual stock.

 

Morton’s Shop: Patch Nail Holes in a Template

Oct 092012
 

When I created the curved template for the legs, I actually bent a thin strip of wood around nails to get a very consistent curve that highly matched the grain of the crotch walnut. I use this technique all the time, but it can leave nail holes in the template when you cut it out! If I use a router against the template, there will be a small divet when it rides over this hole.

I find that the nails I use are just about the same as a standard toothpick. So, I super glue the tip of a toothpick into what”s left of the nail hole once the template is cut out.

Five minutes later when the glue is dry, I cut most of the toothpick off with a sharp chisel. Then I use my flexible sanding pad to smooth the whole curve.

Easy, fast patch. Now I have a nice re-useable template.

Morton’s Shop: Template for the Leg

Oct 042012
 

Now that the top is cut to final dimension, I’ll set it aside and start work on the base.  I’ve got some great crotch walnut for the main section of the leg.

I like to keep things symmetrical and consistent for the whole table, but I also want to use the existing grain pattern where I can.  So, I use a piece of glass and trace the grain curve and check it against all 4 cuts (two outside per leg) and take a sort of average or check where it will fall.

Drawing the curve of the grain

Drawing the curve of the grain

Once happy, I trace that onto a piece of 1/2″ or 1/4″ MDF to make a template. First, rough it out on the bandsaw, staying just outside of the line.

The bandsaw roughs out the template curve

The bandsaw roughs out the template curve

I use a spindle sander to cut right up to the line.

A spindle sander cleans up the edge

A spindle sander cleans up the edge

The sander leaves “divets” all along the edge. I go back and clean those up with either some rasps first or skip straight to a flexible sanding pad.

A flexible sanding pad gets a consistent, smooth curve

A flexible sanding pad gets a consistent, smooth curve

I’ll use this same template to make all 4 cuts. The top and bottom edge are kept square so I can use them for reference edges.

Morton’s Shop: Cutting off the Leaves

Oct 022012
 

This table design has a 2′ leaf at either end.  Now that I have the whole top glued up (10.5′ long!) – it’s time to rip off the two leaves.

I use my Festool TS55 and rail to correctly line up where the cut will go. I have only one shot at this – so although the rail has never slipped on me, I add two rail clamps to secure it.

Festool TS55 ready to cut off the end

Festool TS55 ready to cut off the end

I’ve never had tearout using the TS55 + rail, but I also add a line of blue tape down the cut line and a new splinter guard just to be sure. Here we go!

TS55 on the rail - also using blue tape to control tearout

TS55 on the rail - also using blue tape to control tearout

Four cuts later (two to cut off the leaves and two at the very ends), and I’ve got my final table top!

The table top with the leaves cut to size

The table top with the leaves cut to size

Morton’s Shop: Adding Support

Sep 272012
 

The underside supports (aprons and batons) are there to help keep the top flat.  I added them with screws and liquid hide glue.

Center Table Underside Supports

Center Table Underside Supports

Unfortunately the batons couldn’t go straight across the full width because of table slides that need to pull out at each end.

Table Slides Attached

Table Slides Attached

I made table slides for the leaves using Accuride Heavy Duty drawer slides and attaching thick oak to each side (aprons and runners).

Homemade Table Slide

Homemade Table Slide

The leaves also got the underside support treatment.  You can see in the foreground the elongated holes to allow for wood movement.

Underside support of the table and leaf

Underside support of the table and leaf