Terrible two table top tale.

Well bugger me! . . . . a cat with manicured nails .! . . you dont get that
very often . . .!!


"David F. Eisan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Back in 2001 I made an ash coffee table for a friend and his wife,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/table.jpg
>
> He called me recently to tell me one of their three cats had knocked over
> an
> open bottle of nail polish remover and there was some damage to the top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage1.jpg
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage2.jpg
>
> The nail polish remover had totally removed the oil based poly finish down
> to the wood.
>
> I decided to run the top through my drum sander to remove all the old
> finish
> and then to refinish the top. I made this table before I had a drum
> sander.
> There was some pretty bad grain reversal in the top and I had to scrape
> away
> a lot of tearout,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/finishremoval.jpg
>
> I ended up sanding off a lot of material to get all the finish off. So
> much
> in fact, that I sanded out the 1/16" walnut inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/toomuchsanding.jpg
>
> Opps.
>
> Time to cut new grooves for new (and deeper) inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/newgrooves.jpg
>
> New inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/newinlay.jpg
>
> Okay, top all sanded, lets just break the edge with a 1/8" roundover. Grab
> Makita Laminate trimmer, looks like the right bit and right height, fire
> it
> up and start rounding over,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wrecked.jpg
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wrecked2.jpg
>
> Totally wrong roundover bit, totally wrong height, beads everywhere. Smash
> laminate trimmer on floor, take chainsaw to top and start over.
>
> Nah, I didn't break anything. I wasn't really happy with how things were
> going all along, every step just didn't seem to go right and even if I
> hadn't used the wrong router bit, I would not have been happy with the
> finished project, it was just too thin now for the rest of the table.
>
> Off to the basement to grab a little ash,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/ashpile.jpg
>
> These are nice 8/4 boards that I got for about $0.50 a BF at auction a
> while
> ago.
>
> Here are the rough boards for the top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/roughash.jpg
>
> The reason I did the inlay in the old top in the first place was to hide a
> big knot hole in the centre of the board that only fell out after final
> planing. I told Scott I had ruined the top and since I was making a new
> one
> I asked him if he wanted the inlay. He did. To make it less work, I just
> glued up the top with walnut strips rather than the extra work of inlay
> (which was just a cover up last time),
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/glueup.jpg
>
> I ran the top through the sander and they cut it to length with my
> crosscut
> sled,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/cutoffsled.jpg
>
> Here is the top all sanded and rounded over with the correct roundover
> bit,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sanded.jpg
>
> Here is a pic of the new top beside the old top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sidebyside.jpg
>
> The new top is *no where* as dark as it looks in the photo.
>
> Installing the new top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/install.jpg
>
> Finished table,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/done.jpg
>
> With 20/20 hind sight, I should have just made a new top off the bat. I am
> a
> better woodworker now then when I made the first top and I had/have tons
> of
> ash on hand. Oh well.
>
> David.
>
>

"David F. Eisan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Back in 2001 I made an ash coffee table for a friend and his wife,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/table.jpg
>
> He called me recently to tell me one of their three cats had knocked over
> an
> open bottle of nail polish remover and there was some damage to the top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage1.jpg
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage2.jpg
>
> The nail polish remover had totally removed the oil based poly finish down
> to the wood.
>
> I decided to run the top through my drum sander to remove all the old
> finish
> and then to refinish the top. I made this table before I had a drum
> sander.
> There was some pretty bad grain reversal in the top and I had to scrape
> away
> a lot of tearout,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/finishremoval.jpg
>
> I ended up sanding off a lot of material to get all the finish off. So
> much
> in fact, that I sanded out the 1/16" walnut inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/toomuchsanding.jpg
>
> Opps.
>
> Time to cut new grooves for new (and deeper) inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/newgrooves.jpg
>
> New inlay,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/newinlay.jpg
>
> Okay, top all sanded, lets just break the edge with a 1/8" roundover. Grab
> Makita Laminate trimmer, looks like the right bit and right height, fire
> it
> up and start rounding over,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wrecked.jpg
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wrecked2.jpg
>
> Totally wrong roundover bit, totally wrong height, beads everywhere. Smash
> laminate trimmer on floor, take chainsaw to top and start over.
>
> Nah, I didn't break anything. I wasn't really happy with how things were
> going all along, every step just didn't seem to go right and even if I
> hadn't used the wrong router bit, I would not have been happy with the
> finished project, it was just too thin now for the rest of the table.
>
> Off to the basement to grab a little ash,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/ashpile.jpg
>
> These are nice 8/4 boards that I got for about $0.50 a BF at auction a
> while
> ago.
>
> Here are the rough boards for the top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/roughash.jpg
>
> The reason I did the inlay in the old top in the first place was to hide a
> big knot hole in the centre of the board that only fell out after final
> planing. I told Scott I had ruined the top and since I was making a new
> one
> I asked him if he wanted the inlay. He did. To make it less work, I just
> glued up the top with walnut strips rather than the extra work of inlay
> (which was just a cover up last time),
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/glueup.jpg
>
> I ran the top through the sander and they cut it to length with my
> crosscut
> sled,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/cutoffsled.jpg
>
> Here is the top all sanded and rounded over with the correct roundover
> bit,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sanded.jpg
>
> Here is a pic of the new top beside the old top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/sidebyside.jpg
>
> The new top is *no where* as dark as it looks in the photo.
>
> Installing the new top,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/install.jpg
>
> Finished table,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/done.jpg
>
> With 20/20 hind sight, I should have just made a new top off the bat. I am
> a
> better woodworker now then when I made the first top and I had/have tons
> of
> ash on hand. Oh well.
>

After that blow by blow account David, I feel tired!

Good story though. The walnut looks good in the ash. As for your bad
roundover bit experience, you should have tried that on some scrap first!

The table looks good too.

Thanks for sharing.

In article <[email protected]>, "David F. Eisan" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Back in 2001 I made an ash coffee table for a friend and his wife,
>
>http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/table.jpg
>
>He called me recently to tell me one of their three cats had knocked over an
>open bottle of nail polish remover and there was some damage to the top,
>
>http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage1.jpg
>
>http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/damage2.jpg

Buy your friend a copy of this book:
http://www.amazon.
com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0517545160/104-3695022-4842363?v=glance

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"David F. Eisan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Back in 2001 I made an ash coffee table for a friend and his wife,
>...

I really appreciate you showing us each step, including how you handled
mistakes. It's inspiring. Thanks!

- Owen -

"David F. Eisan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Back in 2001 I made an ash coffee table for a friend and his wife,
>
> http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/table.jpg
>
> He called me recently to tell me one of their three cats had knocked over
an
> open bottle of nail polish remover and there was some damage to the top,
>
Should have just made a doily out of the damn cat and covered up the damage.

B.