Woodworking 103 (3)

After I posted this morning's entry, I went down to the workshop to see what I had on hand that could be used to make the jig I needed to hold the thin slats in place while applying pressure from the edges. I happened to have some 1/4 inch carraige bolts, washers and nuts and lord knows I had enough scrap wood laying around so after chopping and ripping some 1-1/2 inch pieces to length and width, and drilling some 5/16 inch holes, I was in business.

Jig/clamp created to hold the slats flat.

I only tightened the nuts using finger pressure and used some wax paper on the jig to prevent the glue that would seep out of the joints from sticking to the wood of the jig. With one of these on each edge of the pieces, I could apply more than enough pressure from the edges to hold the slats firmly against one another.

Five slats held by the new jigs and clamped with the quick clamps.

It was too late to use on the assembly I put together yesterday but they seemed to have stuck together well enough to take to the table saw. There, I set things up to cut the assembly on a 45 degree angle into 7/8 inch wide diamond sections.

Yesterday's assembly cut into sections.

I was afraid that the individual pieces would come apart under the saw blade's attack but that only happened to the very first one and the very last. That may have been because I didn't use enough glue on the very end of the slat or because there was no way to clamp those ends. (Each slat was set back 7/8 of an inch from the previous one giving the ends a staggered, stair-like appearance as shown in the middle photo.) I managed to glue those loose diamonds back together without much difficulty.

Tomorrow, I'll have to cut the assembly that's in the glue-up jig in the same manner. Then the cut endges will get their corners trimmed with the 1/8 inch roundover bit in the router.

The final product, which I showed here (it's the top one), will be a 21 inch square that is designed to be hung on the wall. I suppose it could be turned into a table-top or even a center piece decoration but that would require some protective cover to keep liquids/dirt/food from getting into the indents and, if you want to put hot serving dishes on it, to prevent scorch marks on the oak and walnut.