Starting final assembly of the base

Now the fun begins!

I have completed sanding all my components with 80 grit. I have also test fitted all my parts to make sure there are tight and flush joints. I have also prepared all the fastener holes and locations.

With all that complete, now we can start glue up and assembly. Just a reminder, gluing is more important than the mechanical fasteners! A glued joint with be stronger than a mechanical joint, so glue every joint.

Okay make sure you have your:

Tape measure

Framing square

Clamps

Glue

Damp sponge with water bucket (for cleaning up the glue squeeze out.)

Screw driver or Impact driver

All fasteners required

Now take your time and work in small assemblies. I choose to do the bottom first and then work my way up (you can do it any way you like, sides first, center first, etc..)

As you can see in the picture above, I also added sand bags to assist with holding my parts in a flat square position. Also I don't like it touching my garage floor, so it's on riser blocks too. Take your time to insure squareness and everything is in 90 degree angles. What is not pictured here is that I did use clamps to help square everything before applying the sand bags.

As you can see above, I worked my way up the table base assembling. The coffee can is my water bucket and sponge for cleaning up the glued joints.

Below is the base fully assembled. Notice the notches at the top for the extension to slide through, the seamless joints, and that all the screw holes have been plugged to make them less noticeable. I also tried to highlight what I thought were some of the best faces of the wood grain and character.

Next step was to take a wood rasp and 80 grit sand paper to round over all the spots that I couldn't get with my router. I also sanded any remaining glue spots, drips, or blemishes.

Now it's starting to look like something! Stay tuned...

Preparation before final assembly

While it's time to get back to work after a holiday week off.

At this point I have all my pieces almost ready to assemble but I need to do a few things first before that.

It is easier to round-over or ease the edges of some of my pieces now before assembly. But CAUTION, be very selective of which ones. I eased all the braces and not the column or feet because I wanted it to have a nice tight joint where they meet.

Next is the part that I have been dreading, sanding, sanding, and more sanding! In order to achieve the finish I am looking for, I need to sand with 80 grit to generally shape and remove glue or blemishes. Then sand with 120 grit to remove those rough scratches. Then sand with 220 grit to get the final feel that I wish to have. After that I need to remove the dust with a tack cloth or mineral spirits. Then apply the wood conditioner, then the stain, and finally the stain polyurethane. 

I also made a test sample because I was matching some existing chairs that we really liked. (I will show in another post.)

One other component that I haven't shown much of is the table top, end pieces, and extension wings (as seen below). And these require the same processes as the rest, sanding, sanding and more sanding...