Li'l help with a boring problem, please?

[Lynford in Reno]

Hi Derek et al:

I wouldn't go there.  This is not the wife of his boss.  This is the boss of his wife.  One would be possible but not both.  :-)

[MattP]

Matt, why are you building this "table"?  Do you believe in the design? Are you sold on the gas pipe "legs"? Is your boss' wife a better designer than you? Do you have another design idea?

Personally, I would tell her that the design is flawed and that the result will look like hell. 

I would draw an alternative, with proper wooden legs (paint them black if you wish) that may either fit into a hole size that you decide on, or into an undercarriage that is an appropriate design.  There is a lot you can do with the camphor slab, but it is all wrong to me if you proceed along the path she has chosen. Assert yourself.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi, Derek, it's been a while since I posted, hope you're well.

I don't have any problems with gas pipe legs, per se. You may or may not remember my post about it, but I have a plan for a giant work bench which you hated (maybe in part because?) which I proposed gas pipe legs for. I like them, I like the industrial aesthetic (up to a point).

I'm not sure if you know (or care) but mixing wood and gas pipe is pretty big with a certain crowd here in the US; mixing a live edge slab with gas pipe is part of that style--furniture of that design is all over sites like pinterest, and on the DIY and home renovation shows. I'd call it a big trend, but it's been several years now, so not sure whether the transitory implication of "trend" is still valid.

I AM worried about the stability of the table. It's a weird shape, the top and bottoms have not very similar centers of mass and then for it to only have three legs, and using floor flanges to attach the top...I DO have issues with the design (which is on about a zillion DIY furniture Youtube videos, it's not like it came to my wife's boss in her sleep). So I'm making the mock up, and if there are any stability issues, I can address them with her before doing anything permanent to the camphor.

I have no aesthetic concerns with the table; just engineering ones.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Matt

OK, I just needed to check first whether you were comfortable with the material. Having established this, then the next item is to bore the holes for the legs.

My concern is that the holes will look unsightly if chiseled out. You will be forced to use a filler for the gaps. I think that you have 2 choices: 

1. find and purchase/borrow a forstner bit that it the exact size required.

2.  add a rived "dowel" to the inside of the pipe, and size the projecting section to the size of the hole you can drill. The advantage here is that you can wedge the ends. A collar or recess (shallow mortice)  below will hide any joins.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[MattP]

Hi Matt

OK, I just needed to check first whether you were comfortable with the material. Having established this, then the next item is to bore the holes for the legs.

My concern is that the holes will look unsightly if chiseled out. You will be forced to use a filler for the gaps. I think that you have 2 choices: 

1. find and purchase/borrow a forstner bit that it the exact size required.

2.  add a rived "dowel" to the inside of the pipe, and size the projecting section to the size of the hole you can drill. The advantage here is that you can wedge the ends. A collar or recess (shallow mortice)  below will hide any joins.

Regards from Perth

Derek

2. is very clever. Thanks.

[MattP]

Thanks for the help, guys. Derek's clever idea wound up not working. Too many different diameters going on. So I wound up just buying the right size forstner bit and that worked fine, so thanks to whoever suggested it. I had looked for drill bits the right size and not found any locally, which I assumed meant they didn;t make them. But Rockler had one, so problem solved.

I know some of you weren't thrilled with the idea of the gas pipe legs, but I actually like the way it looks, and the client is super thrilled, which, at the end of the day, is all that matters. Well, that and the fact that I now have my first commissioned piece under my belt.

Pics of the table in its new home, the oddly shaped alcove in her upstairs hallway.

   

   

[daddo]

Excellent!

[Stwood_]

..

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks for the help, guys. Derek's clever idea wound up not working. Too many different diameters going on. So I wound up just buying the right size forstner bit and that worked fine, so thanks to whoever suggested it. ....

Matt, I suggested the second idea as well


You did a nice job, and it looks better than I thought it would do .... not so sure about that vase (?) perched at the end !!!


Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Waldron]

I mostly agree with Derek, but this time, not so much:

Reject boss's wife's design; put off boss's wife, who takes it out on the boss;

Boss is put off by wife's ire, fire's OP's wife;

OP's wife is put off and files for divorce;

OP is forced to sell off all shop tools and materials to pay divorce settlement;

All involved are severely depressed by the episode: more patients for Derek!

[Stwood_]