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a solution made from vinegar and steel wool. I took a pint of
white vinegar and dropped in a shredded pad of steel wool. After
letting this soak for several days, I strained the liquid through a
coffee fi lter to remove any metal.
Because I would be coloring the legs and the plugs separately,
I wanted to shape the plugs and cut them to finished length
before putting them in place.
To make the plugs, I ripped strips about^1 ⁄ 64 " over the size of
the^3 ⁄ 8 " square holes. Using the miter gauge on the band saw
I cut 1" long blocks. These were long enough to round over
and bevel the ends before cutting them to final length. I put a
slight dome and bevel on each end of the 1"-long blocks with a
quarter-sheet pad sander, and set up a stop block on the miter
gauge for the band saw^5 ⁄ 16 " away from the blade. Carefully
holding the blocks against the miter gauge with the point of an
awl, I cut them to length.
The last step was to put a small chamfer on each of the back
edges with a chisel. The chamfer let me get the plugs started in
the holes before driving them in with a dead-blow mallet.
The top was glued up from three 1"-thick boards, and after
surfacing it to^7 ⁄ 8 ", I trimmed it to length. Each end of the top
has a^1 ⁄ 4 "-wide by^7 ⁄ 8 "-long tongue to hold the breadboard
ends. I clamped a piece of plywood across the top to serve as a
straightedge for the router to mill the tongues, as shown above
right.
I used a^1 ⁄ 4 " straight bit in the router table to cut the groove in
the center of one edge of the 1"-thick end pieces. I then raised
the bit to 2" above the table to cut the^5 ⁄ 8 "-deep slot in the end
A small-diameter fl ush-cutting bit follows the template and shapes all of
the cloud lifts accurately and identically leaving only minimal sanding to
be done.The tenons are adjusted to fi t with my shoulder plane. A piece of scrap ply-
A modifi ed chisel from a hollow chisel mortiser turns round holes square with wood attached to the bench acts as a bench stop to hold the work.
just a few hammer taps. Plywood clamped to the leg keeps the chisel straight.9 98-109_Greene&GreeneSideboard.indd 104 8 - 109 _Greene&GreeneSideboard.indd 104 3 3/25/13 9:57 AM/ 25 / 13 9 : 57 AM