This is the start of a new project: a walnut coffee table. I am making this for an old Navy friend and will be doing lots of the work by myself, but this day, I am lucky to have a visitor—Catriona who wants to learn some woodworking. This will be a good project to start.    But I am already ahead of myself.       I started this project months ago when I spent some time at my local hardwoods place selecting walnut boards that I thought would make a nice table.     Earlier this week, I started to joint the boards and lay them out in a way that the grain was most pleasing. This is a large coffee table that will be 22" X 52".  These boards will have a bread board end that will hide the end grain and give some crosswise structure.     I use a straight edge to mark for biscuits that I will use to help align the boards for glue up.     Biscuit joinery is relatively easy to do. There have been times when the slots do not line up properly. When this happens, the idea behind a biscuit (i.e. to align the boards) is defeated.    I start by using  a flat surface for both the board being slotted and the biscuit cutter.    Normally for making biscuit slots, you set the guide for the depth and then carefully hold the guide on the board. A little tipping of the biscuit jointer and the slot will be off.    Here, you can see that I have elevated the guide and am not using it. Since these boards are 3/4" thick, I can use the base of the jointer. This machine has the blade 3/8" up from the base.  I make the cut, keeping the base flat on the workbench and pressing down on the board.    Since I am using the base as the reference, I am slotting all of the boards with the finished face (top) down.    While this method is different than usual, it is dead on accurate and can be used when the stock is 3/4".     For the glue up, I use carpenter's glue and apply enough to brush thoroughly on the edge surface. I apply some to the biscuit, as well.    I clamp the boards with firm pressure—just enough to get a little squeeze out. Excessive pressure should not be used; it will actually weaken the joint.    If each of the boards is properly jointed, they should fit together with just a bit of clamping. These do. Main Menu Next  Page