After drying overnight, I gave the tables a final light sanding with 400 grit paper to dull the finish for the final finish application.

The final coat of urethane complete.  Nothing to do now but wait for the paint to dry.

So here it is a day later, Christmas Eve day.  Time for final assembly.
First task is to drill a hole in the drawer front for the pull. A backup block is clamped to the inside of the drawer front to prevent chip-out of the wood where the bit exits.

Install the pull knob.

Locate, mark, and drill pilot holes for the top attachment clips.

Attach the top with clips.  These allow the top to move as the wood swells and contracts with the seasons.

And, ta-da!  Finished.  Plenty of time to attach a bow for Christmas morning.

"His" and "Hers"

So the winter project is complete.  Launch day 2013 for the boat is a mere 17 weeks away. 

I got a good look at yesterday's paint job and the spray application turned out ok.  So, I spent the morning applying coat #2. 

First, I rubbed out the finish with a #0000 steel wool to smooth out the raised grain and a little dust from the first coat of urethane.  I discovered the new sprayer blows air constantly and then just adds the paint when the trigger is pulled.  It's kind of like carrying around a leaf blower and if there's any dust in the vicinity, it's going airborne.  The dust source has since been cleaned up.

I screened off a corner of the basement and rigged a small exhaust fan to exhaust out the window.  Not the ideal paint room, but it works to keep the overspray contained. 

So with the parts all prepped for another coat of urethane, it's off to the paint room.

Coating # 2 completed.  Highlight of the day.  Watching paint dry. 

Perhaps only one more coat to go??  It's looking good at this point.

Besides celebrating a birthday this week, (not really much of a celebration anymore), I began the finishing process on the tables.  It's the part I dread the most, yet it's the part that makes or breaks the project.

Monday, I applied the stain.  I'm using a Varathane "mission oak" stain.  I've used it before and it's a good color for this type of furniture.  Unfortunately, the color is discontinued so when my stock runs out, I'll have to find a different option.

I purchased a Wagner HVLP sprayer.  It was low cost so I was a little leery of how it would perform but the guys at the woodworker's store pointed me toward this unit as a good option without spending a lot.  After a little practice to get the feel of the sprayer and adjust the output amount, I went after the tables and finished up the whole job in maybe 30 minutes.  Brushing would have taken a few hours minimum.  My initial inspection reveals acceptable results.  Every bit as good as I could get with a brush application.

Maybe the painting part won't be such a drag anymore.

I spent the week finishing up the drawer construction. 

The next step was to machine the grooves in the drawer sides for the drawer slides and the dados for the bottom.

After sizing the drawer bottoms, the drawers are dry fit before the final assembly.

A final check for proper fit in the frame.

Then, time for some glue and clamps.

 The final task is to size and install the lower shelf.

With the lower shelf installed and some drawer stops added, the assembly is complete.

Onward to final sanding, stain, and urethane finish.

Finally!  I'm over the dovetail hump.  I finished up getting the second drawer fixed up.  I'll have one drawer dovetailed in the Rockler jig (bottom) and the other out of the Leigh jig (top).

Both jigs have some good and not so good features, but the Leigh product is definately better.  It's also 3 times the cost. 

Progress has been slow this week.  A broken table lock handle on the jointer, failing brushes on the planer motor and fighting the dovetail jig has challenged me.  The jointer handle had a plastic serration that failed.  Fortunately, a common hex head bolt fixed that problem.  The motor brushes haven't completely crapped out yet on the planer while replacements are back ordered and I've had a breakthrough with the dovetailing system.

Anyway, I put together a couple slabs this week to create the lower shelf.  I'll cut to size at final assembly.

Now for the drawers.

I struggled with the Rockler dovetail jig that I've used in the past, but thought I had it all adjusted to give me a good joint.  The stops on the jig are made from plastic and have a tendancy to flex when clamped into position.  Here, I'm cutting the stock for a half blind dovetail.

The completed cut.

So, I completed all the cuts and had decent results...EXCEPT for one "darned" (mild public language) corner!  Ugh!

The results weren't terrible, but I know better is possible and better is what I'd like to accomplish.

...so...

Dad gave me a Leigh dovetail jig a couple years ago and it may be time to experiment with that device.  I was able to get enough info online to give me a good idea of how this thing all works.  Dad still has a few parts of this thing but I thought I had everything that is necessary to get this job completed.

I hauled it out and mounted it to a base so I could clamp it down to the work table.

I planed another pile of lumber to the thickness I needed.  The planer motor made it through another 15 minutes of operation, although I did have to spin the motor shaft to get it going this time.

After sizing a couple pieces of stock to drawer dimensions, it was time for the trial with the Leigh jig.

The first step is to adjust the jig fingers to give the desired spacing on the dovetail sockets.  This is one feature that is far superior to the Rockler jig.  Any pattern is possible with the infinate adjustment of the Leigh jig fingers.

The completed cut creating the pin sockets.

Then the mating piece in installed on the top surface of the jig and the finger assembly flipped to create the pin cutting setup.

The completed cut for the pins.

The initial trial showed that the pins were too shallow and one of the cuts had a slight angle that created a small gap on the pin at the left in the picture. 

If the stock cuts aren't exactly square and the stops on the jig lined up, these imperfections occur.
It's a trial and error process to tune in the joint.  After adjusting the depth of cut on the router (this adjusts the tightness of the joint) and the stops on the jig...3 times...I had the result I was looking for.  This is a nice joint.  I'm sold on the new jig and will use it for all dovetails in the future.

Now to make a new drawer.

Well, it's nearly time for some assembly, but first, there's a couple details that needed to be added to the table frame pieces.  The mission table design has slats installed on the sides so the mortises for those slats had to be cut.  That presented a bit of a challenge as my mortise machine didn't have enough verticle stroke to get the stock under it with a 1/2" chisel installed.  Therefore, I had to use a smaller chisel (which was shorter) and make multiple cuts.

It worked out ok and I got all the cuts completed.

The bottom of the lower rails have an arched trim line so I marked those.  I set up a simple jig and used a steel rule to create an even arch between two points to mark the cut.

Then, it's off to the band saw to make the "rough" cut.

And finish the edge on the oscillating drum sander.

A little sanding, and these pieces are ready for assembly.  More effort to have the parts sanded now, make the final surface preparation easier later.

The ends of the slats sit into the mortise pockets of the rails.  Because there may be some movement of these through the seasons, these parts need to be stained prior to assembly.

With the staining complete, it's time for the side sub assembly.

The sides completed.

A little more touch-up sanding before final assembly of the frame.

The final pieces are glued and clamped to make the frame assembly.

And... "ta-dah".  The frames are complete.  Only remaining pieces are the lower shelf surface and the drawer.  

Because the drawers are designed to ride on the pre-installed slides, that part of the project may turn into a challenge (aka nightmare) to get the drawer face to align with the frame. 

Time will tell.