With the legs already cut to length its time to glue them up. I have the joinery drawn out on the top roughly so that after cutting the boards the top will be able to receive the legs hopefully with out any major amount to chisel out.

As I stated before I had one of the oak boards narrower in the middle and only noticed after cutting it to length. This will have to be passed thru the planer and each of the other legs to match it. This is something I didn’t want to have to do as I wanted the weight of the legs, stretchers, and, shelf to be twice as much as the top for stability. Hopefully it won’t effect the joinery too much. Gluing up was easy as I had diluted my carpenters glue to give me more setup time.

I have done this in the past and tested the strength of various dilutions. With the oak it has large pores so it can take quite a lot of water but in this case I only used about 5%. I use a “V” notched plastic trowel to spread, 1/8" v’s, and to remove excess a straight 2" putty knife. The extra clamps I bought recently come in handy. My dad always said you can never have enough clamps, and don’t leave the hardware store without buying a clamp or two! I cut the top boards while waiting for the glue to dry using a piece of scrap from the legs as a rough size knowing they would be planed.

After glue up the small amount to remove on each legs 45 was easy with just a chisel, but I just bought a plane at a flea market on the weekend and gave it a try.

I think I will stick with the chisel and block till I get used to it. The dry fit of each leg went very well, with the top clamped I had to tap the legs in with a wooden mallet lightly.

Once the top is glued they will be about the proper size to tap in with my hand…perfect.

The next biggest time consumer is going to be finding material for the stretchers. Everyone here seems to be out of most hardwood, including the box stores, I may end up with some different type than the top and legs, but I love going to mills to look around. Thanks for following along.