A simple shaker style table in white oak, finished with spar urethane and kitty approved.
The breadboard ends on the panels were an education on this one; on the top they aren’t strictly necessary, but I felt they were needed on the lower panel so that the movement of that captive panel wouldn’t rack the legs. Found out I prefer making the tongues with a router rather than the dado set on the table saw.
Looks great, excellent job! Just out of curiosity how did you attach the top to the base?
Thank you very much!
I ran a groove with the normal blade of my table saw along the inside of the apron boards, you can see them here during an earlier inspection:
We used metal Z-clips that screw into the top and just kind of poke into that slot. They work kind of like hold downs, the slot is a little farther from the top edge of the board than the height of the clips, so as you tighten the screws it clamps the table top on. They’re attached on the edges with the breadboard ends, so as the panel moves the clips can translate along the slot somewhat.
Great teamwork.
Ikr? The kitty approval inspector is real.
Fantastic photos, you have a very hands-on (paws-on?) foreman lol. Thank you for the detailed description. I’ve seen a similar method on a Bourbon Moth video except I think he used his domino to make slots instead of cutting a groove, but I guess if I payed that much for a funky router I’d use it all the time too.
She’s a toughie. She demands top quality craftsmanship and chicken flavored treats.
I’ve also seen the slots made with a biscuit joiner, in at least one case I saw someone do that because they forgot to cut them before gluing up the table. Not sure my biscuit joiner would fit in this table though., internal dimension is ~14".
Nice work. The cat carved into it looks super real.
Did that with one of those chainsaw wheels in my angle grinder. Those things are as precise as they are safe.
Nice catio
Thanks! The porch has been screened in longer than I’ve been alive (it’s my parents’ house) and it makes for a nice safe place for Miss Chiff to get some sun and fresh air. That table is in a place to get good afternoon sunlight so it’s a prime spot for basking.
Long term project is to make that porch a nicer place for humans and cats to hang out. At the edge of frame is an OLD lawn chair that was originally part of a dining set (several chairs, a table and a parasol), I have an idea to replace it with kind of an outdoor version of a Morris chair.
LOL “miss chiff”, great name
Excellent woodwork, even has cat approval! 🙌
K, so, I have a different take on this based purely on the cover photo, title, and the fact that the community is the last thing I look at.
We have a cat who was very fat, and when we were told he was prediabetic, we got serious about getting his weight down. After some weeks of hard work, he lost enough weight that he discovered he could jump up onto things and into places he never could before, because of his weight. One of these places was a narrow ledge between a decorative column and the wall in our front room. When he first did it, we noticed and congratulated him, and now whenever he jumps up into that spot he yowls until we acknowledge his feat.
So when I saw your title and picture, my first thought was that it was something similar: your cat being obscurely pleased with jumping up in this table.
Nice job in the table. And congrats to your cat.
It’s kind of the opposite with Miss Chiff; she’s a tiny cat, she topped out at 8.2 pounds, and she’s actually quite athletic. But it just doesn’t seem to have occurred to her that she could jump 6 to 8 feet straight up. I’ve never seen her jump much higher than a couch arm in a single bound. She’ll make multiple jumps to get up somewhere.
You done good
