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DSEL74
6th Oct 2016, 04:32 PM
I collected a number of old bridge bolts from a local railway that was decommissioned. Hard part is finding any two the same, there appears to be at least two diameters, square and hex heads, and numerous lengths.

Numerous tools had to be made including a curved butcher, 3 slot punches, a chisel faced drift and straight drift.

Never attempted a mortice and tenon join before but it has always appealed to me and I have been wanting to do this for ages.

So I designed this table as an experimental pieces to learn on before attempting a very large and complicated one I have drawn up.

Using a coke forge and hand tools, hammers and swages etc there is approx 22Hrs man hours in this. Which is two people doing 2x 6hr days with a half hr lunch break. Doing it all by hand requires a striker.


The bolts are 1" Dia. Two holes were slot punched then drifted round producing the swelling. The holes are at 60* and spiral up at 4" spacing. So the holes had to be in the correct order.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/b88a1c5607bf72724326fc662817f434.jpg


The stretchers are 16mm round and a shoulder was butchered in and then the tenon drawn out and swaged to 3/8" round
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/955910a82dcb8cb98bef15cc264fe62e.jpg

The tenons are heated in the forge then peened over. This is a major pain in the a$$ and can bend the stretchers requiring straightening.
This is one of the reasons I need a Oxy/LPG torch.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/6581e2649d7394e8fdacb1a88a778fd7.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/d93083ff849f4759bc258d2e8f1f89cd.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/6ef2224ab598e25c86fcd5ffc2803550.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161006/4abbfd9d5dc7635b9425b5577d0637c7.jpg

Still need to tidy up the heads of the tenons, and polish the thing up.

It's in need of a nice timber top approximately 600mm round or per side of an equilateral triangle. A nice natural edge burl would look good an inch or so thick.

Oldneweng
7th Oct 2016, 11:09 AM
The polished oak headboard from a wine barrel? Just pop in and I will give you one. :rolleyes: I have dozens.

Dean

DSEL74
7th Oct 2016, 11:14 AM
Could be a good option. I've been looking for a wine barrel to use as a water quench tub.
Aren't you out in no mans land though? I'm in lilydale, vic.

Oldneweng
7th Oct 2016, 12:16 PM
Could be a good option. I've been looking for a wine barrel to use as a water quench tub.
Aren't you out in no mans land though? I'm in lilydale, vic.

Unfortunately yes. Virtual walking distance from the SA border. Seriously tho I do have lots of headboards, but not full barrels. I collected the headboards because the barrels they came off were trashed from long term storage in the open. They were used, and waiting for resale as flowerpots or whatever and for some reason there were few sold at that time. Usually there was no problems getting rid of them. Semi loads went to QLD. I am talking maybe 400 barrels trashed. I got some of the better ones at the time, but all are in use as flowerpots or as termite food. I have 2 left that have been stored in my shearing shed. I paid for these tho. They are special barrels. "C" Barriques. Nice looking with cross board over the headboard. These used to be for extra strength, but now this is just for show. A barrel that has been sitting around for years will leak like a sieve.

Dean

DSEL74
26th Oct 2016, 08:29 AM
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161025/bfa9a5f2f53fc6d6479d60a91a289aab.jpg
Table No.2
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161025/55100679eda1eb7f4d2891440bde13d4.jpg

This time I made a frame to hold the feet in place while peeling the hot tenons over and I was able to get it all looking square without much adjustment.