The glass came in for the top frame. I ordered it online, so it came packaged with a lot of Styrofoam.
I left it like that for a couple of days while I worked on the rest of the table.
I grabbed some Baltic birch from Woodcraft and clamped up the drawer. I fit it into the front face to make sure the measurements were accurate. They were.
I drilled dowel holes and dry fitted everything. It was pretty good, so I clamped everything together. I usually run into fitting issues at this stage, so it was nice to have it go smoothly.
Part of the cherry boards I used were an ant colony at one point. I really love the look of the holes, but they were too sharp on some of the edges. I used a Dremel sandpaper wheel to smooth them out. I love the textures, but Kristy doesn’t because it reminds her of insects still. At any rate, it will give a great place for the rocks to settle into.
Bad first photo, but I cut the groove for the glass using the Craftsman table saw. It took 5 passes to get it right because I was moving the saw a couple millimeters after the first pass so that I got a good snug fit on the glass. The 45s look good.
BTW, Kristy got in my head about the original pieces I had cut for the top frame. She didn’t like the ant holes. I ended up getting more cherry at Woodcraft and re-cutting them. I think they do look better.
As you can see above, the top frame is a little wide of the base. I trimmed an 1/8th off of the outside of each board and finally clamped it up. I used the Wolfcraft frame clamp and 4 clamps on each side.
I was focusing on the drawer face at the same time. I taped of the center and drilled a hole for a great knob K and I found at Hob Lob. I took the picture in the morning and didn’t turn on all the lights in the shop. I was so excited to see the drawer in the base. I’ll have a better picture.
I glued the frame rails to the top frame and sanded everything down to very fine. The slide is smooth except in a couple places. I will be sanding it down more in the next couple days. In the end, I will rub some paste wax in the slides, which will do the trick. I also put a 50 deg angle on the inside pieces to help push the rocks out of the way. I hope it’s effective.
The tongue part of the tongue and groove was cut on the band saw. After a lot of sanding, they fit into the groove with plenty of play. I still need to affix them to the inside frame boards.
The fin for the drawer is also being clamped. I will have to cut half of it off for it to fit in the face, I think. No big deal.
I am holding the bottom of the base in place with a couple small blocks. I used more Baltic birch.
Finally, the legs have been mounted. They will clamp for 20 hours or so.
What’s left? The shelf and sanding and sanding and sanding…
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