Jekyll and Hyde Fireplace Top

Saturday saw the work start on the fireplace cap.

This began by finding two slabs of redwood that had at one time been one. A template scribed and cut to match the FP top was used to find the pieces that would work.

The template was made by laying a piece of scrap of aspenite on the FP then scribing and cutting it to match the stone. The wall edge became the reference edge for the work.

The pattern was screwed on to the slabs, then using a router with a template plate I cut a groove to match the template one inch deep.

The next job turned out to be the work of the day, in that the area needed to routed out in side the groove. The largest router bit in my vast inventory of 6 router bits was only 3/4" in diameter. I made a lot of sawdust (router dust for the purest) over the next two hours.

The crack between the two slabs was glued up and the template was then screwed back into the inlay (routed) area. It was clamped up and left over night to dry.

The top surface was had been sanded with a belt sander and the dust from this process was saved in a box for later. This was the first time I have used a hand held belt sander and I can tell you that my shoulders are still sore.

On Sunday the top was pre-fit to see how it would look.

We decided on a design change was needed.

The kitchen side would remain a "live edge". This became the Mr. Hyde side (wild). I still need to do some work with the wire brush before it is ready for finishing.

The great room side needed to look more "finished". We scribed an arc across this front. This is the Dr. Jekyll side.

To cut the arc became problematic as the glued up slab was so large and I wanted a clean cut. This meant the bandsaw would not work, due to the manuvering need to make the cut. The rotozip was too small (need a 3" cut depth) and the same was true of the router. I thought of using the saber saw, but of course that was in Parker. I was going to attempt it with the recip saw, but I was uncomfortable with what I saw (pun) the result being. As you can see my thinking was very "Norm" (New Yankee Workshop), in that if it wasn't a power tool it didn't even come to mind.

Then I remembered the portable power plane that had been gathering dust in the barn for a couple of years. It had a 3" width and gave a nice finished cut. This could be used to cut the arc to within 1/8", or so, of the scribe line, then finish to the line with the 3" wide belt sander. This would be the ticket.

The planing of the arc only took a few minutes. The edge were squared using the nifty jointer fence included with the planer, but never before used The was then sanded to size. The pile of shavings was impressive.

The top could have been finished, if I had only had some super glue. The slab still had a few imperfections, e.g. the crack in the front edge that needed repair. The plan was to use the sawdust collected during the surface sanding to fill any divot or crack, then drip on the super glue and sand it down. This trick was learned from a TV program called Woodworks, which you should look at if you get a chance. David Marks makes some of the nicest (and expensive) furniture I have seen.

Next weekend I should be able to complete the top. I plan on finishing the Redwood with a Linseed and Tung Oil mixture.