So...did I ever explicitly mention that this piece included brass? I know it's been evident in my drawings, but that's a detail that could easily be missed. Not exactly knowing the answer and uninterested in reading through my blog posts, I'm just going to say: there is brass in this piece! A little touch of shiny elegance. I'll be including said alloy by inlaying a thin square rod into the interior of the frame. Interior you ask? Isn't that kind of like putting a light under a bowl? Well, yes it is...and it sounds like a good idea to me! Basically, I want to keep it subtle...to have it be a surprise for the user when light and angle of view line up just right for a reflection.
I ordered a 3/16" x 3/16" 6' foot long piece of brass from McMaster-Carr...online for all your ferrous metal and hard plastic needs...and started to work.
There's the brass and here's the groove Ill be making. *First finger shot of the blog...8 months in I actually think that's pretty good.
The groove for the mitered-mortise members (mmm...tasty) are easy. I'm able to run the piece all the way through the slot cutter without worry. But for the m-tenon-m, I can't do that because the cut would go through the tenon, exposing it on the outside of the frame. For these two pieces, I have to start and stop the cut within the wood, see below.
It's really not the big of a challenge. Here they are!
And here is the brass...fit snugly within it's groove.
After cutting the brass to length with a hacksaw, it's home and looking pretty good...even though it's a little thicker than it needs to be. For the moment however, that's perfect as I need it to be higher than the maple for me to epoxy and clamp it in place.
After the epoxy cured, I could flush it up with the maple. I started by filing. It worked pretty well, but slowly. Noah recommended a scraper, which I thought was kind of crazy, but boy was I wrong...brass is a SOFT metal.
Flaky and shiny brass!
Pretty bright there...I guess we will see soon if it's possible for this to be subtle regardless of the location. Stay with me for a few more posts and this table will be done.