Vintage Enamel Topped Table Tutorial - How to Make a Vintage Kitchen Table

These two pictures are of the original table from the room box.

This is the table that matches the chairs in the last month's tutorial.  The whole kitchen is in a blog under "Kitchen Room Box".
I made my original table from basswood.  I am making this one out of mat board for the tutorial.  If you want to use basswood the directions are pretty much the same.  I am using 1/8" diameter aluminum tubing and 1/16" diameter aluminum tubing.  Look in last month's blog tutorial for the information on where to get the aluminum tubing.

I want to speak a little bit about painting.  I like to use Rustoleum's paint for painting anything that is supposed to look like metal.  This paint is a good quality oil base paint, yes, you will have to have thinner to clean  your brush.  This paint is self leveling, that means the brush strokes level out as it dries.  If you like to use spray paint, please go ahead and do that.  For this project I used Delta's PermEnamel paint. 

Let's begin.



Cut 2 pieces of  mat board at 3-1/8" x 2-3/16".
Cut 2 pieces of mat board at 3" x 2-1/16".

Sand round the edges of the 3" x 2-1/16" pieces of mat board.


Sand a bevel on the 3-1/8" x 2-3/16" piece.  A bevel is a straight slant, not rounded.  THIS IS NOT IMPORTANT, it's just a design thing.

Center the smaller piece of mat board on top of the larger one and glue, use yellow carpenter's glue.  Did you know I was going to say that?

Clamp the tops until they are dry.

Cut a strip of mat board 5/16" wide and about 11" long.
Measure for 2 pieces cut at 2-5/8" and 2 pieces cut at 1-11/16".  This is the apron of the table.

Butt the mat board strips together end to end.

Long, short, long, short.

Cut a strip of card stock 5/16" wide.

Glue, using the yellow carpenter's glue, the card stock strip to the pieces of mat board.

The ends of the mat board should be touching, but don't glue them together.

Just a note, for gluing the mat board together we are using yellow carpenter's glue through out the tutorial.

If your card stock runs over, that's fine, leave it.  If you don't have extra on the end, glue a piece on.

Set this aside for now.

If your table tops are dry, unclamp them.  Set one table top aside.

On the second table top measure 7/8" from the outside edge.  Mark the top and bottom.  Cut the side off.
Try to keep your craft knife straight up and down when you are cutting.
Measure for the other side the same way and cut that side off.

Keep the middle piece we are going to use that later.

Glue the 2 side pieces to the underside of the other table top and clamp until dry.

If you are not familiar with this type of table I will try to explain to you what this second table top is.  On the life-size table, these 2 sides you just glued on would slide out from underneath the top and then slip up just enough to fit onto the edge of the top making your table bigger when you needed it.

Cut some strips of card stock 5/16" wide.


Using carpenter's glue, glue the strip of card stock together around the 1/8" aluminum tubing.  Don't glue to the tubing.

Wrap the card stock until it measures 7/32" when using the circle template.
Make 4 and set aside.

If your table top is dry, unclamp it.

Go back and get the apron pieces of mat board that you glued together with the card stock.
Fold the apron pieces into a rectangle and glue the remaining piece of card stock to the other end of the apron.
Center the apron onto the underside of the table top and glue.  Set this aside.

Go back to the card stock tubes you made earlier.
These are the decorative corners on the apron.
You need to cut 3/32" out of them.  That's somewhere between a 1/16" and an 1/8".

Here are mine with the little bit cut out.

Set them aside for now.

Get the middle piece you set aside from cutting the second table top.

Carefully trim this piece to 3/8" wide.

This piece is slid into the underside of the table top.  On the life-size table there is a small wooden filler piece on each end that keeps the continuity of the edge of the bottom leaves of the table.  This piece represents that.
Glue this in.

Get your card stock tubes.
These are glued to the corner of the apron.
I cut a small piece of my 1/8" aluminum tubing for size.
These need to be snug, trim more off of your card stock tubes if you need to.

I've got my card stock tubes glued on.

Glue 2 layers of card stock together and cut some narrow strips.

This is going to be the surface decoration on the corners.

Cut small pieces of the card stock and glue to the corners.

I am not going to put corner blocks in this table, that would require some mitering.  We will drill into the bottom layer of the table top.
Cut a strip of mat board 3/16" wide.  Set this strip in the corner and make a mark at the end. 

The mark you just made is where you will use a 1/16" drill bit to drill a hole into the bottom layer of your table.

Don't drill through, the hole doesn't need to be deep.

Cut 4 pieces of 1/8" aluminum tubing at 2-5/16" long.

Just roll your craft knife around the tubing. This will cut the tubing, don't press too hard.

The 1/16" aluminum tubing is cut 2-3/4" long, 4 pieces.

Insert green paddle wire, 24 gauge, into the 1/16" tubing.
This will keep the tubing from crimping when we bend it.

Sand an 1/8" dowel to fit inside the 1/8" tubing.  You don't need to sand the whole length, just about an inch will do. If you have a 1/16" dowel, this works without having to sand.
Slip the dowel into the tubing.  Measure from the end a 1/16" and mark with a large pin.

Using a smaller drill bit than the 1/16" size, drill a hole into the tubing.
I use a smaller bit first, it's easier this way.

Now, use the 1/16" drill bit and drill out the hole.

Do this for all 4 legs.

Your 1/16" aluminum tubing should fit into this hole.

To bend the 1/16" tubing I used a pair of pliers I found in the beading section of Michaels.  They have graduated round tips.

Bend about a 1/4" on one end.  I had you cut more than you needed.

You will have to trim the 1/16" tubing to fit, it's a trial and error thing.

Don't glue the legs in just yet, you need to paint the table first.

You can glue the 1/16" tube into the 1/8" tube with jewelry cement.  I left this to dry over-night.

Cut a drawer front for the table from the mat board at 1/4" wide and 1" long.

Round the edges and drill 2 holes for a wire handle.

As I mentioned earlier I used Delta's PermEnamel Paint.  Mine is a little old and is thick.  I used PermEnamel Thinner to thin it.
I painted and sanded to get a smooth finish.
I then "tried" to paint a straight line around the edge.  This makes the table look like it's been enameled.
To finish it I used Delta's PermEnamel Clear Gloss Glaze.

I made a wire handle and painted it with silver paint.  I finished the drawer front just as I did the table top.
Glue the wire handle in and glue it to one of the long sides of the apron.
My life-size table has silverware dividers in it, so I guess that's were the silverware was kept to set the table with.

This is the finished mat board table.  I did my best on the black line, but I think I need some touching up.

If I had known what I know now about using mat board, I would have never bought basswood for painted projects.





I hope some of you try this out, it's not as hard as it looks.

Have fun, expand on it, make it better, just keep making minis!!!

See 'ya next month, Kris

Vintage Kitchen Chair Tutorial - How to make a metal tubular kitchen chair, 1 inch scale.

This is the chair from the Vintage Kitchen, I have several pictures of this room box on the blog, one picture is in the July 29, 2009 posting.  I've been asked to make a tutorial for this chair several times, I avoided it because it's tricky.  Even now, when I made the samples for you I held my breath when the bending began.  I didn't have another piece of aluminum if this failed.  I am making the table next month so you will have a matching set.  This set is in my full-size kitchen, so I took the measurements from it and converted to 1 inch scale.

This chair uses 3/32 inch aluminum tubing.  I used to get it from Micro Mark, they only sell by the box of 15 now, at least that's what their web site listed.  Now, if your first try at bending this chair is successful, consider yourself lucky, but 15 pieces is way too many unless you are using this as a club project.
I have found a site that sells the K & S Engineering aluminum tubing in smaller amounts, www.hobbylinc.com  They sell 3/32 inch aluminum tubing in a package of 3 for 1.59, I would purchase 2 packages, just in case.  For the table you will need 1 package of 1/16 inch aluminum tubing, 6 pieces for 1.59 and 1 package of 1/8 inch aluminum tubing, 3 pieces for 1.89.  Look under "building supplies".  Of course, if you have a hobby shop that specializes in models and trains they might have this tubing.

 

I used basswood for the seats and backs on the original chairs.  If you have access to a scroll saw and can cut the wood, I would use the wood.  The seat is 3/32 inch thick basswood and I sanded the saddle into the seat.  The back is cut from 1/16 inch thick basswood.  After I cut out and sanded the edges round I dampened the back and let it dry over a glass, something that had the right size bend.  I held it in place with rubber bands.  Let this dry overnight.  Then I painted with Rustoleum white oil base paint.

For this tutorial I am using mat board for the seats and backs.

I mentioned earlier, if you are successful on the first try consider yourself lucky.  This goes fast, you'll have a chair in no time, if your bends are correct.  Don't try to move the bends too much, aluminum only bends once.

I don't use the "tube benders".  They are more trouble than they are worth.  We will make a bending jig.

You'll need a scrap of wood, a piece of a 2 x 4 or maybe a piece of plywood, at least 1/2 inch thick.

On a piece of paper draw your chair shape.  Use a square.  From top of back to seat is 1-1/4 inches; back of seat to front 1-1/4 inches; top of seat to floor 1-3/8 inches and the last measurement is 1-1/16 inches.

 Now, round off the corners, I did this freehand, if you want to use a circle template, go ahead.

Cut this pattern out and glue it to your scrap of wood.

Next, you are going to need some brads.  These are small nails with NO heads.  Mine are probably 5/8 inches long.

The picture above is my original bending jig from maybe 10 years ago, never throw out your jigs or forms,  you will need them again.
See the little brads?  Yes, they look like nails, but you can't have heads on them or you won't be able to get the tubing off after you've bent it.
Carefully hammer the brads into the wood on your rounded lines.  Do you see how mine are very, very close together?  You have to do this so the tubing won't crimp.
This is your first bending jig for the chair, you have one more to make.

On another piece of paper draw an "L" with your square, each leg is 9/16 inches long.  Round it's corner also.
Glue this piece to the scrap of wood also, glue it about 10 or 12 inch away from the first pattern.  Carefully hammer the brads onto the rounded line.

Again, this is my original jig with all of my notes.  You see I made some mistakes the first time, and when you see me bending you will notice that I had the two jigs too close together.

To keep the tubing from crimping insert a wire large enough to fill the inside of the tube.  I had 18 gauge covered wire on hand.  I had to unravel the thread on it, but it fit into the 3/32 inch tubing just fine. 

The tubing is 12 inch long.  Use your craft knife and with the wire inserted, cut the tubing to 11-1/16 inch.

I am cutting the tubing.

Cut the wire a little shorter than the tubing.  Straight pins are used to cap the ends of the tubing so we need room for those.

We are ready to bend.

Hold the tubing at the top of the jig, the tubing is going to want to move away from the brad, hold onto it.

Please forgive the picture quality, I had help.

I've made the first bend at the back of the seat.

THEN, I moved the tubing so that it is on top of the second bend's brads, look carefully and you can see this.

In this picture you can see how I moved the tubing to be on top of the second bend.  I've made the bend and I am down to the bottom.

I've made the third bend.

I am marking on the tubing a line to indicate the end of the pattern.

I've removed the chair and now it's on the next jig.

The mark you made should be at the first brad.

This is a picture from the top and I am bending around the brads.

I am marking the tubing again indicating the end of the pattern, this is also the center back.

At this point you could cut the chair at the center back, it's much easier this way, but you have a seam that would have to be glued.

I've repositioned the chair.

Can you see the chair on the right, the center back line is matching the one on the pattern?

We are still looking at everything from the top.

I've made the second bend for the bottom of the chair.

Now it gets complicated!

I do not know how to explain this, but here goes . . . take a straight edge, your ruler, but it's got to be flat and thin, that's why I have mine turned over, push it against the curve and make a mark on the other side of the chair's tubing.

This is not exact, this is going to be your trial chair.

Remember, you can cut the chair at the center back.

I've gone back to my first jig, see the chair is standing up on it's bottom.

I've lined up the mark I made with the first brad.  After I made the first sample chair, I found that I needed to move the chair back, maybe a 1/16 inch from the brad.

We are still looking from the top.  The back bottom of the chair is on the left and I am beginning the bottom bend.

Yes, it's not on the same plane, we are going to twist the second side into position.

Are you sure you wanted these instructions?

I've continued around the brads.


REMEMBER, to move the tubing after the second bend so that it's under your brads at the back of the seat.


If all went well you should be ending at the beginning mark on your pattern.

Carefully lift your chair off of the jig.

Carefully twist the other side of the chair into position.



You have one try at this.

Here are my two samples, and my original chair.  You can move the aluminum tubing a bit, but don't worry it to death, it will break.

All of this just takes minutes to do.

Transfer the patterns at the top of this posting to a program that you can change sizes in.  When you get the 1 inch square to measure 1 inch, you have the patterns correct.
As I mentioned earlier, if you have basswood and can cut it, use it.  If not we are going to use mat board for this tutorial.

I bent the chair back using a form, this is a circular Altoids tin.  Wrinkles will appear on the surface of the mat board.  To cover them, because it very hard to get rid of them, cut a piece of paper or card stock to fit over the front of the back after it's bent.  This should be a lot easier than trying to sand and paint them out, like I tried to do.

Glue the paper with yellow carpenter's glue while the back is in it's bent position. Hold until set.

Find some straight pins with large heads, or you can punch circles to cover the open ends of the tube.

I had some small nails I used for the samples.

I sanded the edges half round and then gave everything a coat of Delta's PermEnamel Gloss Glaze to seal.
Let dry.

A picture showing the half rounded edges.

I painted the mat board with Delta's PermEnamel white paint, several times, sanding with 320 grit paper in between coats.  We are trying to imitate metal so we want a very smooth surface.  After you are satisfied with the surface give everything a coat of Delta's PermEnamel Gloss Glaze.  I glued the backs and seats on with instant glue, be careful of your position, you don't have much time to reposition.

Yes, this chair is a little daunting, but you can do it, just take a deep breath!!

I will be posting the table next month.



Have fun, expand on it, make it better,  Just keep making MINIS!!!!!