I started volunteering at Nashville Tools for Schools in December 2021. For the first 6 months I worked on the bigger school projects and then I was asked to start working with Harry in the “Fine Furniture Department”. Harry was 91y/o at the time and a legend in volunteer carpentry. He helped start the Supervisor on Site role at Habitat and got involved in NTFS early on. Harry lives in a western suburb of Nashville so his commute to the workshop can be 30-60 minute. Mine is 10 min on a bad traffic day. The Fine Furniture Department uses leftover wood from the school projects and donated material to make tables for organizations that are helping people transition from unhoused to housed such as House2Home Nashville.
We build small dining room tables, coffee tables, end tables and bedside tables. No two tables have been the same which has made it more difficult for me to pick up the principles behind what we are doing to the degree that I felt like I could work independently. The table above is constructed of donated laminate flooring glued to 1/2 or 1/4 inch plywood except the shelf which is painted pine. Harry and.I worked together on the top, legs and apron (the wood running horizontally around top of legs). When we finished Monday, all that was left was to screw the apron to the legs and construct and install the shelf. Harry was not able to come in on Tuesday so I decided to see if I could finish the table on my own. When I mentioned my idea to Harry, he thought I would need the assistance of someone else. I decided to try it anyway – knowing I had back up from others in the shop if I needed it.
So I screwed the apron to the legs, made sure the legs were square, by measuring and placing a spacer on the long and short side, measured for the self. Finding a scrap to use for the shelf, I cut it to size, and cut 4 supports to hold the shelf at the correct height for installation. After making sure the shelf fit the space, I ironed on veneer tape to the edges, and stained the edge before painting the surface black (to match the inside of the table legs). I set the shelf in place on the supports breathing a sigh of relief that it still fit with the tape on the edges and secured it with nails and screws. I remembered all of the little nuances of techniques that Harry had shown me except to account for the width of the tape when cutting the shelf..
It was highly satisfying when I stood the table up and it did not wobble. I think it will not be too long before I will be able to design and construct a table on my own.
Harry has been mostly patient with my mistakes along the way and I do learn the most from his ability to fix or work around a problem. I was traveling when we acquired this metal frame to use for a table. In this instance Harry decided to try just glueing the flooring together without gluing it to plywood. The flooring was attached to a frame built around the edge of the metal frame and supported by the unique bridges seen in the photo. . While it worked out, it did not save any time. This is one design we will not repeat.
Harry and I have developed friendly banter while we work – for me this is time extremely well-spent.
Tamara Unleashed 