New Table Project

Table update 11/6/09 Ok ... I'm back ... Box and funeral last week, meetings and catch up this week, and I actually had a paid writing assignment that I had to work on ... More on that when it hits the stands ... Anyway, the construction on the cherry and burl table is complete. We're still fussing with the finish samples though... looking for the right shine ... It should all be resolved this coming week ... all for now ...

Close up of the corner and leg inlays ... They are shellaced with a seal coat and we wil 9mostly0 stain around them when we color the cherry to maintain their clarity and contrast ...

the whole table with the two leaves inserted ... Table slides we use are by Moin hardware They're great and they are the same ones we used on this project ...

While we're still a little ahead of the carpenters on the other project we have going, we're slipping in an order for a table from our website. We made the original in 2006, custom designed for a client in New York City. This one is very similar in size and design so we actually know exactly what we are doing for a change.

Always start with a great log of cherry from Irion Lumber

Make some legs and put in the inlays

layout the top and glue up the halves and the leaves

cut it to size and rout the channels for the inlays

Make sure everything's the right size before you glue up the base

Make some finish samples using a different varnish than we usually use at the client's request

Glue in the walnut strips and corner inlays ... not shown in the photo here is the fact that the walnut strips actually are cross cuts of 3 or 4" wide thin boards which are put in individually, the grain of the wood of the strips runs in the same direction as the grain of the wood of the table, allowing everything to expand an contract seasonally together ... The longs ones go in in one piece.

fit up the corners and the inlay strips ... trhe burl strips will be cut into shorter sections before gluing ..

Glue and clamp them in... Tomorrow Trevor will flush them up, scrape and sand the whole top, and we should be ready to start the finishing process Monday if we get an approval on the color and varnish sample ... All for now .. Back to the Yankees game ... Doesn't look so good for them right now ....

Update on the Recycled Chestnut Table

11/30/09 ... We recently went back to visit this table and do some remedial work on a new light fixture that hangs over it now ... Lookin good if I do say so myself ....

home stretch ... delivery Friday ....

hand applying the varnish finish

Update on the new custom dining table coming up here. This post is getting to be a long one, but tomorrow we're ready to start the finishing ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

Will glued up the base yesterday. First, he put the first coat of water stain on so he could sand the legs on the lathe before gluing them up. The runners went on today and it was kind of interesting. Because of the 30" inside dimension of the aprons we couldn't use our normal 2.5" high extension runners so we ordered some extra section, short, 2" high ones from Moin Hardware. These folks are very knowedgeable and when I described my problem, she suggested I use a set with extra length which is kind of counterintuitive I admit, but she explained that the sections would not then be fully extended and thus more rigid, and, with the extra sections, we could add a center leg if we needed it to one of the non moving sections.

There are no aprons becuase we wanted to be able to push the arm chairs under so we have added thin stiffeners to prevent warping.

Jeremy is putting all the screws in the runners before....

Trevor does the 'dancing (or meditating) on the table' test...impressively, negligible, very slight sag .... it should hold the turkey OK ...

As is usual with recycled wood, we had a crack or two to stablize with butterfly keys

glued up the panels yesterday ... 1/23

Scraped and cut them to shape today (funky late afternoon color above)

Pins and leaf cuts Monday

The legs and the lumber .... 1/22 ... The two on the left are hand turned and sanded and the two on the right are as they come off the Vega duplicator if both the cutter and the operator are nice and sharp.

Will, cleaning up the turnings by hand

1/15 New custom dining table coming up here. We finalized the designs early last week and the wood arrived today from my friends at Appalachian Woods "a premier provider of reclaimed antique lumber" in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, and, I might add, especially speedy on this order ... I have been getting recycled chestnut from them off and on for several years now and this latest load did not disappoint ... We just got it today and haven't milled any of it yet, but it appears bright and clean with just the 'right' amount of worminess. It's stacked in the finish room to acclimate for a while until we finish the projects were working on ... won't be long though before we get started on it ...

The table is a 64" diameter expanding round with leaves and it's loosely based on a rectangular expanding farm style table we made for another client a few years ago ....

Plan view closed

Plan view with leaves

The chestnut including turning stock for the legs ... The inspection dog is checking the lumber for edibles...

Inspiration table ... Half of a 23'6" table we made for another client ... This table 36" wide, hooks onto this table, also " 36 " wide