Dining Table Build

[Daniel S]

I'm anxious to see this as you progress. I'd like to tackle a dining table build sometime and seeing it done is inspiring.

[Bibliophile 13]

atgcpaul said:

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What will be the length and width of the top for a 10 seater?

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90" long and 44" wide. Elbow room will still be a little tight, but that's all that will fit into the dining room. In a pinch, it will be wide enough to seat two kids on each end.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

Great work so far. You should be able to seat Patton's third army at that baby when you're done! Looking forward to your progress....

[Bibliophile 13]

I'm back with more progress--finally!  




I hand-planed all the boards from the rough-sawn stock.  I must have carried out four or five garbage bags of wood shavings in the course of this build.  

As I edge-glued board after board together, the glue-ups just got more interesting. 



Cauls and battens helped a lot with alignment.  I had no desire to thickness each board to the exact same thickness by hand, so they're all a little different.  Only the top is leveled out.  



I ended up using my own weight to align the boards in the final glue-ups.  But everything came together in the end.  


In the meantime, as the glue dried, I worked on the leg assembly.  Each base is tenoned together.  The tenons were big enough that they got cut with my ripsaw. 



I really need to sharpen it, but that's a task for another day.  


The tenons left a lot of little offcuts, which one of the kids thought looked a lot like blocks.  




So this is what I found on my workbench the next morning.  I almost hated to clear it off in order to get back to work.  

I did drill out the mortises on the drill press, but then I squared them up by hand.  



Then it was time for drawboring. 



I've used a number of different woods for drawbore pins, but oak really does work best.  It's strong, flexible, and easy to shape with a chisel.  

The end pieces assembled, I attached the trestle with tusked tenons in order to make the base dis-assemblable. 



Normally you drive in the tusks to tighten up the joint, but we live in Alabama where the tusks-are-loose-a.  (I've been waiting years to use that joke.  Thanks, folks!  I'll be here all week.)


Before I put the table top on the base, I decided to stress-test it for strength.




Yep, it holds all the kids.  It's plenty strong enough to support the table top.

[Mike Brady]

Trestle tables often tend to become "tipsy" because the large top is supported only in the middle. Be sure your plan provides multiple points of support and attachment to prevent this from happening.

[C. in Indy]

It's looking great!   Enjoyable to see this project.

[KlausK.]

I like your work, Steve ... and the way you test its sturdieness 


It deserves a huge compliment to make such a large piece of furniture with hand tools only. My respect! And yes, the progress and result so far is impressive indeed.

Klaus

[Bibliophile 13]

Here's the final work on the table.  


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2041_zpsqckhzqah.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 41_zpsqckhzqah.jpg"/>


My hand planes got a workout leveling each board, edge-gluing them into ever-widening panels, and then leveling them again.  Traverse planing with both the jack plane and the jointer plane (pictured) was hard work, but effective.  


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2035_zpsqpydx1on.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 35_zpsqpydx1on.jpg"/>


This was the final glue-up, on the floor in front of the workbench.  Sprung joints meant I needed only a few clamps, but I had all my pipe clamps fully extended.  Not every joint was perfect, unfortunately, but they all held up as I moved the finished panel around. 


After the final glue-up, I was faced with the prospect of smooth-planing a panel that was significantly larger than my workbench. I decided that I would set aside my Western, workbench-centric methods and embrace an Eastern approach to the problem. 


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2049_zpsdbrxfu94.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 49_zpsdbrxfu94.jpg"/>


I sat on the panel (to hold it down), turned my smoothing plane around and pulled it.  I even worked barefoot, so as not to mar the surface with my shoes.  (And I NEVER work wood barefoot!)  I found the smoothing plane was actually pretty easy to pull, and even comfortable to hold backwards--one hand on the knob and the other hand wrapped around the tote.  


Then it was time to flip it back over (with help!) and attach the top. 

<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2037_zpssskwxmhw.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 37_zpssskwxmhw.jpg"/>

I nailed battens alongside the base, just to help keep the alignment steady.  The base is attached to the top with lag screws in generously oversize holes, to allow for the significant seasonal movement that this top will see.  I also screwed some diagonal battens to the ends to reinforce the overhanging ends.  


The final stage before finishing is the top.  This was, um, "rustic" lumber, with various voids, knots, and bug holes.  Where most would see these as flaws, I see these as potential decorative features.  The idea is to fill in the voids with crushed stone in order to speckle the surface with contrasting color.  


Some of the voids are deep (a few go all the way through the top!), and the crushed stone, malachite, is not cheap, so the first step is to back-fill the deeper voids.  


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2042_zps1khd8etd.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 42_zps1khd8etd.jpg"/>


Bug holes could often be filled with toothpicks.  In most cases, I cut off the toothpick so it settled just below the surface of the wood.  Other holes were filled in with sawdust topped with thin superglue.  That provided a stable substrate for the stone. 

Then I filled each void with the crushed stone, which is pretty fine-grained, but not quite a powder.  It's about the consistency of table salt, or perhaps a bit coarser.  I mounded up the stone slightly over each void, and then saturated the stone with a few drops of thin superglue--the thinner the better.  


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2044_zpsvptjrgaq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 44_zpsvptjrgaq.jpg"/>


This works with both small holes (like bug holes) and larger voids, like knots. 


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2045_zpsj6ps6dsh.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 45_zpsj6ps6dsh.jpg"/>


Once the superglue dried, I used a card scraper to level the surface.  The scraper was faster than sandpaper, but it was still a lot of work.  But the superglue-impregnated stone actually scraped quite well.  I was afraid it would dull the scrapers prematurely, but it didn't.  

After scraping, I lightly sanded the whole tabletop and applied a few coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.  The malachite-filled voids came out pretty well.  


<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2047_zpsq2o7tm8j.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 47_zpsq2o7tm8j.jpg"/>

<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2046_zpslzpgwltw.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 46_zpslzpgwltw.jpg"/>


This is definitely a design feature that I plan to use more often in the future.  


And finally the table is done.  

<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2038_zps6kekfl6j.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 38_zps6kekfl6j.jpg"/>

<img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/bibliofile13/Furniture/Dining%20Table%20Build%207-2016%20sm%2040_zpscrykdqcq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dining Table Build 7-2016 sm 40_zpscrykdqcq.jpg"/>

Now it's time to gather around for family meals.

[atgcpaul]

Great job!  That looks fantastic.

I might wear a cup if I was doing the pull stroke planing


What do you use to thin superglue?

[AHill]

I have really enjoyed this build-along, Steve!  It's also nice to see kids.  Lends a real sense of purpose and family values to the whole journey.  Keep up the good work!