"Viking" Table
#21
(12-19-2016, 07:49 PM)TomFromStLouis Wrote: I agree that solid wood is called for here. A splintery wood like oak might not be as good a choice as a soft maple or poplar for the distressing bit. Pine is not a bad choice if you can figure out how to finish it.

Guess the "Vikings" would have used birch if they could, true poplar or a softwood if they couldn't. 

White birch is softer, distresses easily, and holds joinery well enough to leave out fasteners.  Yellow would demand a bigger hammer.

Eastern white pine would stain without reversal.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
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#22
Second the use of alder. I have a table from one of the kits that Hechingers (east coast borg, kind of) sold 30 years ago. Thick alder top, maybe 6/4, that is soft enough that it will distress easily, but will also take a finish well. After 20 plus years of being the family dinner table, craft table, and often the best workbench I broke it down with the track saw, took 3/16 or so off the the top with my planer, glued it back together and refinished it. At the time I made a new leaf for it and the price for the alder was comparatively cheap.
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#23
This is the type of table I imagine.  It is 108" long and 40" wide.  Three trestles.  Weight:  280 pounds.  Do you really want to carry something like that into the "man cave"??  http://www.worldmarket.com/product/monro...iningtable

I would make two or three saw horse type legs and a separate top.  You can then easily change out the top as required, or make two smaller tops and bring out the second top when needed.  

[Image: 6bd981a40bee0e951fe66675396be8c4.jpg]
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
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#24
shouldn't a man cave have a really manly table?  Who cares if everyone needs back or hernia surgery after?

Just think, the kids will really have something to resent you over when you pass. Not like you're moving a piano down to the basement, or is it?
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#25
(12-20-2016, 09:46 AM)EricU Wrote: shouldn't a man cave have a really manly table?  Who cares if everyone needs back or hernia surgery after?

Just think, the kids will really have something to resent you over when you pass. Not like you're moving a piano down to the basement, or is it?

Small upright pianos weigh between 300 and 400 pounds; large uprights weight between 500 and 800 pounds.  Grand pianos weigh between 500 and 1,200 pounds.

Some large uprights are bigger and heavier than "baby grands" which look great but don't always sound great.  

You get piano movers to move pianos.  Are there Viking table movers?
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#26
I recall somebody here posting a build of an iron bound table a while back..  Seems the Vikings would have had one like that if they could.
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#27
I realize that this is a billiards table but the design concept can be drawn from this:
[Image: ironwood-billiard-table-by-Viking-Log-Furniture.jpg]
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#28
Looks more Flintstones than Viking to me!
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#29
I think real Vikings would have just eaten on the ground. 
Wink

A 2" thick top really would be ideal for this kind of thing.  A simple trestle base with tusked tenons and matching benches would complete the look.

Vikings probably used a lot of both pine and oak, but I'm guessing this guy isn't thinking period-correct, exactly.  But if so, riven oak planks would be the way to go.
Steve S.
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#30
A local mill has some 8/4 poplar and is willing to give me enough material for the 4x8 table for $300. I think that's pretty fair. Thanks for the help guys!
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