Rustic Hand Scraped Table for Cabin
#3
Big Grin 
I have some friends who wanted a table for a cabin, the only guidance was that they wanted it 28 inches wide by 79 inches long.  I suggested 8/4 cherry  for the top, with 3 3/4 legs ( glued up ) tenoned and wedged through the top.  After I glued up the top, I did my typical flattening routine, which is a scrub plane going at around 60 to 70 degrees cross grain, start at one end and work my way through to the other end.   Once I do that,  I go back with a smoothing plane, then a scraper going with the grain to get the table completely smooth.

I was finishing the scrub on the whole top, and had gone about halfway through with the smoothing plane when I thought about leaving a rough finish.  I checked with my friends and they said whatever I wanted, and so i ground a cambered iron for a smoothing plane  ( the camber on the scrub plane is too aggressive - I wanted more gradual ripples like in a pond ) .  It took a few tries in getting the curve I wanted on the iron - too much and the shallows could make plates and cups rickety,  and it was somewhat funny that i had to go back and rough up parts that I had already gotten smooth.  Then I used a cabinet scraper cross grain to smooth out any rough tearout, and add more texture in various places.  Then some light hand sanding with the grain at 150 to make the ripples smoother.  As a decorative element,  I welded up some 3/16 by 2 stock and made some brackets to attach to the legs after the glue had dried.

My friends love it.  It is extremely hard to photograph.  From some angles, you don't see any ridges,  from others , the ridges look very pronounced.  In person, it just invites you to touch it, and my friends love it.  It is not a style that many would go for, but in a rustic cabin, it really works.  


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#4
I like it!
It sort of reminds me of the attractiveness of a hand-scraped metal surface, too.

Chris
Chris
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