Dining Table Progress: Friday Update
Last week I made a little progress on the table. This week I made a lot.
Dining Table Update
Surfacing
The slab is now flat and surfaced. I had options to get this done, do it myself or outsource it. To do it myself I could have worked myself to death with hand planes and spent the better part of the next two months scratching at the surface of the slab. Not an option.
Second for my shop, build a router sled and use that. I have a router sled and have used it to flatten charcuterie sized boards before. Last time I did this the board was roughly 1 square foot of surface area per side. It took 2 passes and around an hour per side. Translate that hour per square foot into the surface area of the slab and I was looking at around 55 hours of routing. I would also need a surfacing router bit and a sheet of plywood plus angle iron and a few more items totaling a $200+ investment.
Adding in my labor, that’s an expensive surfacing job.
Now to outsource. One option is to run the slab through a wide belt sander or wide planer, but those are generally only up to 48 inches wide, and this slab is 53 at the widest.
So I decided to outsource to Maverick Sawmill with their custom CNC, able to flatten a 74 inch wide slab. The machine they use has a 12 inch wide helical cutter head. Essentially a moving planer that could flatten and surface a slab extremely quickly. In an hour this slab went from rough and cupped to flattened on both sides and virtually ready for sanding and finish.
At $200 some odd dollars it was a steal. Not only would I have spent the same just in materials for a router sled, I saved myself 50+ hours of work.
Plus, the surfacing process removed around 100 pounds of sawdust, making the slab so much more manageable to move around. No longer was the slab near 400 pounds. Now it is only 200 pounds.
Bark Removal
One of the most tiresome parts of this project will be to clean everything up. Yes, the slab is now surfaced and cleaned, but the edges, voids, and knot holes need to be cleaned of loose material and bark.
The bark has to come off. If you like it, sorry. The bark connection is not as strong as the wood, and as the wood changes size and shape with the seasons the bark will eventually split and fall off on its own. I’d rather do it intentionally than let nature decide how the table will look.
The bulk of the bark comes off without issue, it’s the next layer that needs to be chiseled and sanded off that is tough. To preserve the character of the live edge there is no easy way around this other than taking the time to do it right.
The Base
With the slab essentially ready for final sanding it’s time to create the base. I have a general design the client asked for, but I’m going to modify my original plan a bit to give the base better stability.
Original design has the top set on a trapezoid. The new design is similar, but with the top plate inlaid into the table, making it appear thinner, and extending toward the edges of the table to better support the top and reduce any cupping or bowing.
By inlaying the base into the top the entire base will become a tenon inserted into a large mortise, giving the table extra stability to prevent racking. Usually you can stop racking (side to side sway) with a stretcher connecting the base together, but the client did not want anything to kick under the table.
In addition to this change I am extending the top past the legs to give the base more purchase and connection points near the edges of the slab.
I haven’t completed the base, but having a plan is the first step toward execution.
On the Smaller Side
Last weekend was Father’s Day. My kids made me cards, but they wouldn’t stand up so naturally I went to the shop and found a perfect piece from the scrap bin to turn into a card holder.
One simple cut and a little sanding turned this cutting board offcut I’ve had laying around for a year into a display piece to be used for years to come.