Dining room table construction advice
HockeymanVT
| Posted in General Discussion on
A friend of mine wants to have me build a table that only a Viking would love. He wants it 2-3″ thick. It will be made from 4/4 ash milled from my woodlot. My question is how to combine those two layers of boards to achieve the 2″-3″ thickness he wants.
All ideas welcome.
Replies
Does that top actually have to be 2"-3" thick - or just look like it? If it's just about the look, some kind of apron may work and save a lot of weight. - lol
It has been cut, stickered and dry for a while.
I'm with Dave45 on this - why not simply give the appearance of the thickness and save weight and lumber.
I might do that. How should the top be constructed so that it doesn't warp noticeably?
Proper grain orientation helps, as well as consistent moisture content and making sure that if the wood takes on moisture with humidity changes, it's not on one face only. Stringers help, which could also be used to attach the top to the base and how that happens, depends on the design. A heavy top is great but the base will need to have a fair amount of mass, too. Otherwise, it'll be top-heavy (again, depending on the design) and unstable. Thick breadboard ends and a few stringers will do a lot to keep the boards from twisting. If they want the whole table top to be thick, use boards that are heartwood and make sure they're well dried before milling. Riving before planing thick stock keeps them from turning into pretzels, too.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
sawdustfactory,
Some people want the real thing not just an imitation or something close.
I have a double timberframe for example,, real timbers inside and out. real stone set between them, because I wanted that look.. Sure some might have settled for a tnin board offering the suggestion of timbers and some fake stone made to look like the real thing..
Save the lumber? Why not use it on something he'd be proud of?
Hockeyman.
Good for your friend! the issue of warpage can be dealt with and the massive look and feel of that table will serve him well in the future..
I suggest to you that your events are not properly sequenced. The table must first be designed: form, line, texture, dimensions...... Then the construction can be figured. If you attempt to first deal with how to pile your lumber up to get a 2 or 3 inch thick top, then you'll get a lumber pile on legs.
Why not make it like a work bench top. Rip the 4/4 stock into 3" widths and glue their faces together. Assuming you are starting from flat sawn boards, this will orient the grain in a stable quartersawn patten. If you use a lot of clamps and glue carfully, only the grain changes will give away teh glue lines. Also, you can make it up in sections that will fit through your planer until the final full width glue up.
I promise not to start gluing until I get a drawing made and the proportions set and most important, legs that are strong but proportional (just the way I like them). I think the 2" strips glued on their face sounds like a compromise that should work well. If the client doesn't like the end result, I will have a killer workbench! I don't know if he will object to the bench dogs in the surface or the end vise. ;-)Thanks for ALL the fine ideas.
If the ash is alreadt milled at 4/4 then you can't make a table top 3" thick. It will only look like three 4/4 boards glued together. If you want a 3" thick top get wood milled the correct thickness.
BTW -- I've made a dining table out of 5/4 boards. Does your friend realize how heavy the table will be?
Edited 10/2/2007 11:02 am ET by basset-hound
I think what has been suggested is to cut the 4/4 boards 3" wide (mine will be <>2") then glue them so the 3" dimension is vertical. It will take lots of glue and lots of wood but since the wood comes from my land and I get it milled for .10 / BF, material is not an issue.
Yes, the client DOES know how much it will weigh. He considers that a feature!
If your friend really wants a "Viking" table, then you've gotta use 3" thick material with no bluffing. I've done lots of tables both ways - "imitation" thickness as well as the real thing. Some designs lend themselves to faking the thickness, but a rustic design (which I glean from the Viking term) will be a dead give-away if it's not the real thing.
Either go back to the drawing board or back to the sawmill. And if you're gonna air dry it yourself, you should tell your friend to call in about 3 years time.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
David,
air drying doesn't work by the 1 inch per year rule as you go beyond one year. Interior moisture remains well above the desired levels after three years. The thicker the wood the more additional time beyond the one inch per year rule..
"air drying doesn't work by the 1 inch per year rule as you go beyond one year."
I agree, and I don't think the "rule" is much of a rule at all. Assuming that transport of water from the interior of the wood to the surface is diffusion rate-limited, which it almost certainly is, you'd expect the drying time to go approximately as the square of the thickness (e.g., double the thickness, multiply the drying time by four).
-Steve
I wouldn't actually use that rule for drying; I was just using the figure to make a point. I've got some 4" French Oak that's been drying for 5 years already and is nowhere near ready for use.
regards,
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Just for full disclosure, the ash was from logs felled a year and a half ago during the dead of winter. It was milled in the spring so it has had almost two years to "mellow" It will be about three yeas out before I get around to build with it. Did I mention how much I love all the advice!
Late post but from my experience Ash does not move that much from where you cut it. If it moves after cutting get a new stick, If that stick remains 'as it was' use it !
EDIT: I forgot to say I LOVE ASH... It is a wonderful wood!
Edited 10/3/2007 8:36 pm by WillGeorge
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