I have a commission for a walnut dinning table . the customer supplied the wood and there doesn’t appear to be enough for the top legs and apron.
I was thinking that instead off thicknessing off the waste I could resaw each board to get one 3/4″ and one 1/4″ board. I could then glue up my top from the 3/4″ material and glue the 1/4″ boards to a substrate which I can then use for the table top leafs and apron. The legs I was thinking of making out of the 1/4″ material as well using a hollow core design (like a box). In the rough the boards are approx 1 9/16 thick. I have 9 boards that are approximately 8′ and 7″ wide.
My question is what substrate can I use? would pine be acceptable as a secondary? or are the two woods so different in nature that they move at different rates. and do you think that 1/4 is too thin for use in the legs even though I plan on using the box design?
should this also be laminated or should I just design the legs and aprons from a secondary wood dyed to match?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you,
Chaim
Replies
These boards all look to be about 4-6" wide. Tell your customer to buy more wood or select a smaller table. If all the wood is what you have in the picture you are going to have a tough time getting a table top with a decent matching grain patern. And trying to edge joint all that veneer is going to be a costly headache.
Plus all the time you will spend glueing and cutting and trying to save every little piece so he doesn't have to buy more is going to take more of your time.
It should be ALOT cheaper for him to buy wider boards (10" +) with nice straight grain that the cost for you to glue the boards he brought you. If it doesn't your not charging him nearly enough. And you should figure at least 20% waste on a table top.
This looks like a project where it will cost a dollar to save a nickel.
Even if the wood cost $1000 that should still be cheaper than what it would cost to make a dinning room table out of the wood in the picture.
But to answer your question. If the boards are thick enough you can resaw of a piece to use as veneer. But you don't want it 1/4" thick you want it more like 1/16" at most. otherwise you'll have to deal with movement over your substrate issues.
Your right about the wood not being enough for the table, hence my resaw idea.
On the other hand my time is well paid for and I can exert design decisions if necessary.
As for the thickness of the veneer I appreciate your reminder of the movement issues. The idea was to use up wood that was left over from his house construction so I got what I got. It will be tough finding grain matches but I'm willing to forgo that to a certain extent.
Thanks,
Chaim
Chaim,
First choice - make the legs and apron of some contrasting wood, NOT stained to match. We make lots of tables with natural tops on cream-colored painted legs.
Second choice, if you really really want to stretch that walnut...Be aware that resawing it will open a can of worms. It all depends on how it was dried, and you won't know before you start. But it's a fairly safe bet that at least one board will give you grief when you open it. Then what?
As far as the substrate goes - I'd use poplar. It's cheap, stable, easy to work. The pine that you can get a hold of is much inferior.
regards,
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Thanks for your reply David,
I realize that the resaw idea is not the ideal I;m just looking for the right combination of elements to help me with the design.
I have already informed the client of the possible need for additional materials and it id understood that this will ultimately affect the cost and size of the project but I still needed to explore this possibility in order to come up with a base model for the client to sign up on.
your help is much appreciated.
Chaim
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