Project Information
Greetings all and Happy New Year. Hard to believe that it has been more than a year since I posted a project. As many of you can relate, life takes time. Work, travel for work, travel for vacation, relocating the kids and on and on. You get the picture. Projects were started and then sat idle for weeks or months. In any event, we have been without a dining room set for a few years. We debated on whether to stay in the A&C vein or perhaps Greene and Greene. A trip to the Metropolitan Museum in NYC and the Michener Museum in Doylestown PA helped end the debate. We decided to go for something in the style of George Nakashima. I am building a dining table, sideboard and a display shelf. All will be solid walnut and feature natural edges. The table is based on Nakashima's Frenchman's Cove I Table.
I traveled to Talarico Hardwoods in Mohnton PA to look over the selection of flitches. I purchased a pair of bookmatched 6/4 walnut (10 foot) for the top and another 10/4 for the base (also 10 foot).
Once they arrived, the usual debarking and cutting to rough size followed. The 10/4 flitch was broken down to yield the parts for the table base.
The tops were leveled and smoothed using handplanes. That operation took almost a week to complete. The base features bridle joint construction for the legs and stretchers.
The top needed some butterfly splines for cracks. So the areas in need of repair were routed and chiseled out and the splines glued into place and then planed flush with the top.
Cracks and voids were filled with 5 minute epoxy tinted with Trans Tint Mission Brown dye. Once the epoxy had set, it was planes and sanded flush.
The two halves of the table top were joined with a total of 8 butterfly splices (4 on top and four below).
The top is 84" long x 44.5" wide and 1 3/8" thick.
The base was sanded to 600 grit. The top was sanded to 1200 grit. The finish is Odie's oil, Odie's Wood Butter and a final top coat of Odie's Wax.
Overall, it was a fun project and a lot of firsts for me. I hope to complete the sideboard and display shelf in the near future. Thanks for looking.
I traveled to Talarico Hardwoods in Mohnton PA to look over the selection of flitches. I purchased a pair of bookmatched 6/4 walnut (10 foot) for the top and another 10/4 for the base (also 10 foot).
Once they arrived, the usual debarking and cutting to rough size followed. The 10/4 flitch was broken down to yield the parts for the table base.
The tops were leveled and smoothed using handplanes. That operation took almost a week to complete. The base features bridle joint construction for the legs and stretchers.
The top needed some butterfly splines for cracks. So the areas in need of repair were routed and chiseled out and the splines glued into place and then planed flush with the top.
Cracks and voids were filled with 5 minute epoxy tinted with Trans Tint Mission Brown dye. Once the epoxy had set, it was planes and sanded flush.
The two halves of the table top were joined with a total of 8 butterfly splices (4 on top and four below).
The top is 84" long x 44.5" wide and 1 3/8" thick.
The base was sanded to 600 grit. The top was sanded to 1200 grit. The finish is Odie's oil, Odie's Wood Butter and a final top coat of Odie's Wax.
Overall, it was a fun project and a lot of firsts for me. I hope to complete the sideboard and display shelf in the near future. Thanks for looking.