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I completed this kitchen dining table today. John Olson with Wood Magazine was the designer. He featured this table in a past magazine article. I built my table from select cherry hardwood; mostly 8/4 and 6/4 rough sawn lumber planks.

This was a fun build.

I used Tried & True Danish Oil for its finish. I am pleased with the sheen and color this finish has given to my wood. I know that my cherry will only become darker and even more exciting to look at as it ages.

I made this table for my Annie. She seems to like it.

Next, I need to find a contemporary chair plan that will go well with this table's design. I am searching…

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Well you've gotta be happy with that Happy
Now chairs, I would give Geore Naka a close look
I think they wood would be a good match, as long as your into conoid chars that is
 

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Very cool. Looks like demanding project regarding all those angles on stand - realy great work on that. I like the shape of the table top too.
 

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Nice table. Love the leg support system. Lots of leg room on the ends. Well done.
 

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beautiful table love the base design,you cant go wrong with cherry.cant wait to see your chairs.
 

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Fine work. Very pleasing to the eye. Well done Howie.
 

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Very nice. Love the coloer.
 

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Nicely executed!
 

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I have appreciated all of the views and the nice comments that have been made. It has been a while since I have posted here so it was nice to see some "old Internet friends" that visited and commented on my project post. You know who you are. I hope you all are doing well in these troublesome times. My Annie and I are doing well.

I believe I have found the dining chair that I will build. It is a Michael Fortune design that was featured in a Jul/Aug 2012 Fine Woodworking Magazine article. Being a contemporary dining chair it should fit design-wise with my dining table.

Reading through the article and the full-size plan that I own, there will be a lot of jigs I will have to make first. Those should help in the process of building at least four of these chairs. I may even build a bench that I remember in another FWW trestle table article. I am looking forward to these builds. It will give me some "brain" exercises for this old man to enjoy.

Everyone, be safe and have fun in your shops. Be Happy…

 

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It's really nice , be proud , can you tell me what tools you used to make such a big flat table , big sander , or just all hand how do you keep it all perfectly flat ?
 

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great choice on the chair howie should pair with the table quite nicely.cant wait to see the complete set.
 

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Voodverker62, Yes, I was very pleased with how well my tabletop came out: flat and thick the way I wanted it. At the rough sawn lumber source I had picked 6/4 and 8/4 lumber. The 5/4 cherry was a bit thinner than I would have liked to get my tabletop to its final 1-inch thickness so I went to 6/4. After acclimating this lumber in my shop sticker for a week or two, I began milling it flat and square. The next step I took was probably the most important in keeping the thickness of my boards so I didn't lose much during the gluing process. I followed the experience of others by only gluing two boards together at a time. I did analyze the grain and alternate the smiling and frowning faces of the grain directions. I always pay attention to that for my wide panels. I also use 4-way panel clamps and clamping cauls that I made years ago for tabletop clamping projects like this one. I'll include a clamping image below to give you an idea of the clamping process I used. I did not hurry the clamping process; only two panels glued at a time until I got my tabletop width. I lost very little from an uneven glue-up. After each panel glue-up, I planed my panel flat. First with hand planes like my #7 and while the panel could fit through my 15-inch Grizzly planer the opposite side was planed flat and parallel to the first. After the panels became wider than 15 inches my bench #7 plane was used to get the surfaces flat and my #4 smoother was used to prepare my cherry for my oil finish.

In the first image below you should notice the 4-way panel clamps and my clamping cauls.


In the final image you will notice the two 4-way panel clamps I used, the shop made clamping cauls, and my wide parallel clamps alternated topside and bottoms-up. Also, I used F-style clamps on the ends to keep or start the joints flat… Titebond III gave me a little more working time to get it all glued and clamped together correctly.

Oh, that reminds me. Just before gluing I layout the tabletop and with chalk I draw a carpenter's triangle. Then with my chalk where the panels meet I write an "I" for IN and on the other panel touching it I write an "O" for OUT. On each panel, I continue with the "I" and "O". Now at my jointer's fence, I joint the edges of my panel first with the "I" edge up against the jointer's fence and then with the other edge's "O" outside or away from the jointer's fence. I continue these edge jointings for every panel for my tabletop. This process gives my edges perfectly fitting joints for my glue-ups. With this method or process, it doesn't matter if my jointer's fence is perfectly square to the table, or not.
 

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Ivan, I was pleased to see your comment post.

This was a demanding build, but that is what gave me so much enjoyment. After milling the main parts, in order to get my mind around all of the angles I was going to cut, I had to lay out all of the cut lines with pencil marks. My Incra T-rule measuring tools helped me to precisely mark those cut lines that were to be made later.

The plan did not provide step by step instructions which would have treated me like a beginner. The plan did give some warnings of what to look out for like gluing flat surfaces to flat surfaces would require a lot of clamps and using a flat surface. However, the rest was left up to me to figure out. That is why I enjoy woodworking in my shop. The process of making decisions exercises my mind and abilities. This build gave me those opportunities. The angles were simply right angles and sometimes there were 15 degrees cuts on my table saw; sometimes this way and then sometimes the opposite direction. The few times I needed to route or plane a chamfer such as on the table's feet accentuated the angles and thus giving this project visual interest in its details. The use of hand tools such as my bench planes, rasps, files, and spokeshaves gave me a variety of tools and experiences to connect with the wood's grain and its natural beauty.

I am sure it was these angles and their complexity that drew me to this design in the first place. I am glad that my Annie agreed to this project and gave me the "green light" to proceed with its build. This was the plan that survived her scrutiny and time tested likes. That is why I trust her and enjoy her opinions.
 

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When I completed this table I wrote to the designer John Olson. I thanked him for his design. He is one of two builders for Wood Magazine. I also asked John for a personal story about his design and its use. He obliged me. Thanks, John. I told him how much I enjoyed building his dining table. I included the three images of the table that I have posted here in this blog. Surprisingly, months later I received a phone call from an editor with the magazine. He said they wanted to use one of my photographs for their "sounding board". Frankly, I did not make the connection that it was a monthly column in their magazine, but I was happy to give them my permission and a larger file copy of the photo. Several months later I opened a large envelope delivered by our mailman. Its content was the May Wood Magazine issue. I later learned that it was sent to me early. Silly me, I thought my subscription had accidentally expired. Was this my last issue? As I thumbed through the pages starting from the front cover, I soon saw my dining table in their magazine. How about that! Hey, this is a good way for the magazine to advertise their furniture plans sold on their WoodStore.net site. I can personally recommend this table. It was a challenging and fun build. My memories of building it are all wonderful. Enjoyable, even today. Like John we surround, use, and enjoy this table daily.
 
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