Matt’s Weekly Shop Update – Feb 1, 2016

This week in the shop I continued working on the sofa table by completing the cherry inlay banding.

Viewer Projects

Walnut Dining Table by John

“I’ve always been one of those people that like building things. I’m a mechanical engineer and I really started getting into woodworking about 6 years ago.  The first major project that I wanted to build was a dining room table that I could pass down to my kids and grandkids.  I saw two walnut trees that were dying in someone’s yard and I asked them if they would let me cut them down and use them for woodworking.  They said I could so I milled them up with my Husqvarna 460 Rancher chainsaw and Alaskan Chainsaw Mill. I got some beautiful wood out of these trees and let it dry for several years in my garage before doing anything with it. 

About a year ago I started working on it more frequently.  The top is joined with 12MM dominos used for alignment.  I used floating walnut tenons to join the breadboard ends to the tabletop.  These tenons were ~1”x3”x6”. The floating tenons are glued in the table top and secured to the breadboard ends with ½” pegs that I roughed out on the lathe and then hammered through a dowel plate.  I joined the pillar supports to the arms and legs of the bases with a grid-work of Domino’s and then drilled a 1/2” hole all the way through the assembly and put a ½” threaded stainless steel rod all the way through for extra support.  I used epoxy to glue the base pieces together to give me a longer dry time.  I decided not to use a stain on it since the wood is so beautiful.  I finished it with 6 coats of a crystal clear polyurethane sanding in between coats with 220 grit sandpaper.  The stretchers join to the base pieces with 14mm dominos and ½” bolts that thread into 1” barrel nuts in the bases.  I left the main part of the table slightly wider than the breadboard ends because I think it will shrink some coming into a climate controlled setting from the garage.  The top is secured with 2 lag bolts under the top stretcher and with a series of 12-gauge figure 8 table top fasteners that will allow seasonal movement.

I finally finished it last week and it took 5 guys to bring it into my dining room from the garage.  Everything is solid walnut; the top is 43”x3”x100”.  With a quick weight calculation, the top probably weighs somewhere around 300 lbs. and the base weighs somewhere between 180-210 lbs.  It’s a beast of a table and I think it will be passed down in my family for many years to come.  I’m looking forward to my next project, maybe a Roubo workbench… “

Wooden Football by Charles

“This is a wooden football. it is cedar and is made of 32 cedar strips. hand painted and a clear epoxy finish.”

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Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ch241232

First Pen Turning by Donald

“Out of everything I’ve tried in woodworking, the lathe intimidates me more than anything. Much less something as small as a pen. But I obligated to try for James Greens pen competition. I live 5 minutes from Fort Bragg, Pop was a WW2 vet, bro-in-law was a Sea-Bee in Vietnam so felt obligated. Needed to practice first and did so. Then decided to go ahead and make a pen and this is the story…

There was a tree that my bro-in-law cut down 3 or 4 years ago before he realized how attached my sis was to it. I found the rotting log with the burl in it and decided to cut into it to see what was in there. It was a live oak tree which is rampant on the land here. There was a lot of rot but still some usable wood with a lot of splating especially around the burl. It was hard and solid but dry and brittle, (hard to explain lol) I cut the blanks, made this pen, and gave it to my sister. I can’t giver her the tree back but she can carry a part of it with her for a long time now. It’s not the hardest thing I’ve ever made, and has some imperfections being the first pen I ever made. But for some reason I’m more proud of it than anything I’ve done so far. Maybe because it made my sister so happy. But don’t tell her I said that. I’m suppose to be a mean baby brother. 😉 I attached the pic of the log, blanks, and the final pen.”
Greene and Greene Inspired Blanket Chest by Cody

Project from the Wood Whisperer Guild

Woodshop 101 #025 : Creating a Legacy

http://www.countrysideworkshop.com/audiopodcast/episode025

 Sofa Table Project

Purchase the Early Bird Bundle to get the sofa table and 2 other upcoming projects for 50% off: http://bit.ly/1m7Ytaw

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6 Responses

  3. Is it just me or do you only seem to get logs in the winter? Or is it just winter where you live all the time?

    Reply

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