Walnut Table

[alex grams]

A table I made from two bookmatched slabs of walnut. Finish is 1 coat General Finish Seal-A-Cell, then 2 coats of Target Golden Red WB Shellac, then 3 coats of Target em2000 Conversion Varnish (satin) then a topcoat of em2000 with CL100 additive (higher scuff/water/wear resistance)

I am working on 4 chairs, all from walnut with leather pads. Hope to have them done in the next week or so. Most all of the work on them is done, just need a lot of sanding and gluing.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203186&d=1311741403

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203185&d=1311741400

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203184&d=1311741396

[bruce buren]

Very nice!

[Dave Gaul]

That is a sharp looking table! Kinda hard to tell, but the edges of the table seem to be the sapwood of the board? I really like that, that board must have screemed "make me into a table"!!!

[alex grams]

Dave,
It was actually 2 boards. I was looking at a single slab of walnut to do the table with, but finding something 35"+ wide was tough (and expensive, approaching $1,000 shipped from suppliers).

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/bookmatchedwalnut001-1.jpg

I got the two bookmatched pieces from Horizon Lumber in Pennsylvania. I talked with Pete Terbovich there quiet a bit about what I need, and even though a smaller order than they typically do, he put a lot of effort into getting me pictures/dimensions and checking his inventory for pieces which suited my need, and his price was great. $400 shipped for two pieces 20" wide by 7' long. I highly recommend looking at them for signature pieces of wood like this, and they will be the first place i look at next time i need anything else like this.

Anyways, i got the two pieces and cut the sapwood from the interior seam, then glued them together with some floating tenons all along the joint. I then found a Door Maker/Local shop that had a 60" wide sander that would run the glued up boards through to flatten the face for 30$. I had a little difficult time finding someone with a machine big enough that wouldn't charge me $100+ for 15 minutes of work. I was concerned I would have to plane the boards individually then joint them together and work as best I could for a truly flat surface, but finding the local shop with the huge sander (the size of a small truck) was a big relief at a good price.

Here are the two pieces glued together pre-sanding:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/alexgrams/KitchenTableChairs001.jpg

The table went super quick and easy. Simple base. It is hard to tell, but I wanted a subtle but distinct edge pattern on the skirts, but given the top being the primary focus, nothing too drastic to take away from the simple style. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, then the wife said she likes the natural edge of the top, so i mimiced that on the skirts. I took a belt sander with some 60 grit and put some slight contour/undulation to natural edge the bottom of the skirts along their natural grain lines. Just enough that it mimics the flow of the top sapwood edges. It is hard to see in the picture, but in person when you look or run your hand across it you can see it pretty well.

The chairs will share the same style on their rails (the top back crest-rail as well as the chair skirt-rails). I will say this about 8/4 walnut cutting into chair legs, I will glue up three to four 1/2"-3/4" boards to cut the legs from. Walnut likes to hide checks inside its thicker cuts, so a smooth 8/4 board will look good until you cut a curved leg from it, then you discover checks in yours legs. I had to cut 11 legs to get 8 good ones with no checks. Some expensive waste when it comes to 8/4 walnut.

[Dave Gaul]

Alex, great write-up to follow up there! Since they are bookmatched, they were one board at some point, but I know what you mean. The book matched pair looks better than any single slab IMO, unless you have a highly figured slab.
I have a great lumber yard near me that provides the same quality of service, Hearne Hardwoods. PA has some great lumber resources!

Once again man, great looking table!

[Jerry Olexa]

Ah beautiful walnut!!! Nice job of matching and joining...

[Jeff Monson]

Nice work Alex, the top is super, using the natural contour and leaving the sap at the edges really adds a nice touch. Make sure to post up some chair pics when you get around to it.

[alex grams]

Some pictures of the chairs. The only one glued up is the one on the table. The rest are just clamped while I work on them.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203266&d=1311825654

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203265&d=1311825642

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=203264&d=1311825631

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

What an absolutely beautiful project; well-executed.

[Prashun Patel]

Really nice work. Love that top. What kind of joinery did you use?

Also, I like making legs out of glued up stock too; it's very stable and not as prominent as on other parts of a table or chair. However, I've used a decent amount of 8/4 walnut and haven't found it to be more "checky" than the maple or cherry I've used in the same thickness. I HAVE heard that walnut is trickier to dry, though, and maybe I just got lucky.

Nice work. Love the sway back of the chairs.

[alex grams]

Thanks Prashun, I spent a bit of time working on the chair back contour. A chair can look beautiful but sit horrible. I wanted something that was comfortable and contoured to the full back of the person sitting in it.

Maybe I just had some bad luck in walnut, but in hindsight I would make the legs from gluing together boards of 1/2-3/4" thickness as it would avoid this problem and be cheaper than purchasing 8/4 walnut.

Hopefully this weekend I will get the first chair pad upholstered up and able to put it on the base of the chair.

I still have 45's i need to put in the joints of the base of the chair for strength, they will have 2 screws into each skirt and 2 screws into each leg to firm up the joints.

I am debating countersinking 2 screws through the legs into the bottom back skirt for strength. One of the joints in glued up didn't fully flush up to the leg, even though there is a tenon in the joint to give it strength, I may countersink 2 screws and plug the holes with walnut just to be sure (but then again, the major strength of the glue joint is the face of the tenon, not the shoulders, so I am still undecided. It is always something I can add later when all 4 are glued up).

[glenn bradley]

I really love walnut. Great bookmatch and the chairs are looking great too.

[Don Bullock]

Alex, that's one great looking project. I really love the table, but those chairs are fantastic!!! As a big fan of walnut I'd love to have a set of table and chairs like yours in my home. Enjoy.

[Tom Winship]

Good work, Alex. I like the chairs also.

[Hans Braul]

Wonderful project! I love the way your table came out. Chairs look great too. Hans