Round Walnut End Table WIP

[Rob Price]

This is a follow up/matching piece to go with our slab walnut dining room table I finished last year. When I was turning the legs I glued up 5 blanks, turned all 5, and then picked the best 4 for the table. This leg ended up being held out because it had the most contrast between the glued up pieces. I always planned to use it for an end table. The wife asked for this for Christmas- which means I got some shop time coming up. Got to work today.

For the top, I took a piece of slab that was cut off from the DR table. After resawing it down from 1.5" on my Jet 14" BS I took the book matched pieces over to a buddy who has the 18" Powematic saw. We resawed those two pieces for a 4 piece book match. I've planed these down to 3/16 and I'm going to veneer a piece of plywood for the top.

While I was there I borrowed his lathe as well and turned the base from a 14" 16/4 piece I had leftover from the table.

Once the top is veneered (both sides) I'll cut it round. Then I'm going to wrap it with some 8/4 walnut scraps in an octagon and then cut that round for a finished top 30" in diameter. I didn't have enough slab to make it without the wrap around.

The best part is this is all scraps. This essentially doesn't cost me anything as I bought it all last year for the dining room table.

[Rob Price]

Got the veneer glued up and next was the octagon. It's just shy of 2" thick finished. Glued/clamped/and screwed to the workbench:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nyMOTyzchAI/UrL8IJkImuI/AAAAAAAACB0/lnsoe6fZMpc/s800/IMG_3532.jpg

I laid everything out on a piece of hardboard to find center and place the octagon. I then set up a router jig to rout out a rabbet for the round table to drop into. I wanted to have some of the octagon supporting the center piece (which is 1.25" thick). Lots and lots of routing... here's a pic before the last few passes
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IddsbAnWJQw/UrL8qXL_NgI/AAAAAAAACB0/_1TGPlkhlYw/s800/IMG_3542.jpg

Pretty good fit:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tHFhYRiPNOg/UrL8n5GOFyI/AAAAAAAACB0/5Welr1yeGVk/s800/IMG_3543.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f9TmcrBOQf4/UrL81BSj9EI/AAAAAAAACB0/sWKyxTmiS3I/s800/IMG_3545.JPG

To complement the dining room table, I added a strip of Wenge beteween the center and edge. We have a similar strip between the table and breadboards.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-joCBzAoR41U/UrL9G7HJXoI/AAAAAAAACB0/RKs0C8z4mhA/s800/IMG_3549.jpg

Sanded down and cut round:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZuiGFVraRJM/UrL9EdvgXLI/AAAAAAAACB0/0-g32kmOcHI/s800/IMG_3551.JPG

First coat of oil:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ah4xZ_NhdN4/UrL9SrlVFSI/AAAAAAAACB0/qnzRw8MqGiA/s800/IMG_3555.JPG

No, I didn't turn it on my delta lathe, but I will finish it there:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DyBU_yn0leM/UrL9QigdmyI/AAAAAAAACB0/ABLeDgVFdoI/s800/IMG_3553.JPG

[Rob Price]

Finally got the thing assembled and confirmed my fears. The base was no match for the weight of the top. It needed feet.

Ever try routing dados on a round piece? Me neither. I wasn't about to start either. So I attached a piece of 1/4" ply to the bottom to register on the table saw fence and cut some 2"x2" dados. Then I took some 2x2 walnut and made some half lapped legs.

(I'm doing this on my ipad so I have to use separate posts to keep the pics in order)

[Rob Price]

Shaped the legs a bit and put the whole mess together. Finished with 5 coats of Sutherlands Polymerized Tung Oil to get the sheen I wanted. Wet sanded coat 4 for a silky smooth feel. I took a pic with the flash on to show the finish, the rest are iPhone photos with the flash off. I'll try to get my real camera out after Christmas. This was my wife's present this year. I brought it up and assembled it while she was wrapping presents. Got to surprise her a bit. Thanks for looking.

[Fred Belknap]

Job well done.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice work, Rob! I like seeing flat work combined with turning. Pretty good adjustment there adding the feet.........shows a lot of craftsmanship.

[Pat Scott]

VERY nice table! Your craftsmanship is well executed. I love the looks of the top, and I really like the post (leg?).

I like the proportions and look of the table without feet, although the feet are OK and you did a good job blending them in. I made a base similar to yours for a Cub Scout flagpole. I was concerned about stability also, so for the base I hollowed it out a bit (cut a groove on the bottom with the lathe), and epoxied some lead shot pellets for weight. It was very heavy and stable.

[Jim Becker]

Really great work on that project. I really like that you put that inlayed band in the top to add a very nice detail.

[Cody Armstrong]

Very beautiful! I've learned something here. Thanks for the pics.

What did you use to join the mitres in the octagon?

[Rob Price]

Thanks to all.

Pat: I'm not crazy about the legs myself. A necessary evil. I tried to limit their impact. Hopefully the eye is drawn up to the leg and top. I thought about hollowing out for a barbell wt but decided to go with legs. We have a house full of little kids- it HAS to be stable. That 2" top would hurt coming down.

The octagon is just butt glued to each other. I was impressed how well it held together just like that, I think having 2"x5" of surface helped. I never took it out of the band clamp though until the whole top was glued up. There is also about 1 1/2" overlap where the center sits in the rabbet I made in the octagon, and that's all long grain to long grain. I'm hoping that's enough to hold the ring together. It's also glued along the edge if the circle.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nicely done with a good attention to detail!