Multi-Species Table Top - Help Needed.

[Andy Compton]

Hi all,

My wife is obsessed with the conference table in Olivia Pope's office on the show scandal. I'd love to make something similar for her for our dining room, but I'm concerned that if I go with multiple species there will be issues with expansion/contraction of the wood. My next idea is to take a single species and stain each piece prior to assembly, but in that situation I'm concerned that I won't be able to get it smooth without sanding away the stain. Should I make this like a hardwood floor with each piece nailed into a plywood substrate? Any ideas?

Thanks!
283849

[Alan Schwabacher]

The differences in expansion and contraction from one species to another can be estimated pretty well based on tables in Hoadley's "Understanding Wood", or equally informative but a little harder to assimilate is the Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook (FPLWH), which can be downoaded freely here: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/products/publications/several_pubs.php?grouping_id=100&header_id=p

Expansion differences between plainsawn and quartersawn stock are also substantial, but don't need to cause destruction of a glueup if the widths are limited and orientations don't allow stress to accumulate. If it's random, you're probably OK, but can choose stock with similar expansion but different color. For example, bigleaf Maple and Black Cherry have identical average expansion values of 3.7% shrinkage from water saturated to oven dry in the radial direction (width quartersawn) and 7.1% in the tangential direction (width plainsawn). Orientation of grain can be more important than which species are present. (Data are from table 4-3, page 4-6, from chapter 4, FPLWH.)

[Ed Aumiller]

If you edge glue them it will not make any difference if they expand / contract at different rates. Just allow the top to float on the base so it can move without binding.

The lengthwise expansion / contraction is so small that it will not cause a problem...

On the width since each board is the length of the top it will not make a difference there..

Just do not glue the top to the base, allow for movement in the width of the top in relation to the base...

[keith micinski]

I second this.

[Tom Giacomo]

Maybe wrong but that top looks like laminate flooring. If it is you could just go to your local flooring outlet and get a box of each color.

[Harry Hagan]

Maybe wrong but that top looks like laminate flooring. If it is you could just go to your local flooring outlet and get a box of each color.


+1

I examined the photo in PhotoShop and the top appears to be surfaced with ¾"+ material that’s been routed around the perimeter. The apron appears to single boards stained or painted black.

[Mike Wilkins]

That table appears to be individual planks laid like a hardwood floor. If possible, you could purchase small amounts of different species with similar expansion rates and lay them like you would a hardwood floor. The advantage of using flooring is they have the tongue and/or goove on each side.
Second option: stain shorter pieces of wood different colors, nail then like a flooring plank onto a plywood substrate, build your edge banding and then finish as you like. Great way to use up all those shorts taking up space in the scrap bin. You could just tongue and groove each piece, then butt them together on the edges.
3rd option: contact the network and studio directly and talk directly to the set designer. Long shot, but worth a try.

[keith micinski]

A photo of the table wasn't showing up when I first replied. I think you should tell her that it can't be done and that it's a Hollywood camera trick because that is one hideous looking table and I would hate to see another one of those made.

[nicholas mitchell]

A photo of the table wasn't showing up when I first replied. I think you should tell her that it can't be done and that it's a Hollywood camera trick because that is one hideous looking table and I would hate to see another one of those made.

Yes. This.

[Andy Compton]

So I'm negotiating this one carefully. I'm trying to convince her that the only way it could be done is if I get a new band saw... We'll see if she bites.

In other news, she found on a blog who made the table: http://www.districtmillworks.com

[keith micinski]

Ok, I'm back the other way. If this hideous thing gets you a table saw, then build it. Do it incorrectly though and then explain you could fix it but it's really going to take a new planer and jointer to get it done right. On a side note, if she went through the trouble of figuring out who made this hideous thing it looks like no matter what you want you will be posting photos of that table sitting in your living room pretty soon so enjoy the new saw!

[keith micinski]

One of the biggest problems I see is this piece is mostly about the color and I think you will find that is not so easy to replicate. It appears that the original was made from wine barrel staves that were probably cut and laminated to a plywood substrate. They mention red wine staining but they also forgot to mention a lot of that black is probably from charring the inside of the barrel when it's first made. I am sure not all wine barrels get this process but I know some barrels do and that is going to be very hard to recreate with different color pieces of flooring.

[Michael Mahan]

One of the biggest problems I see is this piece is mostly about the color and I think you will find that is not so easy to replicate. It appears that the original was made from wine barrel staves that were probably cut and laminated to a plywood substrate. They mention red wine staining but they also forgot to mention a lot of that black is probably from charring the inside of the barrel when it's first made. I am sure not all wine barrels get this process but I know some barrels do and that is going to be very hard to recreate with different color pieces of flooring.tell her NOW you need welding set-up & plasma cuter to scorch the flooring L O L

[keith micinski]

Good point

[Herr Dalbergia]

I would take fumed oak with and without sap...

[Scott T Smith]

It appears that the original was made from wine barrel staves that were probably cut and laminated to a plywood substrate. They mention red wine staining but they also forgot to mention a lot of that black is probably from charring the inside of the barrel when it's first made. I am sure not all wine barrels get this process but I know some barrels do and that is going to be very hard to recreate with different color pieces of flooring.

I would question the presumption that the table was made from barrel staves. Wine barrel staves are almost always made from quarter and rift sawn white oak. The milling pattern is important because the wine can migrate through the wood if it's not close to a perfect QS/RS. Quite a few pieces in that table are not QS/RS oak.

[keith micinski]

Just going by what there web site says.

[Bill McNiel]

After viewing the website I have to agree with Keith & Nicholas. There is no appreciable design sense exhibited. I make quality furniture out of live edge and reclamed (100 year old) stock and would be embarased and out of work if I tried to sell this level of "design".

[Brian Holcombe]

I will submit the Krefeld table by Mies Van Der Rohe as the table to emulate. You'll notice it predates the Parsons table by a few years, even though the style is attributed mainly to Jean-Michel Frank.

the reclaimed tops are a bit trendy, but the Krefeld table has been a modern design staple since it's creation in 1927.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/lauren/villa%20tugendhat/vt09.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/lauren/villa%20tugendhat/vt11.jpg

[Scott T Smith]

Just going by what there web site says.


Understood. It sounds like the marketing folks are taking some liberties...

[Bill ThompsonNM]

tell her NOW you need welding set-up & plasma cuter to scorch the flooring L O L
And apparently to build the base. I looked at some of the other tables, that's their steel parsons table base!