Pine Farm Table- WIP

[Rob Price]

Okay. Another reclaimed heart pine table, I know these are quite popular now, and for a while my wife was not interested in a rustic table, but a friend was remodeling a house built in the 1870's and when he offered me some of the old pine joists I couldn't resist. After showing her how pretty it could be the wife was on board with a few caveats. #1) It has to be usable. Some friends of ours paid ($$$) for a rustic pine table, and the carpenters just skip planed the top. It looks really cool. It's not really usable. They can't wipe it with a rag without it getting stuck, and food gets crammed in all the nooks and crannies. This will be our every day, three meals a day, kitchen table. It had to be smooth enough to use on top. #2) No bugs. Another friend (same carpenter) bought a table only to find piles of powder under it a few months later. That would be a no go.#3) She also didn't want a yellow pine table. With that settled I grabbed some 2x6 floor joists and 4x6 posts, with a few other pieces and started off.

The first few pics are of the rough raw wood. The joists are definitely heart pine with super tight rings. The posts I'm not so sure. Wider ring counts, and a definite yellow color when I cut into them, I don't know if they were added during a remodel in the past or what. It all came from the same house. Who knows.

To combat #2 I reached out to a carpenter friend who put me in touch with a local kiln who is also doing bug abatement (cooking) in reclaimed wood. While there talking shop with the guy, I came across some pine beams he had from an old 1800's barn he tore down. He's selling them to tiber framers and to folks to use for fireplace mantels. I saw benches, so I bought some on the spot.

[Rob Price]

First order of business- removing old nails. I switched my table saw and miter saw blades to junkers just in case. My little wizard came in very handy. Fortunately these were floor joists and I really only had to work on one edge for each board. Several nails I just hammed in deeper on the edge to be sure they wouldn't get hit by the jointer. I got pretty good at removing nails. I saved them, and then later drove them in the table top to add some character.

Speaking of character, the type A in me came out. The table had to be flat. The joints had to be tight. I was hoping to preserve some more of the character and rough sawn appearance of the wood, but I had to deal with caveat #1 as well as my own type A. I was able to preserve a few areas of rough sawn wood, and I left the edges of the table rougher but at the end of the day it has to serve it's purpose. And the tight grain of the heart pine is appealing to me at least. So without any broken planer or jointer blades I had my dry fit.

[Rob Price]

Once I got it glued up I set to filling the rougher areas with epoxy. It was a compromise, I got to keep some of the character, the wife gets a smooth table. I'm actually quite happy with the results, most of the areas were less than 1/16 deep, so it's not a deep 'restaurant table' over epoxied look. I also epoxied the edges on top, and filled the nail holes on the edges so they wouldn't trap food. I attached one corner of the table (already finished) to show the final look of the epoxied saw marks.

[Rob Price]

Next was the breadboards. I had a friend help me on a walnut dining table several years ago, so I leaned on that experience but this was my first solo effort. I used the breadboards as a clamping caul to be sure the table was dead flat. Once I setup my straightedge I used the masking tape trick to limit tarot, and got very good cuts. I cut the table to length +3" tenons on each side. Then I cut the shoulder of the tenon with my circular saw and then did the rest with a router and a 1 1/4 mortising bit. Then, my first foray into hand saws (I'm very much a machine guy) I cut the crenelated tenons for the breadboards. Then I cut the pocket in the breadboards using my router table and tabletop mortiser which I recently acquired from a friend who wasn't using it.

The breadboards were drawbored, my carpenter buddy helped me make pins from some of the table drop. My first drawbore attempt, I'm very happy with it. I used some creativity to get my clamps long enough to clamp the breadboards on while I drove the pins.

I also chamfered the edges between the table and the breadboards. Since there's no hiding the joint I try to dress it up a bit. It looks more intentional to me than just square flat edges. I used a strip of wenge on the dining room table, but that would have been too formal of a look I think for this table.

[Rob Price]

On to the base, I cut the beams down to a more respectable size, after prep I ended up with 4.75x3.75 posts. I skip planed the outside corner of each leg, and then tapered the inside corner of each leg. It dresses it up, it creates more leg room, and it makes the part of the post that contacts your legs smooth. I did sand the outside corners but left it much rougher. I had some rough 4x1 stock for the apron, ended up 3.5" dressed which works for leg clearance, and a little over 1", also lightly skip planed. I mortised the ends into the legs, but did not glue them. I need it to be moveable at some point down the road. The mortises are dry fit and then corner braces are screwed into each leg. It's very solid. I put a support piece across the middle to keep the apron from bowing. Not sure if I need more. I used the drops that I sawed off the posts for the cross support. I used a pocket hole bit to cut the 45 degree holes in the cross pieces.

I had to get creative again to clamp it together while installing the braces.

[Rob Price]

On to the finishing booth, I'm using waterlox, and I appreciate all the help from several folks here. I'm very happy with the results so far on the top. Brushed on three coats until I got the build I wanted. Then I wiped on a few more coats, sanded on low speed with 400 grit (sent a pic of the sanded table to freak the wife out first) and wiped on a thin final 2 coats. The top is drying as we speak but I'm done with it. I started the legs and apron as well. One of the apron pieces went sideways on me. I'm guessing there was something in the wood that's reacting with the waterlox, but it's super splotchy and almost purple. Not sure why but not much I can do about it now.

And the legs, after a test coat on the legs it's definitely way more yellow than we wanted. So I mixed up some amber shellac, added some transtint, and the final color is very close to the table top. Also, with the shellac wash coat, it's not absorbing nearly as much waterlox as the table. It's not as deep looking but it's building faster too. I'm guessing one more coat on the legs, the apron is still soaking up finish like a sponge. I should have wash coated it as well.

[Chris Hachet]

I love it!

[Rob Price]

Thanks!

I thought I would add a few pics of the edges. I left both edges pretty rough, but then filled the top with epoxy, but left the edges rougher. On the left hand edge in the pic above, the rough part is very dark/black but several areas on the edge were clear after jointing them, so I took a torch to the edge and gently blackened it up a bit to look more consistent with the top.

[Rob Price]

Table is done and in the house. The waterlox is super glossy. I'll be patient and see if it dulls like the literature says it will. I may polish it just a bit before company gets here to get that super smooth feel. We've had a few meals around it. It looks/feels like the finish will be up to the task.

Thanks for looking. Benches will come in 2017. I spent all 2016 woodworking time on furniture, my lathe is feeling neglected, I need to turn a few bowls for therapy.

[Terry Beadle]

Absolutely beautiful!!! Great job.

[Pat Barry]

Great job with the reuse of the old lumber. Love the color.

[Frederick Skelly]

Good looking table!

[Phil Mueller]

Very well done! But the important question is, does your wife love it?!

[Rob Price]

Thanks all. The wife is very happy with it. I'm in the 'what I would do differently next time' stage.

I'm usually super excited to get a big project done. Get it finished and assembled and I like it for a day or two, and then the critic in me comes out. Like many woodworkers, I'm my own toughest critic.

We had tons of company/kids in town for Christmas so it's getting broken in quickly.

[John Cascone]

Beautiful work. sure you will enjoy it!