Sam Shankar
05-31-2020, 8:48 AM
I live in Washington DC. My shop is separate from the house. It's heated but not air conditioned. I'm working on the base for a large trestle dining table right now, and was hoping to finish it and move on to the top before summer really kicked in. The clock has just about run out on that.:)
I don't have a ton of experience with doing this kind of big joinery in a piece that will see a lot of stress. And very worried that I'll end up with a wiggly base in what will hopefully be the table I live with for the next 20 years. I'm a weekend warrior and a slow worker, but there is no rush to finish besides what's in my head. (Though we all know that can be significant.)
Any thoughts on the relative merit of my options:
1. Stop worrying and just fit the joints as tight as possible.
2. Store the pieces in the basement (which is cooler and drier) when I'm not working on it. (Will that even help?)
3. Put the base aside for the summer, find wood for the top, and work on that instead. (Is that kind of work less risky in the heat?)
4. Put it all aside and build other stuff til the fall.
I don't have a ton of experience with doing this kind of big joinery in a piece that will see a lot of stress. And very worried that I'll end up with a wiggly base in what will hopefully be the table I live with for the next 20 years. I'm a weekend warrior and a slow worker, but there is no rush to finish besides what's in my head. (Though we all know that can be significant.)
Any thoughts on the relative merit of my options:
1. Stop worrying and just fit the joints as tight as possible.
2. Store the pieces in the basement (which is cooler and drier) when I'm not working on it. (Will that even help?)
3. Put the base aside for the summer, find wood for the top, and work on that instead. (Is that kind of work less risky in the heat?)
4. Put it all aside and build other stuff til the fall.