Walnut Dining Table

[Patrick Kane]

My dining room set is one of the last remaining pieces of furniture that i havent replaced with my own creations. That changed in the new year. I was fortunate enough to pick up some 8/4 walnut slabs and one 12/4 slab for $1/bdft in the fall. The wood was nothing to write home about, but it was enough for this table. I knew i wanted something a little different from what ive previously made. In fact, this is my first live edge piece for myself. The table legs are made of 12/4 and joined with dominos. Gluing up the 5 pieces post-shaping was a little tricky, but i made it work with some jigs and scrap blocks. Finally, the bases are attached via a through a wedged through tenon. The wedges are an ebony turning blank that i resawed. This is my first wedged through tenon, which lead to a ton of fiddling to get the fits right. Overall, i like the function of this joinery really well. It has a tight fit, but the pieces slide into place without too much force. Breaking the table down into a few separate pieces is enormously helpful in my small home. Final measurements are about 65-66" long, 36-42" wide and 30" tall.

Lastly, i need to make some chairs for the thing! I plan on undertaking a pair of maloof lowbacks, which i think will somewhat jive with the base of the table.

[William Fretwell]

Heart warming wood to enjoy, bound to make any meal taste better. The wide stance to the legs suggests you should be able to dance on the table also! Fine work!

[jim sauterer]

Beautiful love the heft of the base nice piece

[Dennis Droege]

Nice. What did you finish it with?

[Tom Bain]

Patrick -- The table really turned out well. I refer to that joint as a tusk or keyed tenon, but it's all semantics. It's a cool and functional joint and your's looks particularly long. I imagine chopping the deep angled mortise was "fun" :-)

[Patrick Kane]

Yes, you are correct, Tom. Technically, a wedged through tenon would probably have wedges inserted parallel to the tenon to expand it during the glue up. And yes, I started to get frustrated with the angled mortise and getting the taper right on the ebony wedge. I kept asking myself why I made the through tenon so wide. Same for the through mortise. It’s hard to realize how much slop you’re typically granted on glued joinery.

I am pretty happy with the heft of the base. I’m glad I had 12/4 on hand and not forced to settle for 8/4.

[Bill Carey]

Love the design Patrick. And the craft and finish are well done. That thru tenon is a great fit, and I speak from experience - lots of hours sneaking up on it when I built my table.

[Ron Kanter]

Beautiful design.
I particularly like the use of the sapwood.

[Frederick Skelly]

Very nice! It will be a treasured family heirloom!

[Patrick Kane]

Beautiful design.
I particularly like the use of the sapwood.

My wife loves the contrast of sapwood in walnut, so every piece for the house has to have some of it. In addition, its extremely wasteful to cut it out completely. I like it to a degree.

[Zac Martin]

Patrick,

I absolutely love this table, particularly the base. My wife has put a new dining room table on my list and I believe I will be 'borrowing your base design. Fantastic work!

[Patrick Kane]

Patrick,

I absolutely love this table, particularly the base. My wife has put a new dining room table on my list and I believe I will be 'borrowing your base design. Fantastic work!


Go for it, man. I much prefer the building portion of woodworking, and wish designs and plans were much more readily available. I have the outline of the base's profile in a 36"x48" PDF, if you are interested. I printed it out in a tiled format and then taped them together to make my plywood templates.

[David Utterback]

Really nice design and craftmanship. I also have been infected with sap wood virus.

[Zac Martin]

Go for it, man. I much prefer the building portion of woodworking, and wish designs and plans were much more readily available. I have the outline of the base's profile in a 36"x48" PDF, if you are interested. I printed it out in a tiled format and then taped them together to make my plywood templates.

That would be awesome Patrick, thank you!

How did you attach the base to the top? Also I can't wait to see the chairs you come up with!

[Brian Tymchak]

Beautiful work Patrick! I particularly like your leg design and the shaping of the legs.

[Patrick Kane]

That would be awesome Patrick, thank you!

How did you attach the base to the top? Also I can't wait to see the chairs you come up with!


Originally, i was going to have stretchers connecting the top of the X's lengthwise with pieces 2" wide and maybe 1.25" thick and then screw those into the top. However, i found them to be unnecessary from a structural standpoint, and i was concerned with them interfering with clearance for chairs. I ended up drilling elongated holes through the corners of the base and shooting four screws into the table top. I then plugged those holes with 1/2" walnut plugs. I did this after the table was finished and moved into place, so if you lay on the ground the plugs wouldnt be perfect. I taped around the plugs, flush cut them, and then pared them close to the surface of the finished table base. Speaking of which, i should go back and hit them with a smidge of finish so the plugs blend better.