Kitchen Table Done In time!

[Jerry Vander Till]

I've been mostly hanging around the Turner's Forum but this project involved both worlds, the spinny one and the flat one. I finished this table on Saturday, just in time to use for the Easter Feast. The table is wormy maple, 42" by 60" closed up...
36769

and 42" and 120" with all 3 extensions.
36768

Here's the table ready for dinner...
36767

and the "fruits" of our labor.
36770

By the way, LOML made the placemats and table runner so we could see the table instead of a tablecloth.

The table was intended to look old so after glueup, I planed the joints which makes the top look "wavy" and left and created scratches, voids, chips, knots, etc. The large holes were filled with black colored epoxy.

thanks for looking...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Excellent use of both turning and flatlander skills! Nice table Jerry! Congrats to you and your spouse!

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice table, Jerry. I like the "stock" look to the legs. Looks like you'll need to add a fourth leaf if the family gets any bigger. ;)

- Vaughn

[Tom Pritchard]

Great job Jerry! Surrounding it with family and friends is a great way to start off a new table! Very well done.

[Russ Filtz]

OK, how do you keep a large flat table like this from bowing/cupping? I made a bar top from 4/4 maple with maybe 5-6" wide glueups and only about 36-40" wide. I was trying to alternate the growth rings, but in matching the grain I forgot and left the middle 3 boards with the rings the same way. Needless to say, the board started bowing the first season!

Do you;
1 - Use narrower boards
2 - Alternate growth rings
3 - Keep the rings the same direction (up or down?)
4 - Let it bow/cup, then rip and re-glue
5 - Use bread board ends
6 - Anchor it down and let it crack for character

etc, etc.

[Mark Pruitt]

Nicely done!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Jerry, great work! I haven't seen that many dutchman around a table since... hmmm.... last Sunday! The painted base adds a nice contrast for the overall piece. Nice job.

BTW, I grew up in Jenison and all our extended family now lives in Hudsonville. Any chance "Near G.R." would be in this direction? Just curious.

[Donnie Raines]

Very nice, and put to good use I see.

[Byron Trantham]

Nice work Jerry.

[John Timberlake]

Love it! The top looks really nice with interesting but not overpowering grain. I always liked the contrast between a lighter wood top and painted base. Great to get the family around at times like this and yet shrinks to not take up so much room when don't need to seat so many. Great job.

[Von Bickley]

Jerry,
Great looking table...;)

[Pete Harbin]

Great looking table bud! Looks like everyone enjoyed themselves too.

Pete

[Jerry Vander Till]

Thanks for all the great responses. This was a fun project but it was especially nice to be able to have everyone around the table!

Russ,
1 - Use narrower boards - my boards ranged from 4" to 8 1/2" wide
2 - Alternate growth rings - based on other posts here on the creek, it doesn't appear that alternating growth rings makes a lot of difference so I didn't pay any attention to it.
3 - Keep the rings the same direction (up or down?) - see above
4 - Let it bow/cup, then rip and re-glue - So far so good, I thought I had a problem with one of my extensions (I glued everything up in the house and took them back out to my cold garage, but it quit acting up and I haven't had any problems, since.
5 - Use bread board ends. I'm using the aprons to hold the end sections flat.
6 - Anchor it down and let it crack for character - I ran the boards along the table, not across it so I used the Kreg Jig to create a slot in the end aprons
(drilled two holes overlapping each other) so hopefully I won't get any cracks. But then again, cracks in an "old" table just adds more character, right?:D

Jason,

With a name like Tuinstra, I figured you had to at least have some roots here, if not from here. Yea, I live between Hudsonville and Grandville, south of Jenison, or Yenison to the locals:p

[lou sansone]

nice table and it looks like the crowd really like it also

Lou

[Steve Clardy]

Very nice Jerry!!!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Jerry, wow... it's great to have a "home" connection here on SMC. It's been just over a year since our famly has been back home. We miss it a lot - especially deReuze Market in Grandville. We love our spiced Gouda and Kings pepermints! A bit harder to find in California :D

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Great looking table.:) Nice to see it in use.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice table, Jerry. I do like the look of the top contrasting with the painted aprons and legs. Very nice.