Oak Dining Table - Long table, short boards

[Ben Hutto]

Don't post here much, but I want to pick some of your brains about a current project.


My friend has asked me to build a dining table for his family out of some 2x6 white oak that was reclaimed for them from a barn. The wood is beautiful. I have planed out some cutoff pieces, and it has a nice aged color and some really nice grain character.


They have requested the table to be 9' long. I have enough boards that are 10+ ft, but as you can imagine, with old wood, most of the boards have some curve to them and some are pretty twisted. My jointer is definitely not up to the task as it is only a 6" with shorter beds...and the boards are super heavy and hard to control. I made a super long straight line jig and tried to get a good straight line on one of the curved boards, but lost a ton of material and I still don't think I could get a good enough cut to glue up using that method.


I am considering cutting them down to a manageable size that I can work with my equipment. I would then break the table top up in the middle with a third "breadboard" so to speak. So, breadboard ends, 3.75' of material, then another board parallel to the bread board ends.


Have any of you done a table this way before? If so, how did you attach the middle board to the others? Same way as a breadboard?

Any reason not to do it like this and I should try to make the longer boards work? I have pitched the idea to them, and they don't seem to mind either way.

[Steve Jenkins]

How a about running the grain across the to instead of lengthwise. I’ve done that with several tables that had leaves and it looks fine.

[Robert Engel]

sure you can do it like that structrually you have to address some kind of support under middle

[Mel Fulks]

Face on the convex side of the oak. When planing ,after both sides are dressed, remove remaining wood only from convex
side. That might change as you work, keep checking. Your question rests on the vision of the clients,if they see it as a formal dining room piece they are unlikely to say yes to a center cross board. A few times I've rough cut boards on an angle at mid length ,numbered the ends, dressed the wood then made accurate cuts and splined them together. Then did
final jointing. But Ive never had to do more than one piece on a project in that manner.

[Ben Hutto]

Thanks for the thoughts so far..I'll keep all of it in mind. I plan to have a lot of support under the entire table, especially in the middle, as it is going to be a fairly heavy top.

Mel, good point about their vision. I have had several conversations with him about the look of the table, and they aren't wanting an elegant formal dining table. It is a country home and they are going for more of a "farm" style table and want to preserve some of the wood's character. I feel this works in my favor a bit. As far as splicing a board or 2 together, I hadn't though of that.

Referring to Steve's comment, I hadn't thought about that either. Would the table be more likely to bow up on the long ends if all the boards are running that way?

[Steve Jenkins]

If you take care to get a good flat glue-up and finish both faces equally it will be fine

[Lee Schierer]

Make the table so leaves can be added. That will let you use shorter boards.

[Wayne Lomman]

Steve's suggestion of making the grain across the table instead of lengthwise is a good option. It works. It's a traditional method that's been around for centuries. The top doesn't curl up.
Mel's idea to splice boards is a good one too. You can do as many splice joints as you want so long as you stagger them across the table.
Whatever you do, remember that breadboards are a style choice, not a structural element. My advice is, as usual, to avoid breadboards completely. Cheers