I've been planning on building a "new" kitchen table for quite a few years now, but never got around to it...until this past week. Some of that delay was deciding what I wanted to build, honestly. But early in the week, while moving some material around in the upstairs of my shop to get better access to my lumber rack, a whole bunch of wood "spoke to me" like I was channeling George Nakashima or something. (one of my idols for sure and he was local, too)
Back in 2008 when we put a 2200 sq ft addition off the back of our great room, some old barn beam material was removed when the wall was broken through and a barn wood staircase was also dismantled in favor of the new stairway. I'm a pack rat for material like that and it all has been living above the shop since waiting for a new job. As noted, those pieces "asked" (nicely, sorta) to become the rustic base for the new table and I've made it happen. (The top, which I'll do next, will be some 8/4 cherry material that's also been sitting up there for quite a few years. It may be natural edge or maybe not, depending on what I find in the boards)
Working with old barn wood requires checking for metal for sure. I found most of it. LOL Most. Let's just say that I'm thankful for having Tersa knives in my J/P.I also tried not to take off too much from the outer surfaces of the original rough boards so that the patina that extends into the wood wasn't completely obliterated. "fresh" surfaces are oriented toward the inside so that the "show" surfaces have a little more character. Edges are chamfered rather than rounded. While this was done via machine, it still looks a little more rustic than round-over would. I'm not sanding it beyond about 100 grit, either. The base, that is. The top that comes later will be smooth as a newborn's posterior.
All of the wood is various pine/fir material and very old. The "feet" and top table support pieces were just re-sized from a smaller piece of beam material. The vertical pieces are re-sawn from a larger piece of beam. The stretchers were made from the old hand railings that were on the staircase. I didn't bother with photos of all the stock prep...it was reasonably easy considering it was old wood, very dry and potentially "splintery" on non-refined surfaces.
I kitted out the pieces, sanded and put the two table supports together with 14mm Dominos
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On one of the "feet" pieces, there was a bunch of metal that I just couldn't get far enough below the surface to thickness, so I decided to take the nuclear approach and dig things out with an old plug cutter at the DP. It dealt with the metal, but did leave a bunch of .75" holes that needed to be filled. I didn't have anything that cut plugs that large, so I decided to use the CNC and a tapered cutter to make them...it was a quick and easy process with only three "test" cuts to get a perfect fit. Just like when using the Lee Valley (or similar) tapered plug cutters, these "snapped" out of the wood easily with a flat screwdriver.
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Originally Posted by Von Bickley
The precision is "very precise"... I just had to round over the corners of the traditionally cut tenons on the stretchers so they could slip (tightly) into the mortise. That took only a few minutes with a sharp knife and a little sandpaper.
