Started On New Kitchen Table

[Phil Mueller]

Hold on. Nothing wrong with a strategic hump sloping down to where you normally sit. Helps limes, salt shakers, bottles and cans and the occasional Tamale to roll your way. No one will know.

[Gary Focht]

When we moved into our house we put the table into a closed in back porch with a sloped floor. I loved it because I could orient my plate to keep juices from flowing into other foods. I think all tables should slope towards the eater a little bit, so plane the top with a slight hump also.

I’ll bet my wife won’t let me do that if I ever build a table.

[ken hatch]

Hold on. Nothing wrong with a strategic hump sloping down to where you normally sit. Helps limes, salt shakers, bottles and cans and the occasional Tamale to roll your way. No one will know.

Phil,

Thanks for a good laugh. The good news it isn't much of a hump and everything else is straight. I just glad there is no wind.

ken

[ken hatch]

When we moved into our house we put the table into a closed in back porch with a sloped floor. I loved it because I could orient my plate to keep juices from flowing into other foods. I think all tables should slope towards the eater a little bit, so plane the top with a slight hump also.

I’ll bet my wife won’t let me do that if I ever build a table.

Gary,

Your wife and mine must be sisters . The first thing MsBubba will do when I set the table up in the kitchen is to run her hand over the top and mention she can feel the plane tracks while giving me the "look".

ken

[ken hatch]

I'm beavering away on the slab. With MsBubba's help we brought base and slab to the breakfast nook to judge how short to make it. A little over 100mm came off each end and 25mm off one side. It sure looks smaller and is easier to move around. Right now I'm using one of the #8's because it is easy to pull on the off side but may switch to one of the wood stock jointers soon.

Here it is in the breakfast nook:

tableTopOnBase.jpg

It is slow going both because the #8 is a beast and summer is here in the desert. That's the bad news, the good is I've retired so there is plenty of time to work early mornings.

ken

[Mike Allen1010]

Looking great Ken - I love the look of trestle tables.

Any thought to contrasting wood for wedges? Maybe something dark?

[Christopher Charles]

Hi Ken,

Congratulations on the retirement-long time coming.

Table looks good too!

[James Pallas]

What happened? The legs are straight up and down. Looking good.

[ken hatch]

Looking great Ken - I love the look of trestle tables.

Any thought to contrasting wood for wedges? Maybe something dark?

Mike,

Thanks, This will be our first. I hope it is as functional as I expect.

Good thought, the wedges that are in there came from the scrap pile and were the first hunk of wood I saw that was big enough. If I wanted to go all the way there is some Ebony (if I can find it) somewhere in the wood pile or I've nice 4/4 piece of dark Walnut that might look good. The base units still need to be cleaned up as well as finishing the slab, lots of scut work to go, but the fat lady is in the building.

ken

[ken hatch]

Hi Ken,

Congratulations on the retirement-long time coming.

Table looks good too!

Thanks Chris,

That is what MsBubba says also. Someday I may learn to listen to her.

ken

[ken hatch]

What happened? The legs are straight up and down. Looking good.

James,

LOL, I thought about it for a couple of seconds.

ken

[Phil Mueller]

Looks great, Ken. Just out of curiosity, because I’m not that familiar with wedged tenon joinery, does the circled spot get a wedge as well?

2099EB7C-A995-4582-80A9-0AEFC69D9B50.jpeg

[ken hatch]

Looks great, Ken. Just out of curiosity, because I’m not that familiar with wedged tenon joinery, does the circled spot get a wedge as well?

2099EB7C-A995-4582-80A9-0AEFC69D9B50.jpeg

Phil,

No, I like to make the stretcher mortise loose, could be from making benches but with it loose it is much easier to fit and take apart. I can see where some might find it offensive but I do not. Once the wedges are driven home that sucker ain't moving. BTW, when finished I will likely takes Mike's advise and replace those wedges with darker and shorter ones.

ken

[ken hatch]

After the last post I was close to finishing the slab and cut it to final length. Wrong move shaving breath. It did some stupid wood tricks and turned into a "U". Bottom line I cut the slab into three pieces, re-jointed and re-glued the slab and now I'm in the process of fitting slab to base.

For the fitting I've moved to the back garden. Mostly because I need the room to work. It is not as convenient as working in the shop but having room to move things as needed makes up for the need to find and move tools. Now it is time for the required praise of the portable Moravian bench, you have heard it before, bottom line it makes it possible.

Working on the base:

tableFittingSlabA.jpg


From the other side showing the portable bench:

tableFittingSlabB.jpg

This part isn't difficult, just fiddly with doing a little, checking work, doing a little more, once close, moving the slab back and forth until the sucker is nailed.

One hold up is it is only 0800 and I'm already sweating like a pig and needing breaks often. We had another Monsoon type storm last night with rain and very strong gusting winds. I expect the RH is high because my sweat is not drying quickly, instead it is getting on my glasses and in my eyes, Now that I'm retired it is no big deal, take breaks and stop when the sweat is really flowing. It will be there tomorrow.

ken

[ken hatch]

This time the fat lady is truly in the building. What is left is blind pegging the slab to the base, putting a small chamfer on the lower surface and breaking the edges. Tung oil on the base and maybe a Waterlux finish on the slab.


Side view:

tableSlabAndBaseA.jpg

From the end:

tableSlabAndBaseC.jpg

I expect by the weekend this sucker will be in the kitchen and in use.