Trestle Table for the Kitchen

[Chris True]

In the past few weeks I've aquired some nice woodworking tools, Delta Uni with the 7 foot rails, a Rigid 6" jointer and a Craftsmen 13" "Professional" planer. With the machinery in hand I decided I'd better do something with them!

So last Saturday I headed off to the lumber yard and picked up a couple of 1 & 3/4" 10 foot long 2*10's in red oak along with about 24 feet of 6" wide 3/4 boards. The base parts were all milled up from the 2*10's, the boards were used for the top basically as they came with the edges jointed straight of course. Firt time I've ever done anything like this, pretty pleased with how it came out Based on a Taunton plan...

[James K Peterson]

Nice work The finish looks very well done. And this being a first time for something like this is just amazing. I'm sure we'll be seeing even more beautiful works from you in the future

Thanks
James



BTW: how did you finish the table???

[Brent Ring]

Very nice for such a short build and finish time!

[Danny Thompson]

Beauty. When will the chairs be finished?

[Prashun Patel]

So last Saturday...

Um, you did that on yr first try in a day?

Man, you're someone to watch...

[gary Zimmel]

Great looking table Chris.. Excellent job for a first project,

Also welcome to the Creek..

[Chris True]

Last Saturday was a week ago . Bought the wood and ripped the parts Saturday and Sunday, worked on the top an hour or so a few nights durig the week, did the fial shaping on the feet and cleats + final sized and edge routed the top on the second Saturday. Applied the finish Sunday - all day Sunday. It's waterbased poly, a couple of coats of Cabot's color (harvest oak I think) and several more of clear on top.

[Danny Thompson]

How well did the Cabots go on for you? LOML tried it on a project and found it prone to beading.

[Chris True]

The Cabot's went on just fine, no problems at all other than the occassional drip when I didn't pull the excess out of the corner. I used a 4" wide foam brush.

[John Keeton]

Very nice Chris!! Obviously the result of good craftsmanship, but if you are smart (and if you are married), you will explain to your wife that this type of work simply cannot be done without the right tools - and that future projects may require more refined, and "just more" tools. Never let her know that it is you - always credit the tools!

[rob durfos]

very nice. how did you attach the top to the legs? do you have a second spreader higher up?

[Chris True]

No, only one spreader. Each post has a cleat running width wise to the top, it's got a groove routed on the inside face of each cleat. There are 4 wooden clips with a lip that fits in the groove and the clip itself is screwed to the underside of the top. Also at the center of each top there is a hole bored in the top rail and a dowel glued in that sits proud of the top surface. The bottom of the top has a blind hole bored. The top then sits over the dowels to hold it centered, the clips hold the top down to the base.

[Norman Pyles]

Very nice, I'm a big fan of trestle tables.

[Chris True]

Very nice Chris!! Obviously the result of good craftsmanship, but if you are smart (and if you are married), you will explain to your wife that this type of work simply cannot be done without the right tools - and that future projects may require more refined, and "just more" tools. Never let her know that it is you - always credit the tools!

I'll try to remember that I do think the 3 hp Unisaw ought to do for quite sometime though. The rigid jointer seems surprisingly good for the price and the planer works very nicely as well. Actually, on the planer I like the way it does it's own chip collection. They give you a half bag that fits over a 30 gallon trash can and it effectively blows 99% of it's waste right into the can. Also got a Delta hollow chisel mortiser, that worked great for all the joints on the base.

Now, the $99 Taskforce bandsaw from Lowes is another matter - gotta go!

[Roger Warford]

So last Saturday I headed off to the lumber yard...

WOW. I'm am S L O W W W w w w . . . . Can't compare to you at all. I spend hours in the shop and come up beaming to show the LOML a nice square board. She's not impressed. I point out that's its really square. Still not impressed. Sigh...

Anyway, I'm still new at this and was under the impression that one should allow wood to acclimate for several days if not weeks before working or you would be at risk of signficant movement. If you finish (as in, assemble and apply the finish) quickly does that prevent movement?

Edit: Forget to add that the table looks awesome!