Cherry Trestle Table

[Bob Jones]

Finished this table a couple of months ago. My biggest project yet. I am loving using hand planes, so I wanted to build something that one would only do with hand planes. The top is 2 book-matched pieces that are 18 inches wide. It is about 7 1/2 ft long. They came "skip planed" from the lumber yard, but I did the rest with a #4, #5, and #8. What a blast! Just took a long time.

I mixed the dimensions from 2 or 3 plans that I mixed together. Most came from FWW books and mags. Working with boards this big is a challenge (I work alone) but I really like it better than small pieces.

FYI - I got the lumber from Groff & Groff in PA. I only saw pictures. They were great to work with. I really wanted to make a single board top, but that was going to cost $4k - so I settled for 2 pieces that cost $400 together. Pic of the raw lumber is here too. Thanks for comments.

[Brian Kent]

That's really nice, Bob. What was your experience with any tear-out using the hand planes on cherry. Last time I tried hand-planing cherry was very early in my hand-planing experience and I gave up and went to sanding.

Great wood and great design. And if you got that $4K board it would not have had the beautiful book-matching.

Brian

[Bob Jones]

lumber pic will not upload - just know they were big!

[Bob Jones]

Other people would know better than me. No tear-out on these boards, but I think it is because I was lucky. From my experience, tear-out with cherry is board specific. Some do bad, some don't.
QS cherry seems to tear-out for me. Also, boards with crazy reversing grain. I plane them anyway and call it "rustic".

[Ted Calver]

Bob,
That's one heck of a nice table! You can be proud of this one for a long time. That bookmatched top is sweet!!

[gary Zimmel]

Beautiful work on the table Bob.
And extra points for the top....

[Rick Thom]

Bob, that's a very nicely crafted simple table.
With boards the size of these @ 18" wide, I'm always concerned with keeping them flat. Seems there are several keys to improving the odds.. but one that may also be important is the method and rate (pace) at which the boards are brought to dimension. Using power tools, I suppose a jointer and planer could bring that top to dimension and glue-up in a morning with a couple of long coffee breaks to boot. Using hand tools, that process might take many days or weeks during which time the wood aclimes and adjusts to it's environment and circumstance. It seems to me that this is one of the reasons that many old, well crafted antiques have stood the test of time.
When using power tools, I'm inclined to want to build in that resting period and progressively bring to final dimension in hopes of a better result, like yours.

[John Keeton]

Absolutely fantastic top on that table! You did a great job, overall, but the top makes the table - beautiful work!

[Jim Kountz]

Fantastic job, that bookmatched top is the star of this show!!

[Marty Weatherup]

Bob,

That is one beautiful table. The top is spectacular.

Marty

[John Thompson]

Nice job all the way but... add another for that georgeous top.

[Jim Paulson]

Bob,
Great job on the table and good choice in using cherry. Like the others, I agree that the top is stunning in the grain pattern and in your matching the boards. I love the pass through tenons on the stretcher too. I'm also curious how you finished the cherry as it looks fabulous.

Jim

http://www.chairsbypaulson.com

[Hans Braul]

Great job! I love the bookmatching top. Did you use any stain at all? What finish? Your experience with planing is similar to mine - I love to do it, beats the heck out of sanding, and QS and reversing grains are the most difficult.

[David Gendron]

Bob I saw that you are saleing your planes?? So did you gave up the "slide" down the slipery slope?

[Bob Jones]

Thanks for the nice comments.
The finish is one heavy coat of BLO, dried 2 days then one heavy coat of homemade finish. 1/3 BLO, 1/3 turpinetine, and 1/3 beeswax. super simple. I really love the finish because it soaks in and is literally fool-proof. time will tell if it holds up. at least it is easy to repair.

I am selling a few planes, but not to get out - to get further in. I was recently given some more old stanleys so I am going to sell some of my premium planes and buy more hand tools. The old planes work just as well for me as the premium ones do. The LN are way prettier, though.