wdwerker Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 If it was mine I would get some fiddleback curly maple as a stunning accent breadboard and build the rest out of cherry. And tossing in a walnut bottom stretcher seems pleasing to me as well Walnut, curly maple and cherry play together real well ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_in_SD Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Hmm my concern with the top was sapwood. I thought if I stained the top it would not be an issue. My girlfriend does not like white or red oak with a clear finish. She likes the color of cherry, walnut, and wenge. So in an attempt to cut costs I was hoping to use cheaper wood for the base and stain to match. Does beach stain well by any chance? If not this may end up being made of solid cherry. Even sapwood will be discernible under stain unless you, for example, carefully apply a second coat over the sapwood. If that is done, I would use a gel stain as it is more controllable. If I were you I would cut out the sap wood if that is an issue. If I were you, I would stick with a close grained wood for your base, like alder, for example. I think you can't go wrong using no stain and going natural cherry. Use an oil first coat to bring out the richness of the cherry followed by 3-4 coats of a robust topcoat. In a year or so it will look gorgeous after the cherry ages. Speed up the process by taking out to direct sunlight a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted July 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 Brief update. Went to the lumber yard today and bought the wood. Then drove about 1.5 hours to the shop where I am going to be building the table with the wood half hanging out of my Subaru Forester At any rate I got a bunch cherry and one piece of hard maple. I was going to get 16/4 legs but the lumbar yard guy gave me a deal on on 12/4 so thats what I ended up with for the legs. Total cost of the wood was only about $270, so it was way cheaper then I thought it would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Nice haul! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 So the wood I purchased was kiln dried but stored in a barn. The wood was kept away from the rain and snow, but it was open on 4 sides with lots of ummm... air circulation. The barn was located in Maryland and if you are not familiar with this area, assume high humidity during pretty much any time it is above say 50 degrees F. What is the minimal amount of time I should let it sit in a air conditioned shop acclimating before I can begin making my table? What is the optimal amount? Thickest piece is 12/4, thinnest is 5/4. Any advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 How many years in the barn? Edit: disregard this, kiln dried and then stored open describes the majority of lumber yard lumber out there. I read too fast and missed the kiln dried detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Unknown. It could be less then a year or maybe multiple years. I would prefer to play it safe though so assume a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Suggest a moisture meter to see where it's at. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdie Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 If it's sat for as long as you've suggested it's pretty well dry so all you're waiting for is for it to reach equilibrium. I'd *guess a couple days at the least but it certainly shouldn't take more than a week. If it were any kind of wet I'd think longer but this stuff has had plenty of time to sort that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 I've always gone with a 72 hour acclimate to my shop rule. Never had a problem. Again, the wood is pretty much dry. You just need it to acclimate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 A moisture meter is the only way to know for sure, but: 1) KD lumber does not take on as much moisture as air dried lumber 2) This is for the base, not for the top. A little movement won't be as noticeable. If it were me, I'd do some light rough milling right away. Joint the edges, skip plane both faces, cut to rough length and width. Leave some extra for your final dimensioning. Then stack and sticker, put it somewhere with good airflow, and wait a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Don used to say without a moisture meter, cut a chunk and weigh it. Weigh it a week later, any less weight and wait longer. No change in weight, good to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 +1 to both of the above . Lightly rough mill oversized and sticker then watch for movement. Plus chop a chunk and weigh it. I have a pretty accurate digital scale that wasn't expensive. Record the weight and see if it changes. Scale is also great for counting screws etc. , weigh a few then do the math on the whole box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 After allowing a couple of weeks for the wood acclimate (and also for my schedule to allow) I got back into the shop yesterday and did the majority of milling needed. Unfortunately I discovered why my wood was so cheap. It has a pretty good amount of knots in it for "A" grade lumber. And some of those knots are soft and required digging out. One piece even had some holes in it where bugs or worms got to it, (can't tell if that happened when it was still a tree or not) So bottom line is the wood has some imperfections. I have about 6" extra to play with, meaning I can take 6" off of the sides and still make my target of a 36" wide table. One side of the boards has very few knots but a lot of sap wood. The other side has more knots but less sapwood. Such that I would probably get rid of all the sapwood on that side if I was willing to have the knots. I think I rather have the sapwood. But either way I got to fill the knots. My understanding is the best way to do this is pour epoxy into the knot. Anyone have any suggestions on this or is it really just as simple as pour in epoxy, then wait for it to set? Here are some pictures of the milled lumber with the last one showing the legs and part of the apron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 It's coming along great! As for the know holes, I use West Systems epoxy. Be sure to use tape as a dam on the other side if the knot goes all the way thru. You will also get some bubbles that form in the epoxy. A light pass with a torch or heat gun will get rid of the bubbles. If you have areas that will need a lot of fill, best to do it in thirds allowing the epoxy to cure between pours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 sapwood doesn't bother me. When you glue up the boards for the top, try to avoid a sapwood to heartwood glue line, the perfectly straight line will look unnatural. Arrange the boards so your gluelines are either heartwood/heartwood or sap/sap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 So I got into the shop this past weekend and earlier tonight and a lot of progress got made. I used a tenon jig and the table saw to cut the tenons for the stretchers and the legs. After that I used a mortiser to cut the mortises into the legs. These needed to be cleaned up a bit but that was easily done with a reasonably sharp chisel. To deal with the knots I used epoxy and black powdered tint. The "black" tint is actually just a very dark green, but when in the knots it looks black. I let the epoxy cure over night and came back earlier today and scraped it flat with a #4 plane. I then cleaned it up further by running it through the planer. This revealed some air bubbles and in a few cases new knots that needed epoxy, so I gave it a "second coat" as it were of epoxy. While dealing with another round of epoxy I went ahead and cut the dados into the stretchers and then it was time for a "dry" assembly. I think it is coming along really well. Next up I need to finish with the epoxy and then trim the table top so it is ready for glue-up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Very nice work! This is really coming along nicely! If you use a torch or heat gun and lightly brush it over the fresh epoxy, you won't have the issues with the bubbles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Looking good! That's gonna be a stout table, should last for generations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mncamperguy Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Do you have any concerns about the table being tippy? I downloaded your stchup and noticed you have 18" of overhang from the edge of the leg to the edge of the table top. I just finished a kitchen island with very similar leg dimensions and at 10" of overhang I can get it to tip, not easily, but tip non the less. At 18" it would be very easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 I am really not worried about the table being tippy. I am sure if someone put their whole weight on the edge of the table they could get it to tip a bit, but then this is true for any table that does not put legs at the four corners. The table is pretty long and will be pretty heavy, that will give it a lot of stability. The edges have to hang off as much as they do if someone is going to be able to pull a chair up to the ends without running their knees into the base. Looking online at a lot of tables it seems to be a pretty common design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 Small update today. Yesterday I discovered the importance of face planing boards. I had in the past gotten away with not worrying about face planing boards on a jointer because I was always making pretty small things and it never much mattered if there was a millimeter of cup to them. With boards over 7 feet long all of a sudden it matters a lot. End result is that there was some twist and cup to my boards that as the glueup approached I realized I could not ignore it any longer. The shop I am building this table at does have a large jointer but I previously thought I needed special permission to use it. After getting it setup I ran the worst board through for the table top. Bottom line is that my nicve 8/4 top is looking like it started out as a 6/4 top. I am not happy about this but I am chalking it up as an important learning experience. In other news I glued up the breadboards last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 I always start by rough cutting parts oversized, joint one edge and one face then plane the other face parallel and rip so the edges are parallel . Stack and sticker at least overnight then check to see if it has moved, cupped, twisted etc. Re flatten as needed then proceed. With some experience you learn how much oversize a rough cut needs to be in order to yield a finished piece the size you need. Removing material from rough stock can relive stress and expose fresh wood which may be at a higher moisture content. Letting it acclimate overnight (or longer) gives it a chance to stabilize. Having extra material on hand lets you replace the pieces that keep cupping every time you flatten them. Sometimes this happens so be prepared for it ! What is the bright white layer being glued to the breadboards? 6/4 is still plenty for a tabletop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 The breadboard is hard maple and cherry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 That's an amazing color difference between the maple and cherry for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.