Cedar dining table started

mmartone · January 30, 2014, 10:33:12 PM

Heres a pic of the top pieces for the last table in line on our current list. We ran these through the planer tonight and got them all the same thickness, sure smells good. We are going to try and epoxy coat the top of this table to keep it looking beautiful and the stains out of it.

WDH · January 30, 2014, 10:37:25 PM

I like the live edge.

21incher · January 31, 2014, 08:00:31 AM

That is going to be a great looking table. When you epoxy coat the top surface do you have to do the bottom surface also to keep it from warping later on?

Magicman · January 31, 2014, 01:47:55 PM

Quote from: WDH on January 30, 2014, 10:37:25 PMI like the live edge.

And also the bookmatching on the top.

Tom L · January 31, 2014, 02:23:46 PM

I had a strip built red cedar sneak box at one time, and I tried on a few occasions to fix the outside layer of the boat with west system epoxy. I never had any success with the epoxy over red cedar, it would look great to start, and then after a few months the epoxy would delaminate from the red cedar. I was told that red cedar has certain properties that will not let epoxy bond to it with any success.

white cedar seems to be better, I coat cedar carvings with west system epoxy and have good results with it sticking and lasting.

would hate to see you cover the top of that table with epoxy and have this happen to you.

LeeB · January 31, 2014, 02:34:23 PM

The oils in ERC most likely cause the problems Tom mentioned. A coat of shellac followed by poly should do the trick and keep the stains out.

mmartone · January 31, 2014, 07:44:19 PM

I have coinsidered that problem and to bond epoxy with teak, also oily wood. You wipe it acetone to get the oil off the top surface and then epoxy, we are a bit from being ready to get that far on it. We shall see...

POSTON WIDEHEAD · January 31, 2014, 08:44:08 PM

I'm watching.

thecfarm · January 31, 2014, 08:46:14 PM

POSTON,go get another bag and watch Warbird youtube on What not to do with your tractor,in general board.

Peter Drouin · January 31, 2014, 08:52:10 PM

Nice.

:D :D :D

POSTON WIDEHEAD · January 31, 2014, 09:08:35 PM

Quote from: thecfarm on January 31, 2014, 08:46:14 PM
POSTON,go get another bag and watch Warbird youtube on What not to do with your tractor,in general board.

:D :D :D :D :D :D I saw that.........I'll have BAD DREAMS! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

mmartone · March 17, 2014, 11:19:40 PM

Got the table top joined, biscuited and glued tonight. We had a heck of a time getting the joints to meet evenly!

mmartone · March 17, 2014, 11:23:48 PM

Made a mistake and made a new post, new pic from tonight...

Mistaken new topic merged with this one - Admin

WDH · March 18, 2014, 07:16:20 AM

Those big planks are hard to handle, especially on a jointer.

mmartone · March 19, 2014, 07:33:06 PM

Clamps off!

SPIKER · March 19, 2014, 07:57:20 PM

Hummm where the LIKE button! lol. sure looks good! How do you plan to do the ends?>??? sure will be watching.

M

scleigh · March 19, 2014, 10:23:08 PM

Would a sanding sealer help if applied before the epoxy?

I make benches with erc and have used tung oil and poly., but sometimes have a problem around knots - getting a good finish.

mmartone · March 20, 2014, 08:03:15 AM

Well after some advice epoxy probably wont be going on this table. Jack sanded a little on it with that palm sander, more is needed though!
As for the ends we really havent decided what shape they are going to be, oval, rounded corners or a slight curve with rounded corners. Suggestions?

hardtailjohn · March 20, 2014, 11:11:19 AM

Beautiful!!!!!!!

LeeB · March 20, 2014, 01:06:42 PM

Round off the sharp edges and points and leave like they are to go along with the live edges.

Dodgy Loner · March 20, 2014, 05:49:15 PM

Quote from: WDH on March 18, 2014, 07:16:20 AM
Those big planks are hard to handle, especially on a jointer.

I agree, much easier to take the jointer to the wood!

Looking good, mmartone!

5quarter · March 20, 2014, 09:48:00 PM

Great project...If it were mine, I would breadboard the ends like a true tavern table. Acetone does destroy the surface oils. You should also seal with shellac before applying a top coat, Like LeeB mentioned. What are you going to do for a base?

mmartone · March 20, 2014, 10:24:17 PM

Breadboard with cedar, interesting idea. Live edge?

LeeB · March 21, 2014, 01:48:58 AM

Live edge refers to the natural edge you left on the two outside edges, or in other words it living shape as opposed to a ripped edge.

SwampDonkey · March 21, 2014, 05:06:49 AM

I like Dodgy's jointer/planer. ;D Better build up them shoulders and arms. ;)

5quarter · March 21, 2014, 08:24:37 AM

Yup. trim your table ends and make your bread boards. just clamp them to the table and shape the ends to follow the natural edge. if you like it, go ahead and cut your tenons and grooves and just peg the joints. otherwise, serpentine curves on the ends would also look good. if all else fails, straight across with a soft top edge. no matter what you do, its gonna be hard to make it look bad. ;)

mmartone · March 23, 2014, 10:26:44 PM

We made a ton of progress on this table today after church! We do have a few little checks/splits in the ends but not much you can do I dont guess. We decided to go with a sculptured edge as opposed to bread board, didnt like the look.

Work bench with some BLO on it:

Cedar table mocked up, no screws or glue yet.

tule peak timber · March 23, 2014, 10:32:49 PM

The sculpted ends compliment your natural edges much , much better that bread-board ends. Also nice looking faces on your top selection!

mesquite buckeye · March 24, 2014, 12:32:46 AM

I'm liking the way this is going. ;D

5quarter · March 24, 2014, 01:33:36 AM

The top is looking fantastic. 8) 8) Excited to see it with a finish on.

mmartone · March 24, 2014, 07:16:31 AM

I'm dissapointed that nobodys loving the legs, I had a vision when I cut this log... Heres the other leg sitting on the foot out in the sun. I got Jack in the backround sanding away!

WDH · March 24, 2014, 07:40:30 AM

The sculpted and live edges on the top are complimented by the natural flutes in the legs. Very nice.

thecfarm · March 24, 2014, 08:08:00 AM

I'm getting to the legs. Have to get by the body first. :D
That all looks good, And than some!!!

Dodgy Loner · March 24, 2014, 10:06:50 AM

Quote from: tule peak timber on March 23, 2014, 10:32:49 PM
The sculpted ends compliment your natural edges much , much better that bread-board ends. Also nice looking faces on your top selection!

I totally agree. Loved the sculpted ends, and the legs! It's going to be awesome 8)

LeeB · March 24, 2014, 10:27:54 AM

What are the legs made from? Looks like a serious wide log.

Busy Beaver Lumber · March 24, 2014, 07:33:23 PM

Awesome looking table. I love anything made of Eastern Red cedar. Definitely my favorite wood.

jamesamd · March 24, 2014, 10:08:43 PM

Them Gam's,are the foundation of excellence!!!!
Just,Dang,Sweet 8)

Jim

mmartone · March 25, 2014, 12:16:07 AM

Thank Guys, the legs are the outside of the cedar log, stripped of bark, scrubbed and sanded with the orbital. We cut the tenons (extra long) tonight, by hand, interesting stuff to do.

mmartone · March 27, 2014, 02:28:11 AM

Legs cut out for tenons. How about purple heart pegs/wedges? Jack says that we need them to be hard so not cedar?

mesquite buckeye · March 27, 2014, 02:37:53 AM

I'd think about any wood that doesn't shatter and isn't so soft that it crushes would work. ;D

Ianab · March 27, 2014, 02:59:38 AM

What about maple for the pegs? Colour would match the white sapwood of the cedar?

Cedar, being a bit soft, so the pegs might deform and work loose if you use that.

There is no reason you couldn't use purpleheart if you have a chunk laying about, but to my eye it would being in a third "odd" colour. I'd try and match the red of the cedar heart, or the white of the sap.

Ian

Dodgy Loner · March 27, 2014, 02:58:39 PM

I'm with Ian. I think purpleheart would be a bit of an eyesore with the other colors. I was thinking cherry would be more complementary if you wanted something dark.

WDH · March 27, 2014, 09:09:31 PM

I would stay with a domestic wood for the pegs to stay true to the natural roots of the table and not introduce a foreign element.

tule peak timber · March 27, 2014, 09:30:28 PM

walnut heart wood always works for pegs , splints , and plugs , particularly with light color woods.Highlight your joinery !

mmartone · March 27, 2014, 11:40:06 PM

Well heres tonights progress! We got the stretcher fit and the holes made and wedges cut and fit. Because of the shape (not flat) of the outsides of the legs we found that we needed a wedge with a head on it, so here they are. We did end up making them from purple heart and they should look nice with the cedar once finished. That just what was in the tree.

One end (much thicker) and its wedge are a bit larger, more shapely than the other. Yes we did have a small malfunction and split the end, glued it and put some copper on it, going to do the same to the other end to match.

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

thecfarm · March 28, 2014, 08:47:44 AM

Man that looks good. Mighty good!!!

Tom L · March 28, 2014, 09:45:10 AM

that looks great!

I don't know if you stated it before, but how big is the table all together

pictures can be deceiving

wish I had room for something like that

mmartone · March 28, 2014, 01:20:34 PM

Thanks for all the positive comments! We have some cracking going on here and there even though the pieces have been in the shop for quite a while, guess it adds character. Tables about 7' x 3'

Freedom6178 · March 29, 2014, 04:28:26 AM

Looks awesome good job. Thanks for sharing... ;)

jamesamd · March 29, 2014, 07:23:07 PM

Superb 8)

Jim

Ljohnsaw · March 29, 2014, 08:05:08 PM

Beautiful,
But, why the board on the bottom of the legs? Just curious. I'm assuming that this in an inside dining table. Personally, I would go without and it would look like the table is growing out of the floor.

mmartone · May 11, 2014, 09:59:50 AM

We are finally back at this project! We just put a tin roof on Jacks house and we need to do mine next. Jack decided we needed to do some live edge cedar benches for this table! They are cut to length and rough sanded, we have come up with this for legs. They are some 4x4 piece with some bark included, we are going to sculpt them some. We are going to bore the 2" thick top and 2": thick base and insert the legs all the way through and put some brass screws or rivets in the holes left from the backing plate screws.

This piece is 3" thick but I needed something for fitting the hole saw hole.

mmartone · May 11, 2014, 11:11:22 PM

Tonight we bored the bench tops and test fit one and sat on it! Lots more grinding and sanding to flush the posts through the tops and scallop and shape the posts and bases. I think we are going to glue and screw using the craig jig, the bases to the posts and to the top.

Warbird · May 11, 2014, 11:46:21 PM

That's going to look superb when it's all done. Nice work!

rrrun · May 23, 2014, 03:55:15 PM

Absolutely fabulous work. How many hours have you put into the project, any idea?

yukon cornelius · May 23, 2014, 08:56:22 PM

that looks fantastic!!! well done!!

Lud · May 24, 2014, 05:47:14 AM

Nice work. Strong design elements. Building big tables is very satisfying, isn't it! 8 8)) 8) 8)

mmartone · May 24, 2014, 08:50:34 PM

Hours so far, alot but unkown. Thank you for the compliments, we are very happy with it so far, cant wait to get some finish on it! As many of you know, the issue with stuff like this is pricing. We do have a fancy area west of Panama City Beach and hope to find some sort of crafty show to do in that area.

mmartone · June 23, 2014, 07:57:00 AM

We did a little work yesterday, got 2 coats of shellac on one bench after flush cutting off the dowels.

thecfarm · June 23, 2014, 09:30:59 AM

That shellac brought out the grain!!

mmartone · August 24, 2014, 11:02:57 PM

Well we have finally got a little time this evening to do some sanding and some more shellacing...

2nd bench going together

more shellac on the 1st bench

first coat on the table top!

WDH · August 25, 2014, 07:09:17 AM

Shaping up very nicely.

samandothers · August 25, 2014, 09:48:38 PM

Wow that made the color pop!

mmartone · September 10, 2014, 12:21:39 AM

This is the first coat of poly after a few coats of shellac, we are going to try spraying it over the weekend if theres time and weather. Jack has some dust and a few runs/drips in the first coat we need to sand out. I'm amazed we built something so pretty.