Bog oak coffee table (Finished.....photo heavy).

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Fair comment. This isn't a (bog :) ) standard design, so some or all of it isn't going to be to everyone's taste. However, we like the look of those, being just a little quirky on an otherwise fairly flat facade. When viewed as a whole, they are pretty discreet on a fair sized piece of furniture.
 
Very nice looking result. The colours really come to life with the finish, and the legs somehow fall into place.

A question about the top with the through legs. You must be very confident that top is not going to shrink or swell much ? Is there not a contradiction in using buttons to attach it (device to allow movement), then a design where any movement will open gaps between the top and the legs, or push the legs apart ?

Perhaps bog oak is stable enough. We have a nest of tables in oak, with the same feature. Not made by me, from John Lewis. The legs are attached with bolts and metal brackets across the corners, and they do go slightly bandy-legged in damp weather ...
 
Very good question.

I had a piece of bog oak inside for 3 or 4 months, and measured it to the 1/100th of a mm before and after. It shrank less than a 10th of a mm. Custard of this parish took moisture measurements when he bought a load of the bog oak from me, and got figures of 10 to 12%, and this despite it standing in an open-sided barn for the last 20 years. All I can conclude from this is that this timber is now very stable. With a super-insulated house and a whole house ventilation system, we have an extremely stable internal environment. I have a cross-grain humidity indicator in the house which hasn't moved since I made it. So the only thing which I can see affecting the table is the woodburner in the same room, which might induce a little shrinkage. I can't see any possibility of expansion from the current dimensions. That's the reason for the buttons. There is a secondary reason, which is that posting on a woodworking site I am conscious that people might copy aspects of the design but in a different set of conditions, and so I try to do the right thing even if unnecessary in my circumstances.

I did consider having a gap parallel to the leg profile, say 3 or 4mm, but thought this could only ever be a dust trap and spider hidey-hole. I also considered emphasising the join by using a band of contrasting timber in the table top to surround the legs, but I think that would have been visually OTT. If I was building this table for someone else in an unknown or less stable environment, I'd possibly have a think about including some compressible material in the junction between the legs and the tabletop. Five or 6 mm of black rubber done neatly could provide a good solution, perhaps, and would be very straightforward to do.
 
I knew you would have thought about it and have a good answer :wink: But as you say about the buttons, perhaps worth the explanation for anyone else following that design idea.
 
The limited information on very old wood does indicate that it is much more stable to humidity changes than new (less than 50 year) old wood. I have observed this in 200 year old musical instruments and restorations of 250 year old oak furniture (e.g. a shrinkage of at least 1 cm in 60 cm was not recovered by 25 years in a dampish shed). Richard Jones' (Sgian Dubh) wonderful book 'Cut and Dried' also discusses this phenomenon and gives further references on pp 86-88.

Bog oak, along with some historic (archaeological) furniture, is about as old a wood as you can get. I strongly suspect that it will be extremely stable against variations of humidity. It would be great, MikeG, if you could continue your measurements of humidity and shrinkage in bog oak for a few decades :).

Almost all of the information that we have on humidity and shrinkage comes from modern research for the timber and forestry industry or from woodworkers' experience over their lifetimes, and the rules we learn from these sources probably don't apply to wood that is significantly older.

Keith
 
MusicMan":1swr4lqu said:
....... It would be great, MikeG, if you could continue your measurements of humidity and shrinkage in bog oak for a few decades :)........

That's actually possible. The table itself will measure shrinkage (there'll be a gap where there isn't one now). And the reaction to changes in humidity could be done by making a bog oak cross-grain hygrometer and hanging it alongside the parana pine one I have in my workshop. If they react differently then that will tell a tale:

Ss5zE2b.jpg
 
MikeG.":1p1pwt4n said:
MusicMan":1p1pwt4n said:
....... It would be great, MikeG, if you could continue your measurements of humidity and shrinkage in bog oak for a few decades :)........

That's actually possible. The table itself will measure shrinkage (there'll be a gap where there isn't one now). And the reaction to changes in humidity could be done by making a bog oak cross-grain hygrometer and hanging it alongside the parana pine one I have in my workshop. If they react differently then that will tell a tale:

That would be brilliant! Keep us posted!
 
MusicMan":9gk241om said:
MikeG.":9gk241om said:
MusicMan":9gk241om said:
....... It would be great, MikeG, if you could continue your measurements of humidity and shrinkage in bog oak for a few decades :)........

That's actually possible. The table itself will measure shrinkage (there'll be a gap where there isn't one now). And the reaction to changes in humidity could be done by making a bog oak cross-grain hygrometer and hanging it alongside the parana pine one I have in my workshop. If they react differently then that will tell a tale:

That would be brilliant! Keep us posted!
Some of us might not be around in a few decades to see the results. :cry: :cry:
 
Thanks for taking the time and effort to post Mike. Thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
 
Appreciate you posting the journey here Mike. Fascinating read, and I’ve learned a bit from you in the process.

Love the look of the table, and using ancient wood with a story or two behind it is great.

Hope your back sorts itself out fella.

Cheers,

Nick
 
Awesome man. Cant figure out how to quote people on here but to the poster who put the pic of the gold leaf up on the wood, thats really cool and I'm stealing your idea hehe
 
MissGerman":3cx78qx2 said:
Awesome man.

Thank you.

Cant figure out how to quote people on here

There are three blue rectangles in the top right hand corner of each post (left hand one is "report", middle one is "like"). The right hand one of the three is "quote".

but to the poster who put the pic of the gold leaf up on the wood, thats really cool and I'm stealing your idea hehe

Hmmmm........there's no gold leaf on the table. I wonder what you are referring to.
 
That's a really lovely project Mike, it's pretty special to be working with timber that's older than the pyramids!

=D>
 

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