Elm coffee table wip

[Trigs]

I started a new project yesterday, an Elm coffee table. I laid my hands on an 11ft x 1.5 ft board roughly 3 inches thick. So I halved it to fit in the van and will later joint them to make something roughly 4ft x2 ft. The goal is to use hand tools only ( though I'll probably use my rail saw to rip the boards for the joins)

I've never made a table before or squared something this big by hand before so any advice would be appreciated. Im also thinking about finishes, some sort of oil is what i first thought? I really want to bring out the grain.

I'll also be leaving the natural edges on, should these be sanded or just left?



Cheers

 

[MickCheese]

Looking forward to this.

Mick

 

[jkljosh]

Hi Trigs

Looks like a good project - you might want to take a look at a WIP I did for a similar (albeit larger) table (elm-dining-table-wip-sort-of-t75592.html). I finished it using danish oil which as you'll see from the thread really made the grain in the elm "pop".

Good luck!

John

 

[marcros]

yes, elm has to be one of my favourite timbers.

 

[jkljosh]

Trig

Such is my vanity I was just re-reading my own thread and realised there is a short bit in there about how I cleaned up the waney edge that would probably be of interest to you too.

Cheers

John

 

[Trigs]

Hi Trigs

Looks like a good project - you might want to take a look at a WIP I did for a similar (albeit larger) table (elm-dining-table-wip-sort-of-t75592.html). I finished it using danish oil which as you'll see from the thread really made the grain in the elm "pop".

Good luck!

John

Stunning table there, the danish oil works really well. My number 7 turned up yesterday and i must say for the price i got it off ebay its in excellent condition i looks like the seller has tuned it up and spent some time cleaning it up. No prizes for guessing why I'm spending this evening doing.

 

[blackrodd]

Hi Trigs

Looks like a good project - you might want to take a look at a WIP I did for a similar (albeit larger) table (elm-dining-table-wip-sort-of-t75592.html). I finished it using danish oil which as you'll see from the thread really made the grain in the elm "pop".

Good luck!

John

And a cracking WIP it was, too,jkljosh, Excellent!
looking foreward to this one too!
Rodders

 

[joiner_sim]

Hi,
Danish Oil is great for sealing and finishing off woodwork, leaving the timber to look natural. Building a coffee table for the first time is an excellent project to do as it covers a lot of different aspects in woodworking. I was in the same position as you in this WIP I documented a few years ago http://www.freewebs.com/simonswoodwork/coffeetable.htm The only advantage I had was that I had completed a carpentry and joinery apprenticeship which gave me a good grounding to begin with. Also I did have access to machines to dimension the timber to begin with. The only thing I believe I would have done differently on this project would have been the method of securing the table top (although, +5 years later the table top is still good). I would have routered a groove in all the top rails to allow me to fit buttons, rather than the corner braces that I did use as the table top fixing was not even considered until it was too late!

Good luck and try and post a few progress pictures!

 

[Trigs]

Cheers Sim, I did 3 yrs of an apprenticeship a good 10 yrs ago but left as my boss was a clown. Luckily I picked up a enough to get me around a few jobs, though I've never built furniture before.

I got some winding sticks on the way to help take out a twist. I need to have a look at leg ideas next.

 

[Trigs]

Just finished rough cutting the boards to a final size, there's still some planing to do but it gives the idea of the end result.

I did learn a huge lesson in pre planning the cuts with more consideration as I've wasted about 25cm from the over all length, but hey ho I'll better for it in the future.

Still to decide whether to square or rout curved ends.

 

[Trigs]

I decided to make a thicknessing jig for my router as hand planing to my required thickness would have taken ages, I wanted to do the tops all by hand but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, atleast I flattened the top by hand. I should have the top glued up by the end of the week.

 

[custard]

Trigs, I'm assuming the photo above, with three boards (two wide and a narrower one in the middle), is how you plan to lay out the top? if I've misunderstood this then disregard everything I'm about to say!

if you read through JKLJosh's post about his table you'll see that for his top he took two consecutive boards from the same tree and then opened them up like a book (which is why the technique's called bookmatching), this meant that although there was lots of grain activity it was all symmetrical and harmonious to the eye. Your top however is three boards stuck randomly next to each other so the grain clashes from one board to the next, and when you apply finish it will look even more jarring. And with a live edge on one side and a straight edge on the other side, and there's just too much going on, each element is fighting with the next.

We often comment on this forum how cheap furniture makes no attempt to marry up boards to create a harmonious pattern from the grain. You might be about to make the same mistake. Your board is three inches thick, so you could bandsaw into two 1 1/2" boards from which you could bookmatch, or with narrower boards a series of bookmatches.

There's some other tips here on laying out boards to best effect,

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/tip ... ious-grain

Hey, all this is just my opinion, you're the one who has to live with it, so if you're happy then nothing else matters.

Good luck!

 

[Trigs]

Thanks for the advice custard it is something I've thought about but don't have access to a band saw big enough just now and my workshop is still a good 6 months from being finished