Live Edge Spalted Sycamore Coffee Table

I was recently asked to build a live edge coffee table for a special client.  So, it was off to the sawmill to see what the slab inventory looked like.  The customer was very fond of a specific piece of spalted sycamore.  The slab had a large through and through crack as well as knot splits and surface checking.  All of those “defects” would be dealt with during the preparation of the slab.  Maple was chosen for the base.  Initially, Norway maple was selected, however,  it proved to be unsuitable during the subsequent milling.

The raw slab was slightly thicker than 1 3/4″ with a bit of twist.  I used my router sled to remove the twist and bring the slab to a final thickness of 1.5″.  The through and through crack would need to be filled.  I chose black tinted epoxy for the job.  It took four pours to completely fill the crack consuming almost 6 ounces of five minute epoxy.  The knot cracks and surface checks were also epoxy filled.  There were some sedge splits that were also filled.  Overall, I was happy with the outcome.  The black epoxy complimented the spalted surface and blended in quite well.

With the voids filled, it was now time to start the structural repairs for the top.  I made a batch of butterfly splines from spalted sycamore in a variety of sizes.  For the large central crack, I used a total of eight splines (four on each side).  The knot cracks received an additional four splines.  The sequence of work for the repair was layout the location for the butterfly, route out the rough opening, pare the opening to the final size, glue in the butterfly and trim flush.

With all of the repair work complete, the top was shaped and sanded to 800 grit.

My attention now turned to the base of the table.  Initially, I planned to use Norway maple for the base, but it proved to be too brittle and prone to cracking.  I switched over to hard maple instead.    I was lucky because my hardwood supplier had a good inventory of hard maple shorts suitable for building the base.  The base was made from 8/4  maple.  The table base is a scaled down version of George Nakashima’s Frenchman Cove Table dining table.The joinery employed was bridle joints similar to the joinery employed by Nakashima.  The feet and stretchers have a double taper.

The end assemblies were glue and pegged.  The base breaks down into 3 parts for flat shipping.

As previously mentioned, the top was sanded to 800 grit.  That involved machine sanding to 400 grit and then hand sanding to 800.  At 800 grit, the table surface took on a nice shine.  The finish used on the top and base are Odie’s oil and Odie’s wood butter.  If you have not tried these products, I can say that they are becoming my go to finish for this type of work.  Odie’s oil is like a friction finish.  The heat associated with working it into the surface helps penetrate the pores and cure the finish.  Application is simple.  Apply the oil, work it into the surface and then wipe off the excess within 24 hours.  After a three day cure, the wood butter is applied in a similar manner.

The top is joinedto the base using #10 screws in slotted holes.  This allows for seasonal changes due to humidity swings.

Overall, this table is  52” L x 18.5” H x 16-22” W. The top is 1.5” thick.

With the work completed, the table was packed for shipment to the client in California.

 

Live Edge Walnut Display Shelf/Bookcase – Part 2

 

Continued from https://vnwoodworks.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/live-edge-walnut-display-shelfbookcase-part-1/

Winter arrived in SE Pennsylvania this week and it was too cold in the shop to do the epoxy repairs to the slab top.  I opted to work on flattening and thicknessing the sides for the case.

The material was slightly greater than 1 5/8″.  There was a twist of about 1/4″ in the slabs that needed to be removed.  To accomplish this, I used a router sled as shown below.   The piece of wood with the circle cut in it accommodates a 2.5″ dust collector hose.

I use plastic laminate shims to level the pieces on the jig.  By making multiple passes across the grain, the slab is flattened.

The final pass is made with the grain and removes about 1/32″.  At that point the slab is flipped over and the second side is treated in the same manner.  All that is needed is a bit of touch up with a #4 smoother.  

Once the weather  breaks I can get back to the epoxy and butterfly splines.

 

 

 

Live Edge Walnut Display Shelf/Bookcase – Part 1

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Nakashima Reading Room at the Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA.  Tucked away in the corner was a display shelf with a live edge top.  This is the type of case I need for the corner of my dining room to display art pottery.

With this case as inspiration, I went to the sawmill to find a suitable flitch to use as the top.  The black walnut slab was 8/4 thick with a bit of a twist.
The top was surfaced with a router carriage to  flatten it and bring it to rough thickness.  After that, it was time to change over to hand planes. Starting with a jointer plane, low angle jack plane and eventually a smoothing plane, the top was brought down to  1 3/8″ thick.

The above pictures are the top after surfacing (alcohol wet).  Next up will be some butterfly splines and epoxy to repair some defects in the top.

Nakashima Style Dining Table in Black Walnut

I recently completed a dining table in black walnut.  The table is based on the Frenchman’s Cove I table by George Nakashima.  The top consists of two bookmatched walnut slabs joined with butterfly splines.  Overall dimension of the table is 44.5″ w x 84″ l x 29.5″ h.  The top was flattened primarily using hand planes.