American Oak dining table

[BradNaylor]

American timbers are dried to the point at which they're almost 'bone-dry' before being stuffed in to a container and sent overseas - this helps to keep the weight and costs down, basically.

Not strictly true.

Shipping companies charge by the container, not by the weight. The only weight restriction is the maximum that can be carried by a truck.

Cheers
Brad

 

[newt]

Brad, Yandles stock air dried Oak.

 

[Ironballs]

There was also a little debate about Euro v US timbers and moisture content, Sgian Dubh weighed in with some useful info that showed that in the US they generally dry to a higher moisture content than over here, I think it was around 15%

 

[Richard Findley]

I buy most of my Oak from Lathams and they told me that their AWO is better suited to indoor use as it is KD to a lower MC than their Euro Oak, which they would recommend for outdoor use/joinery such as window frames etc.

Great project by the way. I will be keeping my eye on your progress. Good luck!!!

Richard

 

[woodbloke]

... after i've "done a Rob" :lol:

Cheers

Karl

This could be a new trend setting feature on the forums :lol: :lol: - Rob

 

[Karl]

Just a quick update. Not got much done on the project as it was our daughter's birthday yesterday and the weekend has been taken over by visitors, a horse riding party and a round of golf...

We have thrashed out the final size of the table, and below is a scaled drawing I have done

Overall sizes are 1550mm long, 900 wide and 750mm high. The top is 40mm thick, the legs 75mm square and the rails 110mm, reducing to about 80mm.

The two shaded squares are pieces of granite, which have been chosen to match the granite worktop we have in the kitchen. At some point in the future we may open up the kitchen and dining room into one large kitchen diner, and we thought that this feature would provide some continuity.

The rest of the top is from solid oak, except for the centre piece. I am going to veneer this section, as I don't want to risk putting in solid timber, only for it to be trapped between two pieces of granite.

The frame is very basic, the only detail being the pinned and through mortice and tenon joints, the shape to the rail and a chamfer to the edges of the legs. SWMBO was adamant that she didn't want any shaping on the legs.

Aside from finalising the design, I managed to get all legs planed flat and 2 faces square to each other, ready to go through the thicknesser tomorrow.

I need to pick up another length of 2" stock this week as the top is going to be a little wider than I first anticipated, and all components will need to be jointed from a couple of pieces.

Any comments welcome.

Cheers

Karl

 

[JonnyD]

I think you would be ok to make the central piece from solid wood as the wood is very unlikely to expand that much and is more likely to shrink. Could you leave a 2mm shadow gap all around the granite?

Jon

 

[Sgian Dubh]

There was also a little debate about Euro v US timbers and moisture content, Sgian Dubh weighed in with some useful info that showed that in the US they generally dry to a higher moisture content than over here, I think it was around 15%

Actually, the North American standard for moisture content is 7%, ie where the end product is for the commercial market and nearly all of it is aimed at that market. It's higher in Europe where the target MC is between 10 and 12% MC.

I understand there may be moves afoot to bring the European target MC for kiln dried wood closer to the North American standard, but as yet I haven't been able to verify this as a fact-- I need to investigate further, something I haven't had time to do. Slainte.

 

[Tierney]

Looking good so far; I'm tempted to try and build a similar table in a short space of time, so am watching with interest.

David

 

[Ironballs]

There was also a little debate about Euro v US timbers and moisture content, Sgian Dubh weighed in with some useful info that showed that in the US they generally dry to a higher moisture content than over here, I think it was around 15%

Actually, the North American standard for moisture content is 7%, ie where the end product is for the commercial market and nearly all of it is aimed at that market. It's higher in Europe where the target MC is between 10 and 12% MC.

I understand there may be moves afoot to bring the European target MC for kiln dried wood closer to the North American standard, but as yet I haven't been able to verify this as a fact-- I need to investigate further, something I haven't had time to do. Slainte.

Ah well, half right :roll:

Thanks for the correction :wink:

 

[Pete Robinson]

Hi Karl,

I have found Freud blades to be the most cost effective and absolutely excellent in all situations although from your photo you seem to have an awful lot of teeth on it for a table saw, I only ever use 40 teeth max on a 10 inch blade on my table saw and 60 teeth on my radial.

cheers

Pete

 

[Karl]

Pete - the blade is a 40 tooth combination blade. I'm not saying that all Freud blades are rubbish, just that this one isn't as good as the one supplied with my saw.

JonnyD - I'll have a think about the central panel. I don't want there to be any movement, and a shadow line would leave a nasty gap for debris and spills to fall into - we have 4 young kids so the latter is inevitable.

Cheers

Karl

 

[jhwbigley]

I only ever use 40 teeth max on a 10 inch blade on my table saw and 60 teeth on my radial.

cheers

Pete

I use a 24, 40 and 60 tooth blades on the table saw, and a 80 tooth blade on the radial arm saw.

John-Henry