Been a long time! Elm Coffee Table WIP Finished...

[Imperial]

Been 7 or 8 years since I made anything with wood for various reasons but have now secured use of a workshop so having another try.

First step, wood, picked up some air dried Elm and let it dry out, was super cheap but dont think I'll do it again as it cups and twists even in stick.

Should have enough for 3 or 4 projects but this is the first.

image ru

Top edges will be live book matched along with the shelf which is one piece live both edges. The stretcher between the legs will be dovetailed to them and a few dovetail butterflies will be let into the top for decorative purposes.

The top planks were wider, but decided to rip them down just enough to go through thicknesser, saved me building a contraption to router them flat.

Nice spalted effect on the edge, pic not so great showing it..

The legs have a small taper hard to see

Its not my taste really but thought it would appeal to a lot of people who seem to like the chunky style when I sell it. I'm just doing it to get myself back in the groove of making. Forgot to take my handsaws with me today so did not cut the dovetails and yet to buy glue so top not glued up as yet. More updates maybe Monday :wink:

 

[philg]

The wood looks great, should be a fantastic piece

Phil

 

[DTR]

Watching with interest

 

[AndyT]

I think that will sell very easily - certainly an eye catching piece of elm.

 

[LancsRick]

You picked up elm of that size and figuring super cheap? Tell me your secret o wise one!

 

[Imperial]

I bought the wood air dried from a guy who cuts down trees and sells firewood, he recently bought a woodmizer and started planking nice stuff up. He had some incredible stuff, some slabs about 4/5ft wide and 4inch thick and burr slabs big enough to be coffee table tops.









My elm worked out about £11 a cube, but air dried is the issue, if you can wait or have access to a kiln then perfect. I'd investigate a kiln myself if it was cheap enough, but think too expensive

 

[Fitzroy]

It'll also be as your up in Scotland, elm disease is still slowly spreading north but we still have way more elms standing and having to be cut down than in England where they are about gone. I see elm boards on gumtree pretty frequently in the Aberdeen area, all air dried but at reasonable prices.

I'm tempted by these at the moment, but with the spare room still full of sycamore planks I doubt the missus would be too thrilled with me bringing any more home.
https://www.gumtree.com/p/wood-timber/e ... 1245724424

Fitz.

 

[PAC1]

It'll also be as your up in Scotland, elm disease is still slowly spreading north but we still have way more elms standing and having to be cut down than in England where they are about gone. I see elm boards on gumtree pretty frequently in the Aberdeen area, all air dried but at reasonable prices.

I'm tempted by these at the moment, but with the spare room still full of sycamore planks I doubt the missus would be too thrilled with me bringing any more home.
https://www.gumtree.com/p/wood-timber/e ... 1245724424

Fitz.

The good news is that there is an attempt to re-introduce elm into England I have three saplings coming along nicely.

 

[Imperial]

Today I have mostly been cutting dovetails ! well trying :roll: Have not done this for a long time so was a bit apprehensive as I cant grip very well any longer. I started with a LN dovetail saw but could not keep it online, so had a go with jap pull saw and found it much better, was able to saw down the middle of the marked line. They are by no means perfect, but as this is a bit rustic anyway will do fine. Material was 32mm and much more difficult I found to work with.









This is the shelf which is waney both edges



And plenty of wood left to play with



More from me on Thursday I expect...

Seems to be a problem with posts for me, pics wrong size and then box for text too wide, maybe just me having this... Think you can click pics to see bigger?

 

[jkljosh]

Looking good Bloonose - air dried elm will move a bit as you pull its MC down in the workshop but it does eventually settle down as I discovered when I made a big elm dining table a couple of years ago. You might want to have a squizz at my WIP if you haven't already come across it: elm-dining-table-wip-sort-of-t75592.html
Looking forward to seeing this take shape - the grain is bound to "pop" when you finish it, then all the hard work on those dovetails will be rewarded.

Good to see someone else getting back to making after a bit of a break; I am just getting to the end of my first "proper" piece of wood work since that table! I started the WIP on the jewellery box last week. Hope you continue to make good progress.

 

[Imperial]

That was a cracking table you made John !, harder to measure up and cut with no square straight edges to work off. That was my intension, to router out wider boards, but as it was a coffee table the 305mm wide planks still worked fine. Elm can be stunning but a pain for twisting as soon as its ripped as I've found out in the past when making this, bookmatched sides and top,plus veneered panels, one or 2 dovetails were cut too (hammer)

May be a slimmer console to come but will def need router and sled if I do :? :?: After some ripple sycamore for next projects but that may be months away as I need more surgery on my hand, just found out...

 

[Imperial]

All ready for assembly bar attaching middle shelf with dominos, inlay walnut butterflies, final sanding, then finishing oil. Quite happy with how its turned out, but dovetails not so hot when glued up, need more practise

 

[Racers]

I like that, chunky but not too chunky.

Pete

 

[Imperial]

Todays update

Inlay of the 3 butterflies, fitted shelf using dominos, shelf floats as I expect it will move a bit, rounded over all the leg components on the router table before fitting the shelf of course :roll: then sanded everything to 180 grit. Going to attach top with pocket holes and enlarge the holes to allow for expansion of the top. Only a few coats of Osmo left to do but have discovered a new oil which needs to be applied in artificial light then exposed to UV to cure. Supposedly very good but cant find UK supplier and manufacturer does not reply to email.

Last of the WIP's only finished item left to post, hope you are not too bored :roll:

 

[Imperial]

Tis done !

Last pics with oil applied, lighting terrible so colours don't look the same as in the flesh, but happy with the result. Will add a few more coats.

 

[AndyT]

I like that a lot. Slightly wild, but house-trained. Pattern in the grain, a mixture of colours, some waney edge, but controlled by the big dovetails.

=D> =D> =D>

 

[MusicMan]

I like it too. I wasn't sure on seeing the line drawing, but the design works well in this material. The beauty of the grain and finish, the waney edge and the exquisite detail of the butterflies won me over, too.

Keith