Dining table

[Phil Pascoe]

I need to make a dining table. I have a surplus of the tiles in the picture, so I thought I'd get some wany edged oak (or something) to make a surround and tile the centre. (I bought four or five square metres of the tiles for £20 ). I can colour milk paint or similar to match the frame to the tiles so it should look good. We go to Morrison'd for breakfast once in a while and they have some (I think) really nice plain oak topped tables with painted frames and heavy legs - that's the look I'm after but my working conditions don't lend themselves to serious work atm, and I didn't want to get involved with turning the legs. I searched on line and found Dave Dalby Woodturning - Home and picked the barley twists. I wasn't too concerned if the finish wasn't perfect as they will be painted. Ordered Monday, turned up today. £61.20 inc. P&P. Wow! Just wow! They are near perfect, and virtually knot free. The coffee table etc. come next.

 

[Cabinetman]

That’s really good value! Shame one has a R/H thread.....


Only joking, you may have to let the wood dry out for a while or the tiles may pop as the plank shrinks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The oak? will be a surround, the tiles will be on ply. I thought the price brilliant - they're four inch - finished at about 94mm - I dread to think what the timber alone costs atm. I thought I'd get the legs and store them for a month or two before the job gets done.

 

[robgul]

From experience with a tiled top dining table I would advise against quite strongly . . . wood movement has potential to cause tiles to move/grout to open up . . . and the gaps between the tiles are hard to keep clean - especially with the proximity of food and drink, as well as the possibility of spillages.

I see where you're coming from with the Morrisons tables - I would have thought that a plain, heavy timber top, even if you "cheat" with thinner boards with an under-surround to give a thicker edge effec, would look pretty good.
The table we have, see pic, shows what I mean - it's 18mm Birch ply for the top but has another thickness of 18mm ply about 60mm wide all round underneath to give the illusion of thickness.

 

[baldkev]

How about epoxy instead of grout? You wouldnt want to replace a tile if you broke it though

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'll probably use an epoxy grout. I'm not too worried about expansion - I'll be tiling on 18mm ply. They are floor tiles, they'd take a bit of breaking. (That wall is tiled up to about a metre and runs behind my stove.)