Farmhouse style table - general advice requested!

[julianf]

Thanks Pete,

I probably do have enough in total area, but not in long ones.

I've not taken a shot of the long lengths - they're the same as the ones I have shown, just longer!

Could I use the shorter ones underneath to thicken it up, or would that lead to more issues?

 

[Ttrees]

Staggered short laminations underneath will be rock solid

 

[thetyreman]

why not outsource/ get somebody on here to make the legs for you? and as for breadboard ends being an eye saw, that's a matter of personal taste, it can look good, just look at high end arts and crafts furniture for inspiration, barnsley workshop and stickley for example.

 

[Inspector]

One other thing you can do is see if any of the forum members near you have a bandsaw able to re-saw the widths you have and they can cut thick veneer (3 to 6mm) that you could glue to thicker wood. That would double the surface area you could make from them. I would still use new wood to glue them to.

Using the shorts would work but keeping them for other rustic projects is something to consider. Your partner could ask for a matching small cupboard for spices or something along those lines. :wink:

Pete

 

[MikeG.]

......... getting a "dont do it, youre not good enough" is always a little dull!.......

Not sure if this was aimed at me, but I have a feeling it was.

For a start, I didn't say "don't do it". I said "try a smaller table first out of the same material". Secondly, it wasn't me who said you aren't good enough......it was you:

........i have minimal skill with woodworking. Im a metal worker (precision stuff) so have background in 3d stuff, but limited experience with wood!.............

If that doesn't describe your skill levels properly, you can't really complain if someone takes your word for it.

 

[Nelsun]

I hope you kept those carpets. To sacrifice to some dark lord of vomit inducing floor coverings.

I'm all for characterful wood (and have made our own dinner table out of such) so my 2p would consist of, however characterful you like it, do whatever you can to fill big cracks (e.g. epoxy) as... well... you can thank me later 20mm is thin for a chunky table. Lipping it to look like it's 40mm thick would be a challenge to accommodate for movement. That's beyond me to suggest a wise plan of attack, other than to tread lightly.

 

[thick_mike]

Can the lipping on the ends not be end grain, i.e. crosscut so that the expansion and contraction is in the same orientation as the table top?

 

[MrTeroo]

You need to sign up for a 14 day trial, but maybe this article will give you some pointers?

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2017/03 ... thin-stock

 

[custard]

Can the lipping on the ends not be end grain, i.e. crosscut so that the expansion and contraction is in the same orientation as the table top?

Yes it can. Andy T mentioned something similar in an earlier reply.

Here's the same general principle utilised on this desk,

You can see the end grain more clearly in this photo,

I didn't make this desk, but I was working in the same workshop when this was made, I'm pretty sure the actual top was only about 20 or 25mm thick. All the shaping was achieved by bonding additional blocks to the top with aligned grain, and then carving it away.

 

[JSW]

Not wishing to detract from the Opening Post and replies but ...

That, is stunning @custard. In fact i think that may well be the single most beautifully well balanced piece I can ever recall seeing. Just my opinion of course, but if nature needed a desk and called on tree to produce one, this would surely be the result.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Wonky bodged woodwork is my specialist subject. Someone gave me an outdoor table which had a weird raffia style top. The whole thing had rotted, so I actually had a hardwood base/legs and frame, which needed a top. I threw on some 20mm tongue and groove pine flooring planks, and it looks great, in a slightly wavey, cupped plank farmhouse kitchen table way. Almost exactly as per your photo without the turned legs,but my table top is more "rustic", because everything has moved and warped. As someone who grew up in a real farmhouse, with a real farmhouse table, I can confirm that anything knocked together by the local chippy was considered very flash, and your timber will make a perfect, and very authentic table. Don't prettify it, and don't make it all twee and suburban - you want 100 years of patina and abuse to shine through. Perhaps lose the worst of the rot and woodworm?

 

[rafezetter]

I would definitely go with breadboard ends as well, but proper breadboard ends are not a walk in the park for a beginner, they are at least intermediate level possibly advanced level, you'd have to practise some joinery first and be good at mortise and tenons and drilling precise holes for the pins, some people think they're ugly but I see them as a sign of quality and it's going to be an heirloom piece not just another throw away table if you do it properly.

hmm, not REALLY "intermediate level possibly advanced" - I've done it a few times inc on the tabletop previously mentioned - routed out the mortice (and not even with a fancy router table either), chopping the tenons is just a matter of patience and a sholder plane. Marking the position of the pins first drilling through with a small 3mm bit, then offsetting the tenon hole by a smidge so it draws on the breadbaord end for a tight fit.

If I can do it with my inadequately tooled "workshop" - anyone else can in a similar situation.

You can even simply it and not do M&T's and just cut a long tenon for the board ends (just router down the thickness both sides by an equal amount) then slot cut the breadboard end to suit.

I've done it both ways and the latter seems simpler, but really you have to be just as careful fitting the tenon in a slot as opposed to a mortice, by routering it a little "fat" and paring down as normal.

Pins go in the centre of each table board for minimal lateral movement.

Plenty of vids on the subject to watch.

 

[thetyreman]

I would definitely go with breadboard ends as well, but proper breadboard ends are not a walk in the park for a beginner, they are at least intermediate level possibly advanced level, you'd have to practise some joinery first and be good at mortise and tenons and drilling precise holes for the pins, some people think they're ugly but I see them as a sign of quality and it's going to be an heirloom piece not just another throw away table if you do it properly.

hmm, not REALLY "intermediate level possibly advanced" - I've done it a few times inc on the tabletop previously mentioned - routed out the mortice (and not even with a fancy router table either), chopping the tenons is just a matter of patience and a sholder plane. Marking the position of the pins first drilling through with a small 3mm bit, then offsetting the tenon hole by a smidge so it draws on the breadbaord end for a tight fit.

If I can do it with my inadequately tooled "workshop" - anyone else can in a similar situation.

You can even simply it and not do M&T's and just cut a long tenon for the board ends (just router down the thickness both sides by an equal amount) then slot cut the breadboard end to suit.

I've done it both ways and the latter seems simpler, but really you have to be just as careful fitting the tenon in a slot as opposed to a mortice, by routering it a little "fat" and paring down as normal.

Pins go in the centre of each table board for minimal lateral movement.

Plenty of vids on the subject to watch.

I wouldn't do it that way but thanks for the lecture on table making.

 

[woodbloke66]

Don't waste time and talent on what appears to be firewood rather than sound timber. Breadboard ends, thickened edges etc will give you something you can call "rustic" or "character" but it won't be a joy to the eye of a skilled maker of any kind.
Sorry if this sounds a bit offensive but I am certain that the cost of decent materials will look like a good investment in a couple of decades, and will allow you to exercise your skills rather than the ability to bodge and try to maintain that it's a proper job.

I'm inclined to agree with Mike on this one, having read and seen all the pics. There's some really great, well figured quarter sawn Oak out there (but you've got to go and find it) which would make a stunning table of the type that you're after. Were it me though, I'd be looking at something really classy...

...along the lines of a traditional English A&C 'Hayrake table' - Rob

 

[MikeG.]

.........There's some really great, well figured quarter sawn Oak out there (but you've got to go and find it) which would make a stunning table of the type that you're after.........

That's precisely not the sort of table he is after, though. There is a danger of imposing our own tastes on someone else, here. The OP has quite clearly said, a number of times, that the rustic battered farmhouse table look is what he wants, and that he wants to get away from "fine furniture".

 

[woodbloke66]

.........There's some really great, well figured quarter sawn Oak out there (but you've got to go and find it) which would make a stunning table of the type that you're after.........

That's precisely not the sort of table he is after, though. There is a danger of imposing our own tastes on someone else, here. The OP has quite clearly said, a number of times, that the rustic battered farmhouse table look is what he wants, and that he wants to get away from "fine furniture".

Please read what I writ Mike...I did say 'were it me'. I'm quite aware of what the OP requested but was offering other possibilities for a design which he may not have considered - Rob

 

[MikeG.]

I read what you wrote carefully. You said "a table of the type you are after"....having described a table of the type he was deliberately avoiding.

 

[woodbloke66]

I read what you wrote carefully. You said "a table of the type you are after"....having described a table of the type he was deliberately avoiding.

Please read again with the utmost care exactly what I writ. It's here..."There's some really great, well figured quarter sawn Oak out there (but you've got to go and find it) which would make a stunning table of the type that you're after. Were it me though, I'd be looking.... "

There are two separate sentence's here, the first of which refers to the 'type that you're after'. Then there's a full stop (one of these . ) and the next sentence refers to my preferences which the OP may or may not have considered. It's not difficult Mike, you've just got to read it :lol: - Rob

 

[MikeG.]

Rob, everyone can read what you wrote. Everyone can see the photo you posted. Please don't tell me to read it again.

 

[AJB Temple]

OP, I really like your enthusiasm. My house is old as well and full of oak (couple of barns). Rustic suits very well.

But I would say this. Farmhouse / kitchen tables in these kind of houses tend to look best when they are really think and substantial. I have a 15th Century refectory table (which is very battered), which is 12 feet long and made of three wide boards three inches thick. Very simple heavy duty legs and stretcher. It has had a few hundred years of being bashed about and I will never part with it.

I made one like it in green oak for my kitchen and I made another one with picture frame surround (no idea what the correct term is) which is kind of a variation on bread board ends. Both of these used really thick oak boards (I am lucky in having lots of oak available). My gut feel is that your boards are rather on the thin side for the project you have in mind and maybe you could use them for side tables, which would look fantastic. I hope you keep us posted with pictures.