Oak dining Table with Wenge Inlay

[Russ]

I really like the look of this piece.... Nice work!!

 

[OPJ]

Nice work, Phil! (Only joking, Brad! :wink

I really like the idea, although I'd also have reservations about working with wenge... :roll: Anyway. Only thing I don't like is that the hinges are left visible on the top surface... Unless, of course, those aren't hinges!

This may have been something the customer wanted, of course... Otherwise, you could've used invisible 'soss' hinges, which would've only been visible from the rear edge when the table was in its smallest form.

 

[JonnyD]

Nice looking table Brad it looks a good solution for a small space. I have used wenge in the past and have just about run out of solid timber but have some veneer left in stock but will think twice about using it in the future but it does look nice.

Jon

 

[JonnyD]

and as a result, the practice will no longer specify any timber other than from certified European and North American sources.

Mike

Just wondering what the problem is with using certified south american and african timbers. I am not talking about rare exotics but properley managed certified or plantation timber.

Jon

 

[MikeG.]

Just wondering what the problem is with using certified south american and african timbers. I am not talking about rare exotics but properley managed certified or plantation timber.
Jon

I have travelled extensively all over Africa for many years, including a 6 month drive from the UK to Cape Town, and I have seen so much illegal logging and heard of so much bribery and corruption in connection with the logging industry, that it is my view that there is no chance of any timber in Africa being untainted. A certificate issued by a logging company in a country where all the politicians are getting a direct cut of the sales is not worth the paper it is printed on. Central Africa, which includes the rainforests, is being devasted by logging. It also has some of the worst governance and highest rates of corruption in the world......a lethal mix.

Friends of the Earth did an assessment of the logging industries of Central and Southern America and concluded the same thing. There is virtually no sustainable, properly licensed logging going on in that continent. Forged papers are the norm, and illegally felled trees are routinely deemed legal by their paperwork trail. They followed individual trees from felling to the saw mills, and then followed the consignments to the docks....... this was a thorough investigation.

This investigation fed into a campaign called Mahogany is Murder. If you are an inhabitant of the rainforest and object to your section of the forest being cleared, chances are you will be killed. Same if you are a customs officer who makes too much of a fuss about dodgy paperwork.

So.......its your choice. But I reckon that there are some wonderful European and North American hardwoods, and will stick to using those.

Mike