Pippy oak table - WIP, it may take a while!

[Farmer Giles]

Well, I bought a 14 foot oak log about 2 foot in diameter that is covered in burrs so should have some pippy qualities. The sawyer now needs to know how to cut it so I need SWMBO to decide what design she wants. So after looking around for a couple of days she comes up with this link.

What she wants is something like the picture, but a bit narrower and not as rough, rustic design yes, badgers bum no! So the joints will be morticed etc.

So it will be approx 2.4m long, 0.75m wide, have four good size legs, a couple of short stretchers and a long stretcher. The oak top will be circa 50mm deep so a relatively shallow apron. I'm thinking 110 to 120 mm legs as it will be a bit narrower than the picture.

So the stock list is something like the following (apologies for the mix of imperial and metric, I was at primary school during metrication!)

All approx unfinished sizes as I haven't sketched it up yet and is just so I can get it rough sawn and get it drying

8' x 2" thick quarter sawn boards to cover top - (see below, widths may vary)
4 x 5" sq legs each 2' 6" long - I may laminate these for stability, depends what comes out of the tree
2 x 8' x 4" x 1" for long aprons
1 x 5' x 4" x 1" for 2 short aprons
1 x 8' x 3" x 2" for long stretcher
1 x 5' x 3" x 2" for 2 short stretchers

So to give me a bit of flexibility I shall ask him to get as many 8 foot quarter sawn boards as he can out of the 8 foot of the log and get the legs out of the remaining 6 foot and get 1" stock out of any remaining.

So once cut the wood will sit in the barn until at least next year.

Here's the log, you can see a shake going through the heart which is off centre. Potentially the pippiest bit is on the side where the wider planks could be quarter sawn so hopefully this will turn out to be a nice bit of timber. My main concern is when I get into the design a bit more that I want to change the dimensions as it may look unbalanced but I need to get it cut pronto as I'm going near the mill in just over a week.

and the pippy bit - I hope!

Cheers
Andy

 

[marcros]

I am looking forward to seeing what comes out of the log. I have to admit I do not like the link at all- to me it looks like it is made out of fence posts but each to their own.

I have just found this which may also give you some ideas.

http://www.quercus-furniture.co.uk/our- ... ory-table/

A 2" top is going to be seriously heavy- I did a 6x3 table ex 1 1/2" and it was heavy! I used 3 1/2" legs (I think), with a taper to lighten them up- I think that yours may prove to be a bit chunky, although it depends on design.

Finally, on an inch a year for seasoning, you may be a bit quick trying to use it in a year.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Marcros, SWMBO likes that a lot!

It was the general design she liked in the first link, not the rough joinery and timber, thankfully. When I initially asked how thick she wanted the top the answer was 3"! I think I will get away with less than half that now.

If I got it rough sawn to around 40mm then I think a 35mm top would probably be OK. Slimmer legs to go with it too, I may have some timber left to start on the chairs......

I'm in no rush, next year was being optimistic drying wise. I have loads of projects on and possibly a stretch of working away coming up.

Regards
Andy

 

[marcros]

This is the one that I did last year for a mate of mine. Images will prob be upside down.

I really enjoyed making it but was glad to have finished!

 

[Farmer Giles]

Very nice =D> I hadn't thought of a cutlery/tablecloth drawer.....

 

[woodaxed]

just hit my head on the floor trying to look at your pics upside down

 

[Wood Monkey]

Hi Andy

I obtained some Oak trees a few years ago and had them planked. I got some nice pippy pieces also.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/wood-gloat-with-pictures-t58662.html


Recently I've used some for projects and I have to say it's very satisfying to know I rescued them from almost certain burning (apparently at 8-10 feet the logs are of no interest to commercial timber merchants).

What are your plans for drying the planks?

Jon

 

[rspsteve]

NICE WORK.

 

[Grahamshed]

We all like a good WIP, and that is really starting at the beginning.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Hi Andy

I obtained some Oak trees a few years ago and had them planked. I got some nice pippy pieces also.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/wood-gloat-with-pictures-t58662.html


Recently I've used some for projects and I have to say it's very satisfying to know I rescued them from almost certain burning (apparently at 8-10 feet the logs are of no interest to commercial timber merchants).

What are your plans for drying the planks?

Jon

That's a lovely thread Jon. I'd be interested to hear the end of the story with the boards that Richard milled (he's in my turning club incidentally). I guess the drying went well as you've begun to use them. Now we're two years on it would be a natural conclusion to complete their story with a little on how the drying/storage worked out and a few pics on how the projects turned out. I like many I guess am fascinated by the journey of tree to furniture and all the steps and bear traps on the way. A nice conclusion for the second end of the story to your original thread would be most appreciated I'm sure.

 

[MickCheese]

.75m seems very narrow for an 8 foot long table?

Did I read that right?

Mick

 

[Farmer Giles]

Hi Andy

What are your plans for drying the planks?

Jon

Hi John, interesting link, I was hoping there would be much more fallen timber around me after the recent storms but I haven't seen much

I am fortunate in that I built a barn a couple of years ago, we extended the house into the small barn attached to the house so that was my excuse to build another. My neighbour convinced me to add another 5m to the size, I think he had a vested interest as it turns out the most of this 5m is full of his trailers while he re-arranges his farm outbuildings. I get a lot of help from him as he's a tool maker by trade and he's built like a ICBM silo so very useful when moving bits of lathe and tractor about. He also got me most of the steel for the barn at scrap value, they were knocking down a warehouse at his works and all bar about 3 RSJs was purchased for less than 2K :mrgreen:

The barn has two storeys, there is a stone bit that is built into hillside which is about 5m wide by 6m long. This is my office upstairs and downstairs it forms 2 cellars. One has my brewery in it and the the other is where I keep the compressor, garden tools and the large bits of tractor I'm renovating. The rest is steel framed covered in kingspan 50mm insulated panels upstairs and both storeys are then covered in Yorkshire boarding. I formed the upstairs floor out of kingspan steel tray with rebar and concrete so as you gain access from the stone bit and its on a slope there are only a few steps to get into the upstairs and as its a concrete floor you don't realise its 3m off the ground. The roof is also kingspan with double wall transparent panels the same size so although I have no windows there is plenty of natural light.

The steel framed bit is 20m x 6m. Upstairs is the workshop with standard height of about 2m at the eaves and downstairs is storage and tall enough for a reasonable sized tractor so about 3.5m. This is where I will store the timber for drying. I have extended the kingspan down to the lower barn in one 5m bay so it keeps the weather out but the rest of the downstairs barn is just yorkshire boarding so plenty of ventilation.

I'm a newbie at converting timber, I do have a book somewhere about it and the obligatory moisture meter but apart from that this is my first venture.

I shall have to do a workshop tour at some point, once I have this Toylander out of the way and cleared up all the bits of MDF littering the place! I'm just making a "Mr Sawdust" radial arm saw table out of MDF and steel bars so will get that out of the way too.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

.75m seems very narrow for an 8 foot long table?

Did I read that right?

Mick

Yes Mick, originally the plan was for a trestle table just over 600mm, I think it will probably end up being somewhere between 750 and 900, the kitchen/diner is long and thin so don't want the table and chairs to impede traffic around it.

My main concern is getting a reasonable cutting list for the sawyer so I can get it cut but have enough flexibility to change dimensions, I'll do some better design and modelling while its drying, as you can see from the posts so far the size and design is definitely lacking at the moment!

Regards
Andy

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Have you got a planar/thicknesser Andy? If so you could always go bigger on the thickness of some of the boards ie err on the thick side as you can mill them later (though wasteful). Basically if you have a bandsaw and P/T you can both resaw and mill to any dimension you want

 

[Farmer Giles]

Hi Bob

Yes I have an old Dewalt P/T, a mate of mine bought it new, used it 3 times then got married and moved into a flat and put it in storage for 10 yrs then sold it to me for 50 quid. The blades are like new and I've used it when fitting out the house with oak skirtings and architrave and they are still sharp.

I also have a Startrite 351E bandsaw, the start/run capacitor needs replacing soon but still works. I seem to have had a spate of these as my Tormek supergrind needs a new capacitor and I've just replaced the one on my compressor.

I have an electra beckum spindle molder/finger lopper that needs a new motor - it started smoking! Also an Electra Beckum table saw with all the extension tables and a Dewalt radial arm saw. I also have an old Trend router table which I may get rid of.

On the other side of the workshop I have my metal tools, a Colchester lathe, a vertical milling machine, a horizontal milling machine, a mechanical hacksaw (renovated - 38 quid on ebay, weighs a ton!) , a plasma cutter, a bench drill with sliding table and MIG welder etc. I've been collecting tools for 30 years now so it seems a lot but not when you consider the time frame! Most tools were second hand, the milling machines and lathe are from the 50s and 60s.

Regards
Andy

 

[morfa]

Can't wait to see the outcome. Should be worth the wait.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Hi Bob

Yes I have an old Dewalt P/T, a mate of mine bought it new, used it 3 times then got married and moved into a flat and put it in storage for 10 yrs then sold it to me for 50 quid. The blades are like new and I've used it when fitting out the house with oak skirtings and architrave and they are still sharp.

I also have a Startrite 351E bandsaw, the start/run capacitor needs replacing soon but still works. I seem to have had a spate of these as my Tormek supergrind needs a new capacitor and I've just replaced the one on my compressor.

I have an electra beckum spindle molder/finger lopper that needs a new motor - it started smoking! Also an Electra Beckum table saw with all the extension tables and a Dewalt radial arm saw. I also have an old Trend router table which I may get rid of.

On the other side of the workshop I have my metal tools, a Colchester lathe, a vertical milling machine, a horizontal milling machine, a mechanical hacksaw (renovated - 38 quid on ebay, weighs a ton!) , a plasma cutter, a bench drill with sliding table and MIG welder etc. I've been collecting tools for 30 years now so it seems a lot but not when you consider the time frame! Most tools were second hand, the milling machines and lathe are from the 50s and 60s.

Regards
Andy

Fabulous Andy - you're clearly tooled up apart from the odd capacitor. In which case if it were me I would definitely err on the thick side as advice to the sawyer because you can post process everything yourself once its dry. The upside is flexibility and less waste, the downside is of course you'll wait longer for it to dry.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Bob

I forgot the morticing machine -how could I, the wife bought it for my 40th!

I shall settle on around 45mm boards rough sawn with a few at 30mm. That's a good compromise between drying and waste and should be good for the top and apron. I shall get a few thicker bits for legs/stretchers etc. I think there will be more than enough for the table.

I'll do the final cutting list tonight and contact the sawyer tomorrow.

Regards
Andy

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

don't forget....we need pictures, lottsa pictures

 

[AndyT]

I too was dismayed by the table you linked to - it just looks incompetent to me and I struggle to see why people like it. So I was pleased to see Marcros put you right with some much better examples. Personally I think thick tops are only for work benches, not tables, but a lot depends on the final setting. Will follow with interest.