Dining Room Table

So here it is, my first Sketch Up design a dining room table. The design is made of alternating strips of White oak starting on the outside and alternating with black walnut strips with the center strip being curly elm. Instead of basic edge gluing I'm using sliding dove tails. Big thanks to Dave Richards for his insight into constructing these and with resizing my SU so it's not huge. The legs are tapered and rails will be mortise and tenon joinery. These will be also made of white oak. It will be after the new year before any real progress is made. I've gotta make some Christmas presents and I'm hoping santa will be bringing me a new planer first.:D

I dont have sketchup, this dining table sounds really cool. Could you upload a screen image or .JPEG?

Sorry Chris, I'm not use to posting yet. I didn't think about saving as a jpeg. Well hopefully this jpeg will open it, if not let me know.

A very interesting design and an ambitious project. Wish you luck. Is the idea of using sliding dovetails simply for the effect, or is there a structural consideration involved?

nice. i will check back often to see the progress.

I had a similar idea of using several species of hardwood anywhere from Ash to Purple Heart for strips down the length for a table top. Butcher block style/effect. Unsure the variety of wood species will move more than the other, always learning.

chris

Well honestly there was no structural consideration in the design. I like the idea of adding details in places you don't expect to see them. I really like shaker and mission style furniture, that's why I chose the dovetails and mortise and tenon. I also wanted to use more than one species to also make it not only a functional piece but also something intresting to look at. This is my first real furniture piece, I know I maybe pushing my limits but a challenge is the best way to learn.

Nice. One suggestion I have is flipping around some of the dovetails so that each piece is either "all pins" or "all tails".

Thanks for the suggestion Matt, I had at one time thought about that. It would probably make it easier to construct. The reason I didn't go with it was that the person who I'm buiding it for liked this design better, and since they are getting a "Family & Friend" discount I don't mind the extra work.