Cherry coffee table

[Alan Turner]

Below are pix of a cherry slab coffee table. It finished at 34 by 60, 1 5/8" thick. A single slab. The legs started as 4" by 6" walnut, all rift cut, and the tenons are of ebony. This was a commission I delivered in March of this year, but forgot to post it here. Thanks for looking.

[Chris Padilla]

Sweet...my only complaint is for BIGGER and MORE pics!!!

Great job, Alan...I've never seen Cherry that wide before! What a nice find you had in that estate sale (or however you acquired all those tools/wood)!

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful and unique, Alan! Very nice.

[Donnie Raines]

So does this mean we have a 34 inch jointer to flatten these boards.....?????.....

Very nice!

[Waymon Campbell]

Beautiful work Alan.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Alan, the tenons look great with the ebony. A very creative piece. One question, how did you get the natural looking edge without sap wood showing? Just curious. Thanks for sharing.

[Alan Turner]

Jason,
I did that with the 34" jointer that Donnie mentioned. ( :

Thanks for the nice comments. It was a fun do. About 80 hours, total, of good enjoyment. Got some nice help here on the creek in the design forum, including form brohter Singer.
Some details:

There was a bit of a twist in this piece, and so had to remove about 1/2" total of thickness. I did so with a sled of MDF and a 36" drum sander, and 36 grit paper. Once I had the reference side flattened, I flipped it over, without the sled, and thicknessed it to a max thickness I could. Then finished it with a smoother, a 604 Bedrock, with a Hock iron and cap iron. I had to sharpen it a bunch of times as the grit left in the slab made the iron a bit serrated. Most of the top was surfaced with the plane before the legs were installed. End grain with a smoother is not a great mix.

I finished this piece with Waterlox Original, which is an oil varnish mixture. Wanted the soft feel, with no discernible film thickness. So, I used Japan colors, from Jeff Jewitt's HOmestead Finishing, mixed with the Waterlox. First I raised the grain with distilled water, and cut it back with 320, by hand. Then applied a wash coat of Transtint honey amber. Then I mixed burnt sienna and french ochre and burnt umber till the color was about where I wanted it, added some Waterlox, and did the edges only, feathering it in to the heartwood. Maybe two light coats. Overnight drying always. Then I stepped up the Waterlox proportion to thin the color, and did the whole thing, to blend it. Then about 4 more coats of untinted Waterlox. I tried to get the edges slightly darker than the table itself so that when it sun darkens, the edges won't be so light in comparison. I guess it worked, although I have not seen it since I delivered it, but no call-backs is a good sign. There is more color in the piece than is shown on my poor quality photos.

This wood was not from the estate purchase, but was part of a three board flitch, 17' long. Heavy boards. Had to cut it and rip it in the garage to get it into the basement. Most of wood was used for shelves, with natural edges, that are in the same room as the table now lives. It is like a kitchen/den with its own full tree. Here is a link to photos by the builder, Foster-Willson, and the shelves are on the back wall, with dishes stacked and stored on them.
http://www.foster-willson.com/add08.htm
A bit hard to see. There were 6 other shelves as well, which are not pictured.

I will say that cutting the joints for this guy was a bit of a test. One slip on the mortises and the table is trash. Also, could not effectively adjust the inside faces of the tenons, so the cutting of them was a challenge also. Took about 22 hours, I think, to cut and fit the joints. Had to be careful that all of the ebony wedges were the same thickness as the leg finished down to the table top after trimming.

Alan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Alan.......that's not a woodworking project......that's a piece of beautiful art! Utterly fantastic!

[Jerry Olexa]

OUTSTANDING work!! Great Detail in joints and edges.

[Mark Singer]

Alan,
I remember discussing this with you...it is outstanding! Great design and great workmanship! I love the edge,really wonderful!

[John Miliunas]

Well, you didn't have to worry about gluing up the width but man, what a job on flattening! Awesome job, Alan! I think the whole piece came together beautifully and, as Ken said, truly an artistic piece with fantastic attention to detail. Well done!

[Jeff Skory]

Alan,

Great job. And thanks for the detailed description. Man, where did you come up with that staining formula? You're about 8 levels ahead of where I'm at.

And I'll second Chris's motion for BIGGER pictures.

[Nathan Hoffman]

I can't imagine setting a coffee cup on that thing! Beautiful!

[Alan Turner]

Nathan,
It holds both coffee, booze, and people. Teh client is a very active MOntgomery County politician, and they entertain often. In this room. So, one of the criteria was sitting strength. You can't see it in the pix, but there is a hard maple stretcher between the legs, on the ends only. It is loose into the legs for wood movement, and is screwed into the bottom of the top with #18 screws. I veneered it with walnut falloff from the legs. There was a bunch left since I had to buy extra width fo the 16/4 walnut to get 4 with a rift grain. I was a bit concerned about sag over time across the ends. Teh finish is quite durable, and easily repairable.

Jeff,
One of only 2 courses I have ever taken was in the Spring of '03, a finishing course for 3 days taught by Jeff Jewitt. He owns and operates (call them and you will likely get him or his wife) Homestead Finishing. I take advice from him often, still. Great guy to do buisness with since he will sell you what you need, at pretty reasonable prices, and it comes with some of the best advice in the business. This was the first time I have played with tinting an oil varnish mixture. Usually I tone shellac, but here I wanted a varnish finish, wanted it soft (it is the character of the piece) and wanted to make the sap wood disappear. I think Cherry sap wood is not acceptable in a piece of furniture, but that is a very personal remark. I toyed with the idea of coloring with toned shellac, but that would leave a discernible film, and I didn't like that lood for this piece. toned shellac can be seen on the hutch on my web site, and for that formal piece, it was appropriate, I think. Finishing is pretty easy, although time consuming (read I never bid enough) if you understand the basics of evaporative vs. reactive finishes, and you are willing to play with scraps a bit.
Alan

[Terry Hatfield]

Alan,

WOW!!!! Fantastic job!!!

Terry