I had someone contact me that had several old planks of hickory (12" wide, 2" thick, 9-13" long) and wanted a large, but simple table from it. It was a fun project, but dang hickory is heavy and hard.
I had to get picky at the lumber yard to get enough boards to match the grain in the hickory (lumber yards treat hickory and pecan the same, so 90% of the time you are getting pecan, but every so often you get a true hickory board, so I had to persuade the yard to actually look for some hickory, but I think I got everything matched together well.
legs are via anchor bolts that go through some 1.75" thick hard maple brackets:
The owner wanted it slightly distressed, so i got out some tow chains and 10" long, 5/8" lag bolts and beat the snot out of the top. You get a true appreciation of how hard hickory is when you try to distress it. I started light, but that wood is dense and hard as heck. I really had to lay in to it to get some distressing dents/dings.
I suggested a large drawer in one end for placemats and those big serving trays that you use 1-2 times a year and have no where else to put. I had some big 28" full extension drawer guides I salvaged from a ship chart table that was being tossed in the dumpster, so those got put to good use.
Now to load it up and deliver it. the dang top has to be pushing 250+ pounds, but will be a great table. The top is ~109" x 42" wide (strategically 2" narrower than the wheel wells in the bed of my truck)
Reply With Quote
