Walnut Top Trestle Dining Table: Advice on Secondary Wood

[Marcus Soule]

Hello all,

I'm about to undertake a project in the next few weeks. I'll be building a dining room table for my family and I could use some advice on wood choices for the design.

I have been given an incredible price on some beautiful 4/4 walnut boards. With them I will be building a traditional Shaker trestle table not entirely unlike the one highlighted by Christopher Schwarz in the Feb 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking. I will use the walnut boards to make the top, which will be about 30" by 96". However, time and budget constraints are such that I will not be able to purchase enough walnut to complete the rest of the table.

So I could use some advice on how to proceed. I came up with the following options (there are likely more!).

1. Walnut top, secondary wood stained to appear like walnut
2. Walnut top, secondary wood chosen to compliment the walnut
3. Walnut top, secondary wood painted

For some reason, and I am not sure why, I find the idea of painting the rest of this table objectionable. I am not sure why, exactly. Maybe I can't visualize what color I would paint it. Similarly, I don't prefer the idea of staining the secondary wood and I can't really give a great reason why. As for a complimentary wood, I'm not sure on that front because it isn't just accenting the table, it's the whole bottom half.

I guess I could be persuaded on any of the three options. The good thing is that this table is going to be mine, so if I screw it up I can always rebuild the bottom at a later date when I can buy enough walnut. In the meantime though, I would love some suggestions / thoughts / opinions on the options I presented... or ones that you may suggest!

Thank you all in advance.

[Brian Holcombe]

I suggest white oak. It compliments walnut and if you find it too light when complete you can stain it darker than the walnut top.

[Jamie Buxton]

Wood "stained to look like walnut" never looks like walnut, IMHO. It just looks cheap. So I'd strike that off the list.
Paint isn't as objectionable for me. It isn't as pretty as wood, but at least it is honest about what it is. However, on a trestle table, it is likely to get worn off the edges of the horizontal board at the bottom of the trestle. So I'd strike that one too.
That leaves "some other wood". I'd use hardwood, again for the wear issue on the bottom of the trestle. Ash and red oak are usually the least expensive hardwoods, and I think they both look good supporting walnut.

[Marcus Soule]

Brian and Jamie,

Thank you both for the replies. Ash is dirt cheap in the yards around here so that always sky-rockets to the top of my list for projects. Oak is also relatively easy to obtain around here so we'll see what the stock at the yard looks like. Even white oak is a little over half the price of walnut around here and likely within my budget on this project.

I tend to agree about stain and I hadn't thought about wear on the paint.

I'm considering finishing the table with Behlen rockhard but I've never used it. It seems like it would be well-suited for the top but I've read that it may be a little too dark for the ash or oak. Or I'm also considering just doing the entire thing with Waterlox Medium Sheen. Thoughts?

Thank you!

Wood "stained to look like walnut" never looks like walnut, IMHO. It just looks cheap. So I'd strike that off the list.
Paint isn't as objectionable for me. It isn't as pretty as wood, but at least it is honest about what it is. However, on a trestle table, it is likely to get worn off the edges of the horizontal board at the bottom of the trestle. So I'd strike that one too.
That leaves "some other wood". I'd use hardwood, again for the wear issue on the bottom of the trestle. Ash and red oak are usually the least expensive hardwoods, and I think they both look good supporting walnut.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I'm partial to the look of walnut and maple. In fact, if it were my project, I would make the base a different, contrasting wood as a matter of course. If you choose to go with a contrasting wood, I would consider tying it together by incorporating some of the light wood into the top somehow, such as an inlay or edging, or some other way. Likewise, you could put some of the walnut into the apron or legs.

Be cautious if you use an open grained wood for the base and trim, the walnut dust will get into the pores. It works both ways as walnut is open grained as well. You will have to blow out the dust really good before finishing.

[Michelle Rich]

personally, I would save my pennies, and get walnut for the base, because I would have to live with my choice for 30-40 yrs. If I built the base out of something I did not like, and painted or stained it, I'd be kicking myself for years. The whole idea of building our own furniture is that we can make what we want and enjoy it.

[Marcus Soule]

Yonak,

Great advice, thank you. I have read a lot about sealing the pores during the finishing process: I hadn't thought about general sanding as far as getting walnut dust in the oak / ash. Thank you for the heads up!

Inlay would be a really neat option. I've never done it. As you may have been able to infer, I'm in likely just on this side of the beginning / intermediate line.

Anyhow, thank you again!

I'm partial to the look of walnut and maple. In fact, if it were my project, I would make the base a different, contrasting wood as a matter of course. If you choose to go with a contrasting wood, I would consider tying it together by incorporating some of the light wood into the top somehow, such as an inlay or edging, or some other way. Likewise, you could put some of the walnut into the apron or legs.

Be cautious if you use an open grained wood for the base and trim, the walnut dust will get into the pores. It works both ways as walnut is open grained as well. You will have to blow out the dust really good before finishing.

[Marcus Soule]

Michelle,

Yes, this would be the ideal situation, I agree. The good thing about the table bottom is that it can be pretty easily be replaced should I decide that I don't like a different secondary wood. And, actually, I'm sort of excited about the challenge of blending two different woods into one cohesive design.

Thank you for the input!

[Al Launier]

My first reaction to the use of 4/4 wood is how flat & parrellel is it to begin with? If you have to joint & then plane the wood you'll probably end up with 3/4" thickness for the table top. Is that what you were anticipating?
Walnut is perhaps my favorite wood and I also like to team it up with hard maple for contrast, if contrast is what you are looking for. Red oak would compliment walnut as well, but red oak really absorbs water if not sealed well.
Best of luck with your project!

[Marcus Soule]

Al,

Good points, thank you.

The lumber is quite straight as the boards were cut, stickered, and air dried so they are actually in really nice shape. I don't anticipate having to take a ton off the top or sides to get them in working order.

The fellow that has them was present when his employer dropped 5 or 6 walnut trees that were in the ballpark of 50 to 80 years old. They split the cost of having them milled and each got half the wood. He treated them very well during the aging process and they are about as high a quality board as I've ever seen sitting at a lumber yard: free of heavy checking, twisting, etc.

Another vote for maple! My interest is peaking although hard maple, while definitely not as expensive as walnut, is certainly approaching that price. Looks like I've got more thinking to do.

Thanks again!

My first reaction to the use of 4/4 wood is how flat & parrellel is it to begin with? If you have to joint & then plane the wood you'll probably end up with 3/4" thickness for the table top. Is that what you were anticipating?
Walnut is perhaps my favorite wood and I also like to team it up with hard maple for contrast, if contrast is what you are looking for. Red oak would compliment walnut as well, but red oak really absorbs water if not sealed well.
Best of luck with your project!

[Yonak Hawkins]

I only say that about the dust in the pores because I made an ash and walnut chess table in college, failed to blow out the dust and I always regretted it.

If you're unsure about your inlay experience, the inlay doesn't have to be in the top. Before assembling the top you could cut a couple of narrow, fairly shallow cuts in the edge pieces and press in some of the contrasting wood. That way the inlay dados don't have to have starting and ending points.

As an aside, if you would have to cut edge dados after the top is assembled, I wonder if anyone has ever tried to cut such a dado with a biscuit jointer by sliding it. I don't have one so I don't know if it's even possible.

..Or you could have a couple of narrower strips of walnut to finish off each long edge of the top and incorporate thin contrasting strips in between on your glue-up.

[Prashun Patel]

I am with Michelle.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, mixing woods for cost screams out just that.

If you are crafty, you can find cheaper walnut in one of these ways:

Ask your mill if they will sell you seconds or shorts of 8/4 stock.
Use 4/4 and laminate it. (grain matching walnut on legs can be surprisingly easy).
Ask for a discount on walnut with a good deal of sap wood in it.

If you are clever, you can often find a way to mix the sap wood in a way that provides contrast and looks like an aesthetic - not economic choice. That could certainly be the case on the supporting stretcher, which does not require any kind of grain matching. Some sap wood could provide nice interest on that otherwise monolithic piece.

I suspect if you calculate the board feet, you may find that the legs and stretcher don't require that much. Perhaps that walnut isn't as expensive as you might assume...?

[Marcus Soule]

Yonak,

I like these ideas a lot! I do have a router and some bit small enough to route a groove and I likely will have enough to press in with my walnut off cuts. I really like this idea, thank you!

I also like that it is an option to leave the top all-walnut. That way if I do not like a contrasting bottom, I can always circle back later and build a bottom from walnut when time / budget permit.

Thank you for the innovative recommendations!

I only say that about the dust in the pores because I made an ash and walnut chess table in college, failed to blow out the dust and I always regretted it.

If you're unsure about your inlay experience, the inlay doesn't have to be in the top. Before assembling the top you could cut a couple of narrow, fairly shallow cuts in the edge pieces and press in some of the contrasting wood. That way the inlay dados don't have to have starting and ending points.

As an aside, if you would have to cut edge dados after the top is assembled, I wonder if anyone has ever tried to cut such a dado with a biscuit jointer by sliding it. I don't have one so I don't know if it's even possible.

..Or you could have a couple of narrower strips of walnut to finish off each long edge of the top and incorporate thin contrasting strips in between on your glue-up.

[Marcus Soule]

Prashun,

Thank you for the suggestions, they are appreciated. And I don't think anyone would suggest that it is being snobbish to want a single wood table!

So one issue is availability: I do not have a local mill. I have a few hardwood stores that are worked over very hard. I suppose I could request off-cuts but they usually just dump them in a bin and anything worth taking is gone almost instantly. I had not considered laminating walnut, that idea is certainly on the table! (pun intended?) And I like your suggestion of sapwood breaking up what could become "monolithic" in appearance. The interesting thing about this piece is that the stretcher is much higher up the table and almost completely out of view, even across the room.

Around here, the lumber yards I have access to, ash is about 1/4 the price of walnut, white oak about half the price of walnut. So while my 18 board feet of material isn't much, I am working with some very serious constraints this summer, at least for this project. Also, I really like the challenge of having this constraint.

I've already gotten some awesome suggestions that I'm excited to think about. Also, and this is likely my inexperience talking, I'm not sure that I see much risk in this venture as long as I don't screw up the top. If I don't like the bottom I can easily go back and make it in walnut at some other point in my life. At that point it would sting a bit to have wasted the money on the oak or ash or maple, but again, I'm not in this for production work, I'm in it to learn some new skills and sit down at a table that I made.

I think this is going to be really fun!

Thank you again!

[Mark Gibney]

I guess it really depends on the trestle design, but I tend to prefer the table top and the trestle to be different woods. I like the white oak suggestions above.

I made a walnut top maybe a year ago, and I got some air dried beech to make a trestle support for it using steam bent laminating - one reason I haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I'll fume the beech with ammonia a little to darken it - too much and it takes on a green cast that I don't like.

Let us know what you decide.