Summer House Elm Table

[Arnt Rian]

A while back I bought a small pile of relatively short pieces of elm. It came from a tree that was cut in a friend's yard, and sawn into 2" slabs, before being stacked in his garage attic for about a decade. This summer I decided to a small table at our summer house from some of it. I don't have a workshop there, so everything had to be done outside, mostly with a few hand tools. I had brought some of my nice planes and stones, but other than that I only had a couple of carpenter style saws, chisels and miscellaneous stuff from the shed to work with.

I decided to use one of the largest pieces as the table top, but because of the short length, I opted to use it more or less as is, funky shape, end checks and all. I did flatten it somewhat, and round over the edges and fill the worst cracks before finishing. The other pieces were all rough cut with a circular saw, the widest one partially resawn by hand, and planed to shape. Wedged mortise and tenon joints all around.

I'm including a link to a google album that shows the process (The title is in Norwegian, it says "Summer woodworking at the summer house"...)

https://goo.gl/photos/2HjpjLHWJ4a4NPv8A

Here's the result

20170726_171358.jpg

Thanks for watching!

[ken hatch]

Arnt,

Beautiful table. Good decisions were made with the design and build.

ken

[Chet R Parks]

Arnt,
Vary impressive, both in design and craftsmanship especially working outside with just a few hand tools and not having the convience of a full workshop at your disposal. A great example that it's the acquired skills that's important not just the tools and comfortable surroundings. Great job.
Chet

[Rick Malakoff]

First off, GREAT JOB!
What has impressed me the most is the contrast of the modern legs and stretchers against the more rustic top.
Rick

[Andrew Hughes]

I like it too.Although the proportion look a bit off to me, the top to heavy for the base it has a innocence about it.
It a good piece.

[Sam Murdoch]

Andrew, I suspect that the photo has created the effect that the top is not in proportion to the base.
All in all, very nicely done Mr. Rian. I like it very much and applaud your skill working in the rough - so to speak.

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks for sharing Arnt. Nice work that should fit in really well with a summer time lake house. Just a touch of the rustic flavor that fits the theme well in my opinion.

[Robert Eckerle]

nice work, I like it

thanks for sharing it

[Christopher Charles]

Well done, I particularly like the splayed legs. Your project is a good reminder that much can be accomplished with little.

Thanks for posting and hope to seem more projects from you.

Best,
Chris

[Pat Barry]

Nice project. That elm top is very pretty!
Thanks for linking to the other photos.

[Arnt Rian]

Thanks everybody!

Although the proportion look a bit off to me, the top to heavy for the base

Good point, the top probably does look a bit on the heavy side for the base. It was intended, sort of, but I may have overdone it...

[lowell holmes]

The live edge gives that table interest. I would have probably stupidly sawed it off.
Good craftsmanship.

[Mike Baker 2]

That is a beautiful table and beautiful wood!

[William Fretwell]

Splendid photo of a lovely table. The through tenon joints add quality and contrast to the rustic nature making the rustic nature more deliberate.
I also like that the stretcher is not wide enough so magazines clutter the underside of the table.