It hurts me to admit this but........

[Ken Fitzgerald]

while I will never be a complete neander but I have slowly been gathering more hand tools. Now I need to build a hand tool cabinet.


I will always be a hybrid amateur wood hack.

Wednesday, my wife and I are going to drive to the best wood porn distributor in the area (Walla Walla, WA) and buy the hardwood I need to build a new dining table for my wife. I am planning on buying around 75 board feet of walnut or cherry, depending on what he has in stock.

The table will be an extension table. I bought a LV rack and pinion gear extension table mechanism so when you pull on one end to open the center, the other end will open simultaneously. I bought the pivot bar for the butterfly extension to come up out from within the center of the table. The main reason I am building this is my wife and I are getting older and weaker. Currently we store the extensions for current table in the basement. Lugging them up and down the stairs is getting more difficult for her diminishing strength and my balance issues. I am so looking forward to this challenge and build! The new table will be 66" long in the shortened mode, 90" long in the extended mode and 36" wide. The width is set to fit comfortably within the current dining area between an island and a buffet I made a decade or so ago.

The table will be a 4-leg pedestal type. My wife insists that the legs have some turning on them. I picture an octagon leg with a turned "bulb" about 5" above the bottom. My PM-3520B will handle the job, I'm sure. I need to order some leveling legs and threaded inserts to install them.

[Lee Schierer]

It sounds like a fun project. Be sure to keep us updated.

[mike calabrese]

Good luck with the project. Keep all of your notes and patterns etc because if your better half is like my better half there is always a second table or something added onto the honey do list. I built this table for my wife from a picture she picked out. Now I find myself right now building a second table slightly shorter length for the "othere place in the house" where she thinks a table like the first one would look good.
Fortunately I kept the router template for the legs and all of my drawings from the first table. I had ordered some red oak for a project I planned on but I don't like cooking and laundry so my red oak is her red oak any time.
calabrese55
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[Carl Beckett]

Nice project Ken. You have a clear vision. My everyday table shares some of your characteristics and I can say it is very useful and gets many comments on the versatility of being able to expand.

This one does have a center leg. The extensions sit in a case off to the side of the kitchen, and with 6 extensions the table can sit many! (at least a dozen kids... I have never counted)

Its walnut although cherry would be equally nice.

Look forward to seeing yours when complete!

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[Keith Christopher]

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Sad but true. I feel so accomplished when I look and see my drills hanging from their shop made shelf, or my chisels in their shop made holder.