12 foot Wenge dining table

[Dave Shively]

Mark,

Great idea with the legs! Never would have thought of that. Can't wait to see the finished table.

Dave.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Lookin' good Mark!

[Brett Baldwin]

I really enjoy the understated character of your pieces. Thanks for sharing both your work and your techniques.

[Dan Gill]

This is a prime example of why I love the Creek. Great examples of beautiful work and useful tips/techniques. Also nice design and good feedback from everyone. Keep Creeking!

[Mark Singer]

This is a prime example of why I love the Creek. Great examples of beautiful work and useful tips/techniques. Also nice design and good feedback from everyone. Keep Creeking!

Dan,
Thanks....I enjoy the tutorial threads and the finished work threads a great deal. For one thing they are not that controversial....on tools I have gotten a lot of great tips from fellow members and all can be discussed if done in a nice civil tone....we all know that the skill and technique is far more important than the brand of tool....so I think learning is the most powerful thing we can share....that is really what has built SMC!

[John Schreiber]

I intentionally coopered the top about 1/8" to soften the appearance. A single screw to the frame can remove about half of that. Convex is a much better look then concave and under span tops tend to go concave.

Your project, like all your work is beautiful.

What do you mean by coopered? My only understanding of that would be barrel shaped in some way. Are you saying that length-ways on the table, it's an eighth taller in the middle, so that if it sags later it will be level? Or is it arched like a bridge in compression to keep it from sagging? Or am I misunderstanding?

Love to learn from what you are doing.

[Mark Singer]

John,
The table is comprised of 2 -18" wide planks that will have a 3/8" gap between them. In the 18" cross section I developed a slight crown,,,,or rasied center of about 1/8". A couple of reasons. ... sometimes the bottom tends to absorb more moisture from the air and iit will expand making it concave. Also under span it will tend to go concave. Cocave on the top has a bad feeling....it is hard and unwelcoming....if it is slightly convex , it will flatten over time and looks soft and when 2 of these "pillow like" planks are side by side...it looks intentional and hand wrought....you don't send it through a wide belt sander and end up coopered....it is only done by hane and careful attention in the glue up and hand planning stages. If I clamp and tighten the center set of screws most of the cooper will flatten....as the wood expands it will flatten also.

[J.R. Rutter]

I like your leg gluing method!

I did a table a while ago in tiger maple and we did a similar, but different leg glue-up. We ripped riftsawn 8/4 stock at 45 degrees to make a couple of triangular cross section parts, then glued them together so that the wide bases were face-to-face. Then some careful cleanup gave corner seams that could be shaped with a template so that the seam still ran in the corner even with the curved outside faces. The disadvantage for square or rectangualr legs is that you can't go as thick overall this way.

Great table, thanks for sharing the process pics.

[Walt Caza]

The legs are doubled 8/4 so essentially 16/4 . I didn't want to see the seam so I mitered out a 3/8" dado and filled with a solid wenge fascia on the rip miter. This is real handy to know and most woods are not available in 16/4 especially exotics like wenge. This solution is invisible and pretty easy to do. Trim the fascias on a jointer with the fence at 45 degrees...I haven't seen this one in books and I have found it a valuable trick for many years...The oak coffee table I made used similar details...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=coffee+table

Congratulations Mr. Singer,
I just read this thread over again. I have not seen it in quite a while.
But it shined for me in a way I will not forget. Just top shelf stuff.

Sorry to notice that whilst I have referred to this method elsewhere on the Creek,
I had never actually responded here. Inspiring work in nasty wood.
Definitely worth bumping for the benefit of new viewers.(more than 7 years later)

Nifty approach to jumbo 16/4" legs in gorgeous wood not readily available so darn thick.
This is probably my all-time favourite Creek posted photo. worth 1000 words to be sure!
I took the liberty of sprucing it up a bit for a re-post, hope you do not mind.

We build furniture and furniture needs legs.
You gave us big value with this sharing.Singer_infill_3pc_leg_edit_by_WCC_106K.jpg
Thanks so much showing us the way,
Walt

ps keep raising the bar to impress us mere woodworking mortals!

[Leigh Betsch]

I don't see mark post much any longer. His posts are among the best. I wish he'd post more again. I'm mostly a lurker and understand that it takes a lot of time to post these projects so I understand if it gets to be too much extra work.