Walnut Dining Room Tabletop

[John Dykes]

It's currently a little over an inch thick, cut to a 43" diameter circle, and I'm in the process of smoothing it... without sandpaper.

I'm not a rich man, and ordered just enough walnut from Steve Wall to get the job done. Point being, I relied on visual appeal vs grain direction; so my grain doesn't all run in the same way. Not a big issue - my smoother takes a fine shaving and I can follow the joints pretty well.

My question is this - I've always sanded prefinish, and am trying to avoid that for this table. Folks talk about how nice a planed top looks - and as it's my wife's new walnut table, I'm hoping to achieve that.

Unfortunately, I've got some pretty gnarly grain that I'm dealing with - and am getting a bit of minor tearout in a few (errr several) spots. I can get a good burr on a scraper and shave the spots pretty well - but those spots (even when blended) look considerably different. The tracks of a scraper aren't nearly as pleasing as the tracks from a plane... and don't feel as smooth either...

I think I have the tools & skills to get there - just not sure how to apply them - or even what I'm trying to achieve... I assume it'd be best to avoid giving the whole thing light 220 going over (or heck, does it even matter that much?).

Thanks -

- jbd

* Using my Delta contractor's saw as a bench... if that matters...

[Sam Yerardi]

On areas where you have knots, and gnarly grain patterns you can use a plane but you are really better off using a scraper as it is hard to judge (at least for me) mainly where to end the cut unless you have a really good feel for the range of cut to take with the plane. With a scraper you can very plainly see the change in direction. When you've gone too far in a direction with a plane you've doubled your work.

[Robert Rozaieski]

I've read in several places that it doesn't make a bit of difference how you prepare the surface (plane, scrape, sand) if you are using a film finish on the top because the final surface that you will see is not the wood surface but the film finish. Penetrating finishes like tung or linseed oil are different in that the wood surface is the final surface.

My personal experience has been that if I stain or dye, the final method of preparation makes a difference in the final color so I am consistent over the entire surface with whatever method I choose. Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, the board just doesn't cooperate. This is common with mahogany which has grain that can run in all directions even on the same board face. It sounds like your walnut is similar. In your case, I would recommend scraping the entire surface and seeing if that doesn't take care of your tearout issue. If the scraping doesn't work and you still get a lot of tearout, there's no shame in using a little 220 grit.

[Jim W. White]

IMO ...your never going to be able to tell the difference on a table top between one that was only planed and one that was sanded after planing except for the fact that the one that was sanded afterwards will have NO tearout.

Your beating yourself up for no reason (again IMO). .... break out the paper! ... a table top is going to need a nice durable finish applied to it at some point and all your sweat and worry over finishing the finish process with a scraper verses some quick sandpaper work will be to no avail.

can't wait to see the finished product!

Jim in Idaho

[Marcus Ward]

No kidding, use whatever it takes to get it done. Nobody is going to count off points on the table if you didn't hand plane it finished. I really like not sanding and hand planing to finish but there are certain situations where sandpaper is called for. This is one of em.

[Tim Thomas]

Hey John, since it is a table top, and it is solid, why not just flip it over and try out a couple of different techniques on the bottom and see if you can tell a difference? You could lay out a few 6 inch square areas and do different smoothing techniques for each one (all sandpaper, all scraping, plane only, combinations etc.) and then experiment with different finishes within those areas. When you find the one that gives you the best results with the least effort, you flip the top back over and go to town on the real deal. (If you do this, make sure to put some protection between the top and the worksurface while it is upside down. Please don't ask me why I would make a note of this... )