A number of years back we did a large milling, drying and millwork job for a local church that was building a YMCA adjacent to their sanctuary. They shipped in several log trucks of southern yellow pine logs, along with some large white oak and red maple logs that were harvested from the site. We milled, kiln dried, and then processed the lumber into interior and exterior trim and other uses. Some of the largest white oak slabs were made into slab tables for the common areas of the church and YMCA.
When we completed that job, we still had a few boule's of WO and RM leftover, which we've been slowly selling off for them as the opportunity arose.
Recently they asked if we could make a couple of library tables from some of the leftover WO. They wanted something 8' long, but light enough to be portable.
Below is the result.
Table 1 was made from a center cut (quartersawn) 11/4 character slab. The slab was resawn into a pair of bookmatched planks, and then we assembled them into the pattern below. Pith voids were filled with black epoxy. It was a bit of a challenge due to all of the stresses present in the lumber. The multiple pith's from the limbs all wanted to move in different directions, and each one of the resawn bookmatched slabs also had to be ripped down the middle and reglued in order to help alleviate the results of the reaction wood present.
Although challenging, I am pleased with the character of the end result.
Table from side.jpg
Below is an end view of the same table.
Table from end.jpg
And here is an opposing corner view.
Top corner.jpg
The legs were made from a 3 piece glue up of edge spalted, quartersawn WO, with veneer sliced off of the two "show sides" and then bookmatched glued around the corner to cover the seams from the glue up. I enjoy this technique. It provides for a more stable leg and allows me artistic freedom to create a piece with character that spans around the corners. The edge glue lines tend to disappear since they are located on the corners of the leg.
Leg veneer.jpg
Here is the second top. This one was not a center cut, but was selected for both the spalting and edge grain character that is showcased in the middle of the table. The resawn planks were also ripped to allow for addressing the stresses; I'm pleased with how the glue lines disappeared though. Both of these tops are actually 4 board glue ups.
Second table from end.jpg
Below is a close up of the grain character in the center of table 2.
Table 2 center grain.jpg
Here are the two bases before finishing and attaching the tops.
table bases.jpg
With the needs of the sawmill and kiln operation, along with running the farm, I don't get a chance to do much woodworking. Typically I refer clients to local woodworking artisans. In this case though, it's a good customer and we have a connection to the wood. All in all a fun project and I'm pleased with the results.
I can’t take credit for the finish work; that goes to Jeff Karges of Karges Furniture fame. Jeff actually used to teach classes on finishing with Sam Maloof at his school in California many years back. He is a genius when it comes to finishing and a genuinely nice guy.
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