a walnut dining table with a leaf

we shipped this one off to Florida last week ... natural walnut,

54 x 88 closed, one 20"" leaf .... 

                        This was the inspiration photo sent by the client early in the negotiations…

                                       So we started with some nice walnut from irion lumber

                                                and some poplar for test pieces

and a new cad drawing

we had a little back and forth on the apron details, but we got it

and we ordered a new custom shaper knife to cut the profile in one pass

ta dah!

it took a few shots to figure out the cnc work on the leg, and 

get the profile exactly the way the client wanted it,

but we finally got to a place where we were all happy

the top was pretty straightforward with the fine wood from irion lumber

time to get it all together

we finished it up, and off it went to florida ...

and we didn't hear a peep for a month or two. one day Kristian

asked if i had heard anything, and i hadn't.  then, i kid you not, later that day

i got some photos, and one of the nicest emails about a piece of furniture

a person could hope for ...

all for now

(yet another) round walnut table

here we go again ... yet another round walnut dining table with leaves

we have made a big bunch of them in the last couple of years, 

and we never tire of the form .. this one is loosely based on a 

photo of a mid-century modern table, designer unknown, sent to us by 

our first client for this design back in 2014 ..

took the top picture with good and careful lighting, took the two

here with the leaves the next day 

when i was in a hurry and had to make room in the finish room

it's somewhere between the two ... with jus two of the leaves above ..

and with all three, with drop down legs here .. i doubt the client will ever use them, 

but i would hate big ancient aunt matilda to lean on the end of the table to get out 

of her seat ..

early on ...

nested parts, cut on the cnc

with the leaves without the legs .. it works, but don't dance out there ..

and the cad drawing here ..

fine walnut from our friends at irion lumber

a double pedestal oval table

 this table is heading to california tomorrow.  it's been in the works for a while and we had a small glitch when it came to the final finish color .  it's a totally new color and today, will said ' we've got to get more of this stain'  ... it was hard to photograph, and how it reads is sensitive to how your monitor is set.  it's a really warm orange brown color .. click the photos to enlarge them.

close up

'earthquake handles'  .. i did mention california, didn;t i?

the client's original photoshopped image

this project started with an inquiry from a prospective client who had taken a image from my blog or website and photoshopped it himself to make it into something that better fitted the dimensions of his dining room.  basically, he stretched out the table below and added another pedestal.  brilliant, imho.

even though it was early in the corresponding stage and no money or commitments had changed hands, i was intrigued by the concept.  since we still had the drawings for the original table, and its model, it was a simple matter to create the new model. 

bird's eye view

 

there was some talk about earthquakes, (the client lives north of san francisco), and 'earthquake handles', which turn out to be something to hold onto if you have to get under the table in the event of the earthquake, the design work proceeded and eventually we struck a deal.

 

above is the cad drawing showing the origin of the curves for the base elements and the seating and plate layout.  room for 12 good friends at least.

handle and base layout

even though the table is over 50" wide and about 10.5' long, trevor managed to create a clever pair of interlocking 1/4 oval templates that allowed him to lay out the wood for the glue up below.

one of the boards was just about, but not quite, long enough and we lost about an inch in width and length creating the 'revised' oval.  not bad.  11' walnut matched sets are hard to come by, even from irion lumber.

after a rough cut with the jigsaw, trevor used the template and a top bearing flush cut bit to rout the table to final shape and add the aprons and stiffeners                                  

then, using the cnc, he cut the patterns for the base pieces.  on the original table, the pieces that ran the length of the table were longer than the ones that ran across the table.  after some study though, we decided that with two pedestals, the bases should be all the same.

bandsaw, sand, bandsaw, sand ... repeat as necessary.

then the pieces have to be mitered and dowels inserted to give the end grain of the curves some cross grain material for the lag bolts that attach the horizontals at the floor.  i missed it this table, but you can see photos of how that works in the post about the previous table, back in august 2010.  there is also a discussion there about strengthening the short grain where the top is attached also ...

fit it up ...

interesting shapes upside down too ..

sam's sample 'earthquake handle'  approved and good to go ... 9 more in the works ...

 

 reinforcing the short grain with long grain inserts to accept screws

 base only

with chairs

early on, we tried oval vs. racetrack ... oval won ...