Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Table Top Fit for a Lumberjack

There is something to be said about building something from start to finish and doing it the old way— that is, without screws or nails.  A lot of people talk about doing a project from start to finish but is it truly “start to finish?” Where did the lumber come from?  Who milled it?  Who cut the tree down?  I can’t say that even the project that I am about to introduce you to is truly 100% start to finish by me, but it is as close as I could get.  Someone else made the stain in a factory, along with the glue and dowels (I will buy a dowel cutter one day!) but everything else so far has been cut and milled by me.  I would like to encourage you to do at least one true “start to finish” project in your life if you have the opportunity and resources.  It really is an amazing experience and the product is a true reflection of “you” and what you can accomplish.


Also, I must say that I am a little ashamed to admit that I am not done building with this table yet; the table top itself is complete and finished but I still have to attach the legs.  Not to make excuses, but moving and starting our homestead has placed this table on the back burner. Still the project is far enough along that I can share with you the process of building a beautiful table top from scratch from start to finish.  Before we get started I would like to thank Mike for letting me cut the tree down on his property and to Chris for helping me run the mill and haul the lumber— thank you guys!

I’m going to try something a little different here and use mostly pictures in this post rather than words.  Words can sometimes complicate things and I think that the pictures we took are good enough to show you the whole process.  Go ahead and head down to your workshop and sharpen up those saw chains; you will be doing a lot of work with the chainsaw and a good sharp chain is necessary for this project (please read our post on files).  After sharpening go out to the woods and select and good, solid and live tree to fell and mill.  This particular tree was a red oak and had a severe front lean to it which is why Mike wanted the tree removed.  The lean on the tree was so severe that it fell a little faster than I expected it to, despite having a lot of hinge wood remaining as you can see here.



Next, cut the tree into sections long enough for you to mill boards out of.  My table ended up being five feet long and I cut my logs eight feet long.  Red oak is real bad about checking (splitting) and even with the boards at eight feet long I only was left with five feet of usable material.  Keep this in mind when you mill lumber for your table.  Checking occurs when water rapidly evaporates out of the wood and about ninety percent of the water evaporates out of the ends, not the top.   I did not do is paint the ends of the lumber, I should have.  If you paint the ends it before the drying process it will greatly reduce the amount of checking in your lumber.

After you are done bucking (cross cutting) the tree into sections, move the sections into a good flat area where you can mill them and begin milling the lumber.  Set your mill to the proper thickness that you would like your table to be— just remember that the thicker the lumber the heavier the table will be.  I milled this tree at one and a half inches, being it was solid oak, to cut back on weight.



Once all of the lumber is milled, store it so that it will dry evenly; if you are lucky enough to have a lumber kiln then the drying process for you will be much quicker.  I used four chainsaw milled boards for this table; three for the table top itself and one to rip cross members out of for additional support on the bottom of the table.


After the wood was dry I selected the three best boards for the table top.  I left the live edge in tact for the outside edges of the table but I ripped down the adjoining edges using my Milwaukee circular saw, using a ripping blade.


A table saw would have been better but I don’t currently own one and the circular saw did just fine.  Next you will glue and dowel the lumber together using a dowel jig and clamps.  Remember to take your time here when drilling the holes for the dowels; if the dowel holes are even just a hair off the pieces WILL NOT go together.  I spaced my dowels six to eight inches apart and I used 3/8” dowels. 



Then glue and clamp two boards together.


And then three.


Next, flip the table over and dowel, glue and clamp the middle cross member to the bottom surface of the table.



Once this is complete, trim off the edges of the table with your circular saw and attach the two remaining cross members near the edges using dowels and glue; clamp them in place and let them dry.



Now you are ready to sand the table down and smooth out the edges with your sander or router.  Here the table’s final shape is achieved.



After you are satisfied with your sanding job apply the stain.  A hand rubbed stain is best, finished with several coats of polyurethane or Liquid Glass/Bar Coat.  This completes the table top itself and the legs will be attached to finish the table.  I’ll show you how to do this in a later post when I am ready to attach the legs.  I know that I didn't go into too much detail in this post but this post builds on some of the previous ones and if you have any questions about the process please feel free to leave them in the comment box.   Thanks for reading and I hope your project turns out great!


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