Live edge Black Walnut dining table

wrussellwoodhaus Jun 30, 2020

This was my first commission project for a client. The table top is made from locally cut and air dried black walnut. Lots of figure and burl made for some challenging milling and finishing but turned out beautifully. Rough sawn wood was ripped down to width with track saw. I had to build a router sled which I used fine woodworking article design from Nick Offerman. After building sled I set up in my shop and flattened one side of each piece of walnut. Each piece was 10’ long and ranged from 9-16” wide and 8/4” thick to start. I then surfaced planed each piece flat and jointed edges for glue up. Dominos used for alignment and glued up followed by sanding and some hand planing bottom and top starting at 80 grit up to 400. I then water popped surface and sanded 400 again and followed by hand sand of 600. The finish I choose was Odies oil which was applied per instructions and buffed off. The client wanted a bit more sheen to top so I added a coat of Odies wood butter and buffed out for more sheen. Edges of table were eased with a 1/8 chamfer bit using hand held router. I choose the legs from a vendor on Etsy who fabricated them and finished with a gold finish. Upon receipt of legs I assembled and placed on bottom to align bolt holes. I used threaded inserts and 1/4-20 button head bolts to secure base. To maintain stability of top I added 4 c-channel bars space across bottom. I built a jig to router in slots to receive channel and recessed center to get channel flush with cut face. Threaded inserts were drilled and inserted and CA glue used to secure. Table top weighed in at 170 lbs and table was delivered then legs installed. Table was flipped up and clients cat came for final inspection.