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Black walnut octagonal dining table

comments (2) September 14th, 2011 in Reader's Gallery

OldGreen, member

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All finished! Many coats of Sutherland and Wells applied by hand and rubbed out.

Joinery all cut and ready for assembly and final shaping

Ebony wedged through tenons pull the legs tight to the cross trestle.

Closer shot of the underside. The top of the legs have a saddle cut in them that slips under a block that is dovetailed between the pairs of stretchers. A nice Torx head bold pins this joint from the inside to keep the top assembly from lifting off of the legs when you move the table.

One thing that I learned on this project aside from the fact that big tables are really heavy, is that they are also hard to photograph well. I really needed to have a 12 roll of back drop paper because the table is wanting to run off of the 9 roll when you try to capture the whole thing.

All finished! Many coats of Sutherland and Wells applied by hand and rubbed out.

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Here is a 72" octagonal dining table I designed and built from sustainably harvested local black walnut. After having the great pleasure and opportunity of spending a weekend touring both the Maloof compound and the Greene & Greene neighborhood one weekend this past spring, I'd had it in my mind that I'd like to try and combine the forces of those two influences into a single piece of furniture. The outcome of that thought is this table, which was built as a commission earlier this summer for a private residence. All in all it was a very fun project but the most challenging part was just moving the top around. It may be time to start thinking about getting a helper.

www.oldgreenwoodworking.com

Design or Plan used: My own design - Matt Presley