I am making a kitchen table from QS Oak. It has a pedestal base and will be a 48″ square. I am in the process of planing and jointing the pieces for the top. Some will be 6.25″ some will be 6″ and some will be 5.5″. My question is this…from a design standpoint, should I add another piece and rip them all to a uniform 5 and change, or is some variation ok? I have seen a good number of older kitchen tables with variously sized planks, but they have all been round. I hate to waste the wood if it is a common thing, but certainly don’t want to build it to be bugged by a design flaw. Especially since I plan to be eating dinner off of this table for the next 50 years.
Thanks for any input.
Joe
Replies
Joe
Probably not, I think that a width variation is acceptable & I would probaly just 'make it look right' by playing around with the boards to get grain/feature looking right & balance the different widths each side of the centre.
Certainly have seen plenty of older rectangular tables with width variation, some substantially different.
Don
ThreePuttJoe,
I suspect you'll have to work hard to even see the seams in that qtr. sawn oak when your fisnished...so the variations in width really disappear. However, I did raise 3 kids on a 48" wide kitchen table...it's pretty wide...great for homework under the scrutiny of the rules engine(swmbo)..not so great for passing serving dishes...
Threeputtjoe,
Dondownunder is right. The way the grain of the parts are matched to one and other is far more important than the widths of the boards being the same. Lay them out on the floor and try different arrangments to find the most visually pleasing sequence. Then head to the clamping station, and go to town!
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