I have been a member of FWW over a year now and have been gathering a lot of great info. I have worked as a trim carpenter for a few years now and just recently started being a full time stay at home dad. I just finished building a new home with a 700 sq. ft. shop under the garage and am just finally able to start using it. My first big project is a new dinning room table to match our kitchen cabinets. I have a few questions:
1) What type of wood should I use? The cabinets are cherry but they are stained dark. I was thinking about using alder because it would be easier to stain to match the color of the cabinets.
2) The table would be 45″ by 7’to 7″6″ without bread boards. Any recommendation on glue up? If it has a full apron do I need to spring the joint? I have limited experience on gluing up joints.
3) What type of finish should I use. I am very comfortable with stains and poly, but I was thinking about using Rockhard Table Top Varnish. Any recommendations. What is the best way to try and match the color? I just ordered Taunton’s Complete Illustrated Guide to Finishing so I can read up some on that.
I have included a picture of our cabinets and a table similar to the one I’m going to make. I would like to get the wood soon and maybe start building after Christmas.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Replies
Alder, in my opinion, would be a mistake for a dining table that would get alot of use. It is a wood that I use frequently when building cabinets, and while beautiful, it is very soft. Too soft, in my opinion, for a table top.
Cherry is one of the nicest woods available to work with, so why not stick with it.
I wouldn't even worry about trying to match the stain of your cabinets. Go natural. The cherry will darken to a beautiful patina, and is the finest color, in my opinion, for any furniture. I am biased, however, as all the furniture in my house is cherry, made by me, of course.
If you are new to large glue ups, then perhaps it's best to do the table in two or three sections. Let them dry, scrape them flat, and glue the 2 or 3 sections together. I would glue the entire table top in one step, but I've been doing them for 20 plus years, so it's not that big of a deal. Whatever you decide, get all your parts flat and edges jointed straight. Lay the top pieces out, and select the order of the boards based on appearance. Don't pay attention to the alternating grain hogwash, as it's a wives tale. Don't bite off more at once than you can chew, and have fun.
Jeff
ulstadts ,
I'd agree with Jeff that Alder is on the softish side and imo even a good finish will not hold up as well on softer woods as they do on harder species .Although Alder can be stained to closely resemble Cherry , it just will not mellow or darken with age like Cherry does .
Some guy's may make a nice table out of Poplar because of price , it is softer then Alder , for the money Soft Maple would work also and is usually less than Alder in cost .
Advice : don't be like the guy who built a boat in the basement , then realized he couldn't get it out .
dusty
Listen to Jeff, he knows what he is talking about. One thing he forgot to mention that is another misconception. Do not use dowels, biscuits or splines in the edge joint. You will not improve on a well made edge to edge joint by putting in dowels, splines or biscuits and some research shows that it weakens the joint because you lose gluing surface. You do not need to spring the joint if you have a good jointer and are careful to keep the edges square. The best advice I can give you for a table top is if you have to machine the board to get a little bow or cup out of it don't use it. Pick boards that come off your pile dead flat and have been in your shop at least two weeks and remain flat.
I spray all my furniture with precat lacquer or conversion varnish, but a wipe on varnish or poly finish will work. Don't buy wipe-on products in the store, just thin your own. Thin your product 50-50 with mineral spirits or paint thinner and apply with a clean rag (old t-shirts) then sand the next day with 320 and do it all over 3 more times. Use the sheen you want on the last coat, I usually use gloss on all the others( a little harder).
Edited 11/5/2008 9:26 pm ET by terrylee86
Thanks for the input. I'm very comfortable using stain and poly so it is hard to try something new on this project. I think that I will go with the cherry. I wish I could leave it natural but I think that it will fight with the floor too much and also the wife wants it to somewhat match the cabinets. The floor is a natural/champagne maple.
If you had to try and match the cabinets what would you do?
thanks
Remember to allow for expansion and contraction of the top when you attach it to the legs.
Jim
I was planning on using a slot cutter on the apron and z clips to attach the top.
how many clips would you use?
I don't think there is a rule about how many to use. Just make sure that it is attached firmly enough so that someone can pick up the table by the top and move it.
Jim
I like Waterlox as a finish for cherry. I apply 2 coats of original sealer/finish and 2 or 3 of high gloss or satin.
As others have said, if at all possible, let it naturally darken. You can always put it in the sunshine if you want to speed up the color change.
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