Walnut Coffee table with onyx inlay and top

Very nice… I love that top. The walnut looks great!

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

Hi Dan;

It looks great. Very nice workmanship in the walnut / onyx base. Perfection!

The top piece is very beautiful as well.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

soooo beautiful!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Sweet!!! Way to go Dan. I love the onyx circle in the legs.

-- Dennis Zongker

Dan-
Another wonderful marriage of stone and wood.
You make them look so natural together.

Thanks for posting

-- MISSION FURNITURE-My mission is to build furniture

Great design and material selection. Looks great!!

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

That is absolutely awesome. Just gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing with us.

-- My woodwork blog : http://www.isetehtud.pri.ee/blog/

gorgeous work my friend

-- scmichael

Fantastic table!

Good luck with the new clamp system.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Dan,excellent design,this piece just just nothing but GORGEOUS

beautiful job! This would look great my den.

-- Rodd, Texas grandpa

that’s nice Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Great job Dan I really like the Onyx with the Walnut

Job Well Done my friend!

-- Rj's Woodworks,San Jose & Weed Ca,

That is a masterpiece.

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

That is really nice. I like the stone/ wood mixed media in your work, keep it up.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

Dan, that table is just beautiful! I would love to see more on that ratchet strap system, it sounds great.

-- Paul Sayre Creativity is a drug I cannot live without. Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959)

savannah 505,
Beautiful work! Like everyone else I love the mixed medias. I’ve got a lot of questions though. Is each end of the table comprised of six pieces? Now for the biggie, how much does the top weigh? I’ve been thinking of using some travertine in another type table top, maybe, someday! I know that Onyx has to be even denser and weigh a significant amount. Do you have the actual dimensions and weight of the top? Thanking you in advance for any help you can provide.

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

Thanks to all of you for those very kind words, it gives me real encouragment.
Woodbutcher – Roughly 6 pieces or less, I wasn’t keeping count, it was more a matter of what I had, and it was a mixed batch of walnut. The top weighs around 60 -70 pounds and dimensions are 27 X 39 though I wish I had made the top longer by 6 inches. Remember that travertine is very fragile, and does not come with a fiberglass backing on it that I have ever seen, because it cannot bond to the travertine surface. Travertine is basically mud that was compacted. Onyx is formed in cavities of the earth, where water seeping through the ground, picks up minerals and settles and solidifies in these cavities under enormous pressure and some heat. Marble is from sedimentation of the earths great oceans. Granite is formed from a molten state, so that is why granite is more stable and much harder than onyx, marble or travertine. Onyx is the most difficult of all stones to work with, can be a real headache to work with and requires acid stone (oxallic acid) to polish to a mirror finish. I have told a few of my friends here on LJ’s that stone can be up to 10 times more difficult to work with than wood, depending on the type, and tooling is far more expensive, but the results are obvious. Travertine can be worked with common wet/dry sandpaper, but you will never get a high gloss finish on it. It will be a sheen but never like a mirror. Marble and onyx can also be worked with sandpaper, but needs to be cut with diamond blades, these are readily available, such as a tile saw. Granite requires diamond tools, (saw blades, diamond polishing pads, and really should and sometimes must, be done wet polishing, depending on the type of granite. I always work with water, ALWAYS!!! It produces a better job, never do onyx dry, it will crack from the heat. Stones 2 biggest enemies are heat and vibration, and each type has it’s own individual characteristics. That is to say, that even each type of granite, is different from the other types of granite, it takes many years of working with all different types of granite, to learn all about each one individually. I still have much to learn about stone, and I’ve been in stone for more than 11 years, and been fortunate enough to work on very high end, high dollar stone, by one of the best in the buisness who is now retired. Stone comes in almost every color there is, the patterns and beauty are almost endless, for me, it is well worth it, and I always enjoy the finished product. I hope this helps you all, and I encourage you to use stone if you can. If you contact or go to your local stone fab. shops, many will have stone leftovers that they are throwing away. (sink cutouts, etc.) Since they pay by weight to have this material removed by dumpster, many will probably give you some to try to work with. Good luck to all of you, your going to need it. LOL If any of you would like to see more on the tools I use, or methods, please let me know, will be happy to help. Watch out for videos posted on youtube for info. Many of these are bull…. info. and I do not advise following their procedures or methods to work in stone. I posted 2 videos on an invention for lifting stone that I developed recently showing a 120 lb. woman lifting over 1,000 lbs. stone slab onto a work table, using no electricity, no hydraulics or vacumn system, I think you’ll find it very interesting. Here are the links –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MwgX2cKYfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrNTpyYjf5c

-- Dan Wiggins

Beautiful table!

-- Wood stand up puzzles, home decor and more http://www.kerflinecrafts.etsy.com

Beautiful table. Thanks for sharing the pictures and also thanks for the overview on working with stone. Looking forward to see your strap clamps. Good luck with the patent.

Marc in Aylmer, Qc

-- www.marc-prevost.com

WOW, Dan
Excellent mixed media work.
Congratulations for your competence and craftsmanship. More than beautiful.
Marvelous and well done.
I’d like to have the same skills and talent you have.
(I’m really jealous of your work Dan!!!)
I didn’t know you were an expert in marble, granites and stones in general!
More than that, an inventor!!!
I hope you get your patent licence soon.
You deserve it.
What is or was your main profession Dan? Your technical language makes me think you’re an engineer.
I think we have a lot to talk, because I also like to work with marble and granites.
If you have time to waste, please contact me over my direct e-mail (marcoarg@terra.com.br) and possibly we may share some more experiences on the subject. After all, this is a woodworking site and I don’t be comfortable in invading the target of LJ.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

-- MARCO AURELIO R. GUIMARAES, BELO HORIZONTE, MG, BRAZIL

Another beautiful piece of work. Is yours a learned art or did
you train under someone? Thanks for the post.

-- ''Carry on my wayward son''

Beautiful table Dan. I love that top! Thanks for sharing.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Cobbler – Hmmmm, how do I answer this question? I have to first give the main credit to God, I’ve been into art since I was 11 years old. I did drawings of people and animals, which I no longer really do, got into resin casting when I was a teenager. Did lots of woodworking, now in stone, when I was in the Coast Guard, I started getting into cutting gems, that helped me understand stresses to stone for later on. Got into metal working, and more woodwork, became a general contractor in Washington state. When I moved to Florida in “98” I met Terry Fuquay, a real artist in stone. I learned a lot from him, but I also taught him a lot in other fields. When I started working for him, he paid me beginners wage, at the end of 1 week, he was paying me journeymens wage. I only had to transition from wood to stone, and understood the tool differnece, it came very natural to me. My work had already been in museum, art galleries, shows, in metal and wood, and glass. So it wasn’t difficult for me to go to stonework. The learning process of the different stones and their characteristics is ongoing, as there is so many different kinds. Thanks for asking.

-- Dan Wiggins

That’s a glorious piece. Thanks for the very informative essay about the stone. The devil is in the details, and I see you know your details, the work shows this. Bravo!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Absolutely gorgeous table , Dan ! Excellent photos of even nicer workmanship…Thanks for the close ups , they really help these old eyeballs of mine ! LOL
Thanks again for helping me to reach Martin regarding the site problem that I was having : ) I used to love cookies until they became part of my computers diet : )

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

Nice, very nice. Thanks for posting

-- http://www.kennethbirdine.com/

Very nice Dan…. love the onyx in the base.

very nice table we are manufacture of onyx table tops. please visit http://www.pakistanonyxmarble.com/onyx-table-tops-collection.php